**BEFORE THE**

**DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION**

**WASHINGTON, D. C.**

---------------------------------------------

In the matter of :

:

**THE IMPOSITION OF UNJUST USER CHARGES AT** : DOT

- OST

- 201 3

-

**ITALIAN AIRPORTS** : 0038

**:**

under Section 41310 (c) of the International :

Air Transportation Fair Competiti ve :

Practices Act, as amended :

---------------------------------------------

**REPLY OF AMERICAN AIRLINES**

Communications with respect to this document should be sent

to:

VIRASB VAHID I WILLIAM K. RIS, JR.

Senior Vice President

- Senior Vice President

- Marketing and Planning Government & Regulatory

and Chief Commercial Officer Affairs

American Airlines, Inc. American Airlines, Inc.

P.O. Box 619616, MD 5634 1101 17 th Stre et, N.W.

DFW Airport, Texas 75161 Washington, D.C. 20036

ROBERT A. WIRICK FRANCIS C. HEIL

Managing Director

- Senior Attorney

Regulatory & International American Airlines, Inc.

A ffairs 1101 17 th Street, N.W.

American Airlines, Inc. Wash ington, D.C. 20036

P.O. Box 619616, MD 5434 ( 202) 496

- 5642

DFW Airport, Texas 75261 francis.heil@aa.com

(817)963

- 0394

robert.wirick@aa.com

March 27, 2013**BEFORE THE**

**DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION**

**WASHINGTON, D. C.**

------------------------- --------------------

In the matter of :

:

**THE IMPOSITION OF UNJUST USER CHARGES AT** : DOT

- OST

- 2013

-

**ITALIAN AIRPORTS** : 0038

**:**

under Section 41310(c) of the International :

Air Transportation Fair Competiti ve :

Practices Act, as ame nded :

---------------------------------------------

**REPLY OF AMERICAN AIRLINES**

American Airlines supports the Department’s T entative

Decision 1 under the International Air Transportation Fair

Competitive Practices Act, 49 U.S.C. § 41310, as amended

("IATFCPA")

. For a number of years the Government of Italy

has allowed a lower fee schedule at Italian airports for

flights operating within Europe while a significantly higher

fee schedule is charged for flights operating outside of

Europe

. The Italian government has not adequately justified

the basis upon which these fees are charged

- even to the head

of the EU delegation 2

- and it do es n o t appear poised to remedy

1 See DOT Order 2013

- 3

- 1

2 See Matthew Baldwin letter dated December 12, 2012, Ref.

Ares(2012)1495908

- 14/12/2012th e current situation any time soon. U nder the standard of

the International Air Transport ation Fair Competitive

Practices Act, as amended, 49 U.S.C. 41310(c), the government

of Italy’s continued support of the pricing scheme at airports

in Italy has resulted in an unjust discriminatory effect on

U.S. carriers

, and has impose d an unjustifiable restriction on

U.S. air carriers’ access to the market

.

Article 12 of t he U.S.

- EU Air Transport Agreement is

clear on the issue. It states, in part, that user charges

“ shall be just, reasonable, not unjustly discriminatory, and

equitably apportioned amo ng categories of users.” T he Italian

differentiated rate system whereby charges are lower for

intra

- European operations than for beyond Europe operations

constitutes an unjustifiable discriminatory practice against

U.S. air carriers by definition.

As pr eviously stated, the Italian government has been

asked repeated and formally under the principles of Article

12(2) of the Agreement to quantify its policy, and to our

knowledge has not done so. The government has been engaged at

various U.S.

- EU Joint Comm ittee meetings and has not taken

action to remedy the situation. As a result, American

Airlines strongly supports the Department ’s use of the I ATFCPAprocess in order to eliminate this discriminatory charging

schedule and to resolve the competitive distor tions that have

resulted in the market.

Respectfully submitted,

___________________________ FRANCIS C. HEIL

Senior Attorney

American Airlines, Inc.

March 27 , 2013**CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE**

I hereby certify that I h ave this day served the foregoing document by

email on the following persons:

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com jhill@dlalaw.com

mroller@rollerbauer.com steve.morrissey@united.com

sametta.c.barnett@delta.com mgoldman@sgbdc.com

dan.weiss@united.com rsilverberg@sgbdc.com

karine.faden@united.com dhainbach@ggh

- airlaw.com

esahr@eckertseamons.com rpommer@atlasair.com

russell.bailey@alpa.org dmrosenthal@ja mhoff.com

jonathan.linde@united.com dpdean@jamhoff.com

bob.kneisley@wnco.com dkirstein@yklaw.com

robert.land@jetblue.com jyoung@yklaw.com

msinick@ssd.com william.stallings@usdoj.gov

cdonley@ssd .com dwight.moore@ustranscom.mil

gbleopard@fedex.com john.allen@faa.gov

cefelts@fedex.com urskr@state.gov

kevin.montgomery@polaraircargo.com g murphy@crowell.com

nssparks@fedex.com cjsimpson@zsrlaw.com

lhalloway@crowell.com benjamin.slocum@usairways.com

efaberman@wileyrein.com howard.kass@usairways.com

jennifer.nowak@hklaw.com anita.mosner@hklaw.com

rdmathias@zsrlaw.com jhfoglia@zsrlaw.com

________________________________ Francis C. Heil

March 27, 2013