e 

U.S. Departmen t o f Assistant Secretary 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Transportatio n Washington, DC 2059 0 

Office Of the Secretary ... „ « 

of Transportation MAR 0 3 2010 

The Honorable Leon Brashier 

Chairman 

The Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce 

L 10 West Main Street i 

Humble, TX 77338 I I 

Dear Mr. Brashier: 

Thank you for your letter supporting the application for antitrust immunity filed by All Nippon 

Airways, United Air Lines, and Continental Airlines. I am responding on behalf of Secretary 

LaHood. 

As you may know, the applicants—members of the Star Alliance—are seeking antitrust 

immunity to closely coordinate flights between the United States and Asia. According to the 

application, the alliance partners plan to launch a joint venture for conveyance of transpacific 

traffic. 

The application is administered in a public docket, which ensures that interested parties have the 

opportunity to comment. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will evaluate the 

application according to rigorous statutory standards, beginning with a review of the record to 

determine if it is substantially complete. Decisions on the application are made in consultation 

with the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division following a thorough analysis of 

competitive factors. As this matter is now pending, I hope you understand that I cannot 

comment on the merits of the application. I can assure you, however, that DOT will give full 

and fair consideration to the application as well as any comments filed in the docket. 

As is our normal practice, I am placing a copy of your letter and this response in Docket 

DOT-OST-2009-0350 as a contact outside the record in this matter. I appreciate your interest in 

this proceeding. 

Sincerely yours. 

Susan L. Kurland 

Assistant Secretary 

for Aviation and International Affairs 
810-100218-029 

LAKE HOUSTON 

AEEAQUAMBER 

EST HUMBLE, TX 1923 

January 30,2010 

The Honorable Ray LaHood 

SecretaryUnited States Department of Transportation 

120O New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, D.C. 20590 

bear,Secretary LaHood: 

On behalf of the-Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce (previously the Humble Area (Chamber of 

Conirnerce), I am writing in support of the Continental/United/Ail Nippon Airways joint application for antitrust 

immunity and approval for the three carriers to create the first ever joint airline venture between the U.S. and 

Asia.. 

Last year, the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce supported Continental's Trans-Atlantic antitrust 

immunity and joint venture application to join the Star Alliance, given the consumer benefits it would provide. 

Continental's subsequent entrance into Star has enhanced competition among all three global alliances and, for 

instance, is the primaiy reason Continental has launched new non-stop service between Houston and Frankfurt, 

Germany and Edmonton, Canada. Continental also reinstated the Houston-Washington/Dulles market, which 

allows easy access for customers to United's Dulles hub, a Star Alliance partner. Additionally, service from 

Newark/New York to Munich, Germany is scheduled to be added this year, giving the Houston area an easy onestop connection. We are confident that approval of the Pacific'apijlication can also be helpful to Continental in 

expanding its network in the Pacific region once economic conditions warrant. 

We fii-mly believe cooperation among airlines benefits air travel consumers, airline competition, and drives jobs 

and economic growth. With the recent U.S. - Japan open skies agreement, barriers to new air service between our 

region and points in Japan have been removed. Antitrust immunity will enable all three airlines to make 

• coordinated decisions that will give airline customers and shippers more flight choices, more itinerary options, 

and rnore fares to choose from when traveling between the U.S. and Asia. 

We eincourage you to approve this joint application as promptly as possible. 

Best regards, 

^ft^—-^ (CyWny/i 

Bye 

President 

Lake Houston Area Chamber 

Leon Brashier 

Chairman 

Lake Houston Area Chamber 

^ ^ 

110 WEST MAIN STREET * HUMBLE, TX 77338 

PHONE: (281) 446-2128 * FAX: (281) 446-7483 

www.Iakehoustonareachamber.org