BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

_________________________________________ ) Application of ) ) VOLGA

- DNEPR AIRLINE S LLC ) ) Docket OST

- 201 3

- for an emergency exemption pursuant to ) 49 U.S.C . § 40109(g) ) ) ) Huntsville, AL

– Vandenberg AFB , Lompoc, CA )

_________________________________________ )

APPLICATION OF VOLGA
- DNEPR AIRLINE S LLC FOR AN EMERGENCY EXEMPTION Communication with respect to this docu ment should be addressed to: Alexey I. Isaikin Artem Tarasenko Chairman Operations Manager Volga

- Dnepr Airlines LLC Volga Dnepr

- Unique Air Cargo, Inc. 14 Karbysheva Street 9400 Grogan’s Mill Road, Ulyanovsk 432072 Town Center Plaza, Suite 220, Russia The Woodlands, TX 77381, USA (832) 585

- 8611

DATED: December 2 , 201 3

NOTICE: THIS APPLICATION IS FILED PURSUANT TO THE EMERGENCY EXEMPTION PROCEDURES OF 14 C.F.R. § 302.410, WHICH AUTHORIZE THE DEPARTMENT TO ACT ON EMERGENCY EXEMPTIONS IMMEDIATELY. ANY PERSON INTERESTED IN FILING AN ANSWER IS REQUESTED TO DO SO IN THE ABOVE DOCKET IMMEDIATELY. COPIES OF THE SUBMISSION SHOULD BE SERVED ON THE PERSONS LISTED ABOVE AND ON THE ATTACHED SERVICE LIST.BEFORE THE DEPAR TMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

_________________________________________ ) Application of ) ) VOLGA

- DNEPR AIRLINES LLC ) ) Docket OST

- 201 3

- for an emergency exemption pursuant to ) 49 U.S.C. § 40109(g) ) ) ) Huntsville, AL

– Vandenberg AFB , Lompoc, CA )

_________________________________________ )

APPLICATION OF VOLGA
- DNEPR AIRLINE S LLC FOR AN EMERGENCY EXEMPTION

Volga

- Dnepr Airline s LLC (“Volga

- Dnepr Airlines” or "Vo lga

- Dnepr") respectfully requests an emergency exemption from the provisions of 49 U.S.C. §§ 40109(g) and 41703(c), and otherwise applicable provisions of the Department of Transportation (“DOT”) regulations, so as to permit Volga

- Dnepr to operate one ( 1 ) one - way all

- cargo charter flight , utilizing Volga

D nepr’s AN

- 124

- 100 aircraft to transport outsized cargo from Huntsville, Alabama to Vandenberg AFB , Lompoc, California on or around December 9

– 10 , 201 3 , on behalf of United Launch Alliance. The outsize carg o to be transported by Volga

- Dnepr consists of the Atlas Booster tank, measuring (L

- 119' x W

- 1 3 ' 6 " x H

- 14'), weighing approx. 81 , 4 0 0 pounds. As described, the payload is outsized and cannot be accommodated by domestic commercial carrier aircraft.
In s upport of its application, Volga

- Dnepr states as follows:1. Volga

- Dnepr is a foreign air carrier holding appropriate DOT authority to conduct all

cargo charter foreign air transportation between a point or points in Russia and a point or points in the Uni ted States, and all

- cargo charter transportation between the United Sates and third countries pursuant to 14 C.F.R. Part 212. 2. Volga

- Dnepr will operate the flight on behalf of United Launch Alliance as part of an effort to provide urgently needed lift t o leave Huntsville not later than the set dates. United Launch Alliance is shipping the Atlas Booster tank to complete aggressive launch schedules, while only the use of Volga

- Dnepr's outsized aircraft can make it possible to perform the services in questi on within the set schedule. 3. Due to the extreme size, the delicate nature of the cargo and its extremely high value, United Launch Alliance cannot use surface transportation to ship the payload. A technical evaluation conducted by Lockheed Martin determi ned that over

- the

- road transportation would place the cargo in conditions that are incompatible with maintaining system integrity compliance. 4. Given the tight schedules associated with the mission integration and launch activities, Volga

- Dnepr must perfo rm the operations not later than within the set dates. Volga

- Dnepr is polling all U.S. certificated air carriers on the attached service list and will inform the Department of the results of that poll. 5. Under 49 U.S.C. § 40109(g), the Department may aut horize a foreign air carrier to transport commercial traffic between U.S. points under limited circumstances. Specifically, the Department must find that the authority is required in the public interest; that because of an emergency created by unusual circ umstances not arising in the normal course of business the traffic cannot be accommodated by U.S. carriers holding certificates under 49 U.S.C. § 41102; that all possible efforts have been made to accommodate the traffic on U.S. certificated air carriers; and that the exemption is necessary to avoid unreasonable hardship for the traffic. Thisapplication is consistent with the public interest and meets all of the relevant criteria under 49

U.S.C. § 40109(g) for the grant of an exemption. 6. Grant of this ap plication is in the public interest. Timely shipment of the cargo is imperative to avoid substantial delay in Lockheed Martin’s mission integration and launch
schedules. 7. In this instance, an emergency created by unusual circumstances not arising in the normal course of business exists as a result of the size of the cargo , as well as the exigent circumstances surrounding the impossibility to use any other mode of transportation, and the lack of availability of U.S. commercial aircraft of the nature of the AN

- 124

- 100 operated by Volga

- Dnepr Airlines. As a result, the best way to resolve this emergency is for the AN

- 124

- 100 aircraft to transport the cargo in question. 8. As previously stated, no U.S. carrier operates aircraft that are able to transport this cargo. Indeed, there is no viable transportation option by any commercially available means other than Volga

- Dnepr's aircraft. 9. Grant of this exemption application is necessary to avoid unreasonable hardship for the traffic at issue. 10. Volga

- Dnepr’s fi tness and ability to carry out the proposed transportation has been amply demonstrated through its conduct of numerous cargo charter operations on behalf of United Launch Alliance in and out of the United States and throughout the world. 11. Grant of this application is consistent with Department precedent. Foreign air carriers have been granted emergency exemption authority to carry cargo between U.S. points when an emergency existed as a result of unusual circumstances not arising in the normal course of business. See, e.g., Orders 96

- 6

- 31, 96

- 4

- 29, 95

- 11

- 35, 95

- 2

- 35, 94

- 11

- 6 and 94

- 4

- 14, as well as Notices of Action Taken in dockets OST

- 04

- 17906, OST

- 07

- 26806, OST

- 07

- 27125, OST

- 07

- 28857, OST

- 08

- 0003, and OST

- 09

- 0041.12. In light of the exigent circumstan ces, Volga

- Dnepr requests expeditious processing

and the immediate grant of this emergency exemption application. The Department’s Procedural Regulations provide that the Department can act on an emergency exemption application immediately. Designated agen t for Volga

- Dnepr will promptly advise the Department of the responses of the interested U.S. carriers to the telephone poll regarding this application.WHEREFORE, Volga

- Dnepr respectfully requests that the Department issue an

emergency exemption permittin g it to operate one ( 1 ) one - way cargo charter flight, utilizing Volga

- D nepr’s AN

- 124

- 100 aircraft , to transport cargo from Huntsville, Alabama to Vandenberg
AFB , Lompoc, California on or around December 9

– 1 0 , 2013 , as described herein, and grant such furth er relief as the Department deems to be cons istent with the public interest.

Respectfully submitted,

_______________________________________ Artem Tarasenko Designated agent for Volga

- Dnepr Airlines (832) 585

- 8611

Dated: December 2 , 201 3CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that I have on this day served a copy of the foregoing document upon all persons named on the attached service list via electronic mail.

Artem Tarasenko

Dated : December 2 , 201 3Service List

Robert P. Silverberg Jeff Johnson Silverberg, Goldman & Bikoff, LLP Suite 120 1101 30 th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20007 For ABX AIR Telephone: 202

- 944

- 3300 Fax: 202

- 944

- 3306 rsilverberg@sgbdc.com jjohnson@sgbdc.com Marshall Sinick Squire, Sanders & Demsey 1201 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, DC 20004 For ALASKA AIRLINES & FLORIDA WEST Telephone: 202

- 626

- 6600 or 202

- 626

- 6649 Fax: 202

- 626

- 6780 msinick@ssd.com

Francis C. Heil , Sr. Atty

. 4333 Amon Center Boulevard Fort Worth, T X For: AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. francis.heil@aa.com Robert Wirick Robert.Wirick@aa.com John L. Richardson John L. Richardson, P.L.L.C. 555 13 th Street, N.W. Suite 420 West Washington, DC 20004 For: AMERIJET INTERNATIONAL, INC. Telephone: 202

- 371

- 2258 Fax: 202

- 828

- 0158 jrichard son@johnlrichardson.com Michelle Riordan mriordan@johnlrichardson.com Joan M. Canny Senior Vice President and General Counsel AMERIJET INTERNATIONAL, INC. 2800 S. Andrews Ave. Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 33316 O ffice 954

- 320

- 5300, Fax 305

- 423

- 3246 Direct 954

- 320

- 5367 jcanny@amerijet.comStephen H. Lachter

Suite 900 1150 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20036

- 4192 Telephone: 202

- 862

- 4321 Fax: 202

- 835

- 3219 slachter@lachter

- clements.com Russell Pommer 1747 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W. Suite 875 Washington, D. C. 20006 For: ATLAS AIR Telephone: 202

- 822

- 9121 Fax: 202

- 822

- 9152 rpommer@atlasair.com
John Mietus Law Office of John Mietus, LLC 6701 Democracy Blvd., Ste 300 Bethesda, MD 20817

- 7500 For: CENTURION AIR CARGO & SKYLEASE Telephone: 301

- 571

- 9334 Fax: 240

- 396

- 5362 john@mietuslaw.com Alexander Van der Bellen 1275 K St., NW, Suite 1200 Washington, DC 20005 For: DELTA AIRLINES sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com

Ben Graves Daniel Commins Kelli Bryan (Chart er Sales) Evergreen International Airlines EVERGREEN INTERNATIONAL , INC
. Telephone: 503

- 472

- 9361 Tel: 503.472.0011 Fax: 503.434.4210 charters@evergreenairlines.com Ranjit Seth ranjit.seth@evergreenairlines.com Sandra Lunsford 3620 Hacks Cross Rd Bldg. B, 3 rd Floor Memphis, TN 38135 For: FEDERAL EXPRESS CORP. Telephone: 901

- 434

- 8589 Fax: 901

- 434

- 9289 Sandra Lunsford sllunsford@fedex.comDawn Pefley

“Cozen O’Connor” 1627 I Street, NW, Ste 1100 Washington, DC 20006 For: KALITTA AIR, L.L.C. Telephone: 202

- 463

- 2525 Fax: 202

- 463

- 4950 DPefley@cozen.com M ark Atwood matwood@cozen.com Ned Wallace nwallace@wallaceair.com Lynn Stauffer lstauffer@wallaceair.com Rick Zerkel, President rzerkel@lac.lynden.com Judy McKenzie judy@lac.lynden.com Garry White gwhite@lac.lynden.com Jim Davis jdavis@la c.lynden.com For: LYNDEN AIR CARGO 6441 s. Airpark Place Anchorage, AK 99502 Telephone: 907

- 249

- 4100 Fax: 907

- 245

- 0642

Elaine Nisson 3900 W. Int’l Airport Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99519 For: NORTHERN AIR CARGO Telephone: 907

- 243

- 3331 ext.514 Fax: 907

- 2 49

- 5190 Elaine Nisson enisson@nac.aero Margot Wiegele mwiegele@nac.aero Kevin P. Montgomery 1747 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Suite 875 Washington, DC 20006 For: POLAR AIR Tele phone: 202

- 828

- 1002 Fax: 202

- 828

- 1003 Peter Beckett Telephone 310

- 743

- 0142 Kevin.montgomery@polaraircargo.com peter.beckett@polaraircargo.com

Aaron A. Goerlich Garofalo, Goerlich & Hainbach, PC 1200 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 For: RYAN INTERNATIONAL Telephone: 202

- 776

- 3970 Fax: 202

- 776

- 3975 agoerlich@ggh

- airlaw.com Tom Gillies Paul Chase For: SOUTHERN AIR Telephone: 203

- 847

- 6000 TGillies@southernair.com PChase@southernair.comDan Weiss

1600 Smith Street, Ste HQSGV H ouston, TX 77002 For: UNITED/CONTINENTAL AIRLINES Telephone: 713

- 324

- 6697 or 713

- 324

- 2140 or (312) 997

- 7573 (Dan Weiss) Fax: 713

- 324

- 2749 dan.weiss@coair.com Anita Mosner Partner Holland & Knight For: UNIT ED PARCEL SERVICES 2099 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 100 Washington DC 20006 T: +1.202.419.2604 F: +1.202.955.5564 anita.mosner@hklaw.com jennifer.nowak@hklaw .com dsmalls@ups.com

Howard Kass Ben Slocum For: U.S. AIRWAYS Telephone: 202

- 326

- 5153 Telephone: 480

- 693

- 5782 (Ben) howard_kass@usairways.com Benjamin.slocum@usairways.com Malcolm L. Benge Corporate Counsel 999 Seventeenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20006

- 3309 For: WORLD AIRWAYS, INC. Telephone: 202

- 298

- 8660 Fax: 202

- 342

- 0683 mlbenge@zsrlaw.com

Frank Avent Airline Information Research 343 Round Hill Road Sapphire, North Carolina 28774 Telephone: 703

- 489

- 9801 info@airlineinfo.com Krishna R. Urs Dep. Asst. Secy, Trnsp. Affai rs Department of State 2201 C Street, NW, Room 5830 Washington, DC 20520 Fax: 202

- 647

- 4324 urskr@state.gov
Judy Kuo Department of State

– EUR/RUS 2201 C. Street, N.W., Room 4417 Washington, DC 20520 Fax: 202

- 647

- 89 80 Roger Rapier Systems Operations Security Center (AJR

- 213) FAA AIR TRAFFIC SYSTEM OPERATIONS SECURITY 800 Independence Ave., SW Washington, DC 20591 Telephone: 202

- 267

- 8115/5775 Fax: 202

- 267

- 9208 9

- ATOR

- HQ

- RT

- REQ@faa.govA. Oakely Brooks, President & CEO

& Paul Doell, Dir. Govt Affairs National Air Carriers’ Association (NACA) Suite 1700 1000 Wilson Avenue Arlington, VA 22209

- 3901 Telephone: 703

- 358

- 8065 Fax: 703

- 358

- 8070 Pdoell@naca.cc

## ULJ'~**~ ~'=~;--­**  United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance 100 Atlas Avenue Trinity, AL 35673

Department of Transportation 400 

### ih Street S.W. Washington, D.C.
Attn : Robert Finamore
This letter is submitted in support of United Launch Alliance {ULA) need for the services of a Volga

- Dnepr Airlines AN-124-100 Cargo Aircraft to support the following shipment :

• December 9, 2013- Transport AVB048 to VAFB Lompoc CA
The AVB048 Booster in its shipping configuration measures 119' long, 13' 6 "wid e , 14' high weighing approximately 81,400 pounds with support equipment per Atlas V Booster

. Domestic commercial carrier aircraft cannot accommodate any of these shipments.
Due to the delicate nature, extreme high value, and risks inherent with the surface transport, we ca nnot use surface transportation. ULA technical evaluation of the conditions seen during over - the-road transport places the launch vehicles in conditions that are deemed unsuitable to maintaining system integrity compliance.
ULA is trying to ship these vehicles in order to complete aggressive laun c h and fabrication schedules that include subsequent launch integration activities

. In order to maintain the scheduled launch from Vandenberg Air Force Station, California, the launch vehicle stages must ship from Huntsville, Alabama no later than December 9, 2013. This will enable us to complete mission integration activities within the limited time available.
I f additional information is required, please contact me at once
. Respectfully,

John C. Morrow ULA Transportation 256-432-1596 2 56- 3 18

- 106 2 (Cell) john .c. morrow@ulalaunch. c om

. 

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