U.S. Department of 

Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

Of Transportation 

March 23,2015 

Ms. Rebecca B MacPherson 

Jones Day 

51 Louisiana Ave., N.W 

Washington, DC 20001 

.. ' - • ' -, ....., ] ':) '."".!. : .... _,8 [.u.] I ·• "t ~: 

Re: Docket DOT -OST -2014-0192 

1200 New Jersey Ave., S.E. 

Washington, DC 20590 

Motion of Menagerie Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Monarch Air for Confidential 

Treatment of Documents 

Dear Ms. MacPherson: 

We are currently reviewing the application of Menagerie Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Monarch Air 

("Monarch") in Docket DOT -OST -2014-0192 for commuter authority. The purpose of this letter 

is to notify you of our intended ruling on your request for confidential treatment of documents 

filed in support of this application. 

On January 23, 2015, Monarch, filed a motion requesting that tli.e following material be withheld 

from public disclosure: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

Exhibit 1 

Exhibit 2 

Exhibit 3 

Exhibit 4 

Rise unaudited Financjal Statement as of 11/30/2014 

First Financial Bank letter confirming total cash balance at 1/2112015 

Liberty Capital Bank letter confirming total cash balance at 1/21/2015 

Liberty Capital Bank commercial line of credit agreement and note 

In support of your request for confidential treatment of the specified documents, you state that 

the documents Monarch requests to withhold from public disclosure are (1) commercial or 

fmancial, {2) obtained from a person outside the government, and (3) privileged or confidential. 

Moreover, you state that disclosure would cause substantial harm to the competitive position of 

Monarch or the individual from whom the information was obtained and serve no public interest 

if released. Further, you contend that the information in exhibit 1 - 4 contain sensitive financial 

and commercial information that could be used by competitors to impede the applicant's plans to 

undertake the proposed air service. Lastly, you state that the information in the above exhibits is 

highly detailed and would not otherwise be made accessible to persons outside the company. 

Rule 12 instructs us to evaluate requests for confidential treatment in accordance with the 

standards of disclosure found in the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. section 552). By this 
2 

standard, information may be withheld from disclosure if it is "(1) commercial or fmancial, (2) 

obtained from a person outside the government, and (3) privileged or confidential." [Gulf & 

Western Industries, Inc. v. U.S., 615 F.2d 527, 529 (D.C. Cir. 1979).] 

The information sought to be withheld from disclosure clearly meets the first two requirements. 

The only question, therefore, is whether the information is privileged or confidential--whether 

"disclosure of the information is likely to have either of the following effects: (1) to impair the 

government's ability to obtain necessary information in the future; or (2) to cause substantial 

harm to the competitive position of the person from whom the information was obtained." 

[National Parks and Conservation Association v. Morton, 498 F.2d 765, 770 (D.C. Cir. 1974).] 

Furthermore, to be privileged or confidential, the information must not be of the type that is 

usually released to the public. [Gulf & Western Industries, Inc. v. U.S., supra, 615 F.2d at 530.] 

Absent extenuating circumstances, it is not the Department's practice to withhold from public 

disclosure information regarding an applicant's current or historical fmancial condition, 

pre-operating cost forecasts, proposed operating plans and related statistics, first-year operating 

cost forecasts, and forecast balance sheets reflecting these forecasts. When requested, however, 

the Department will generally grant confidential treatment to information pertaining to a 

company's forecast revenues (and related statistics). It is also our practice to grant confidential 

treatment to specific agreements between an applicant and vendors, potential customers, etc. 

Under the circumstances, our decision as to confidential treatment with respect to Monarch's 

application is as follows: 

1. With respect to Exhibit 1 -Rise unaudited Financial Statement as of 11/30/2014, we grant 

confidential treatment to the unaudited fmancial statements as of 11130/2014. The 

Department fmds that the information contained in this exhibit is not needed to make a 

fitness determination. 

2. With respect to Exhibit 2 - First Financial Bank letter confirming total cash balance at 

1121/2015, we have decided to deny confidential treatment. Exhibit 2 contains the 

fmancial information necessary to determine Monarch's fitness. 

5. With respect to Exhibit 3- Liberty Capital Bank letter confirming total cash balance at 

112112015, we have decided to partially grant confidential treatment. Specifically, we 

grant confidentiality to the bank account number mentioned in the letter. 

3. With respect to Exhibit 4, commercial line of credit agreement from Liberty Capital, we 

have decided to partially grant confidential treatment. Specifically, we grant 

confidentiality to the Loan Number, Interest rate and scheduled payment changes and 

Line of credit terms. The Department fmds that this information contained in this exhibit 

is not needed to make a fitness determination. 

To the extent that confidential treatment is not specifically granted above, it is denied. 
3 

Under Rule 12, a Department ruling on motions for confidential treatment will not take effect if, 

within five (5) business days after issuance, the person requesting confidential treatment files a 

petition for reconsideration of that decision, or files a statement that he or she in good faith 

intends to seek judicial review of the decision. If Monarch elects to petition the Department as to 

this confidentiality determination, we expect that it will provide a statement explaining how the 

item falls within the exceptions under the Freedom of Information Act and is not otherwise 

required to be filed publicly by all applicants for commuter authority. Responses shall be due 

within five calendar days of the filing of such a petition. 

If Monarch elects not to file a petition, we direct that it file the exhibits noted above in the public 

docket in this proceeding within five business days of the date of this letter. In the meantime, as 

is the Department's practice, further processing of your application will be deferred pending 

receipt of this material. Thank you for your cooperation in ~is matter. 

If you have any questions regarding this letter, please feel free to contact me or Shabu Thomas of 

my staff at (202) 366-9721. 

Sincerely, 

awr . emo 

Chie , Air Carrier Fitness Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

cc: Docket DOT-OST-2014-0192 

Mr. Cameron Baker , FAA 

POI for Menagerie Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Monarch Air 

FAA