AFS-13-507-E

Exemption No. 11039

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON, DC 20591

In the matter of the petition of

ATLAS AIR INC Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2013-0710

for an exemption from § 121.1005(c)

of Title 14, Code of

Federal Regulations

DENIAL OF EXEMPTION

By letter dated August 2, 2013, Mr. Robert Cohen, Deputy Assitant Chief Counsel of 

Hogan Lovells US LLP, 555 13th Street NW., Washington DC 20004, petitioned the Federal 

Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of Atlas Air Inc. (Atlas Air) for an exemption from 

§ 121.1005(c) of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). The proposed 

exemption, if granted, would allow Atlas Air to use an individual trained on hazardous materials 

provided the training was conducted by a part 129 carrier whose hazardous materials training 

program had been determined by Atlas Air to be substantially similar to its own, and Atlas Air 

had, in addition, given that individual training only on the differences it found between the 

program of the part 129 carrier and its own hazardous materials handling program.

The petitioner requests relief from the following regulation:

Section 121.1005(c) which prescribes, in pertinent part, that a certificate holder may use 

or assign a person to perform or directly supervise a job function specified in § 121.1001(a), 

when that person also performs or directly supervises the same job function for another 

certificate holder, and has additionally been trained by the using/assigning certificate holder in its 

own policies and procedures regarding those job functions.

The petitioner supports its request with the following information:

In its petition, Atlas Air asked the FAAs Office of General Cousel (AGC) to provide an 

interpretation regarding § 121.1005(c). However, if the FAA could not provide an interpretation, 

Atlas requested an exemption from § 121.1005(c) instead. 
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The petitioner states that the grant of its petition would be in the public interest and will 

not impair or degrade aviation safety. Atlas Air believes that granting its petition will eliminate 

unnecessary and duplicative hazardous materials training costs, enhance the efficiency of Atlas

Air’s service and avoid placing Atlas Air at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace 

while providing an equivalent level of safety.

The petitioner further states that a grant of the requested exemption would not adversely 

affect safety. Atlas Air believes that it would provide a level of safety at least equivalent to that 

provided by the rule from which exemption is sought.

Atlas Air further requests that any grant of exemption permit it to exercise the privileges 

of the exemption outside the United States to the extent necessary to accommodate Atlas Air’s

global operations, which involve frequent aircraft operations to numerous destinations outside of 

the United States.

A summary of the petition was published in the Federal Register on November 13, 2013

(78 FR 68135). No comments were received.

The FAA’s analysis is as follows:

The FAA has fully considered Atlas’s petition for exemption, including supporting 

information, and finds a grant of exemption would not provide a level of safety at least equal to 

that provided by the rule from which you seek the exemption or be in the public interest.

In its petition, Atlas Air first proposes that it should be able to use or assign a person to 

perform or directly supervise a job function specified in §121.1001(a), when that person also 

performs or directly supervises the same job function for a part 129 air carrier, and has 

additionally been trained in Atlas Air policies and procedures regarding those job functions. 

Atlas Air requested a legal interpretation to clarify this is permitted because part 129 air carriers 

are “certificate holders.” However, in a legal interpretation AGC provided to Atlas February 24, 

2014, the FAA’s Office of Chief Counsel determined that a foreign air carrier operating under 

part 129 is in fact not a “certificate holder” as that term is used in § 121.1005(c).

The FAA finds that Atlas Air’s arguments in favor of a grant of exemption are chiefly 

economic. Moreover, while Atlas Air has stated that it intends to provide an equivalent level of 

safety in the handling of hazardous materials, it has provided no mechanism for how it would 

actually do so.

Atlas Air acknowledges that it operates worldwide to over 250 different stations, to 

“distant foreign locales with many Foreign Air Carriers.” The FAA believes that tracking the 

various training programs of these innumerable carriers at a multitude of locations, and 

identifying and providing training on only the differences Atlas Air identifies, is likely to be a 

difficult and error-prone task. The FAA does not believe this effort will lead to a similar safety 
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result as if Atlas Air itself solely provided and is fully responsible for the training required by 

14 CFR § 121.1005.

Atlas Air seems to concede the likelihood of a wide variety of content and quality in 

foreign air carrier hazardous materials training programs when it writes in its petition that 

“foreign air carriers do not have FAA-approved training programs. However, Atlas would require 

the foreign air carrier to provide written verification that the individual completed successfully its 

hazmat training program.” The FAA believes the responsibility for providing training required by 

regulation is the responsibility of the petitioner and cannot be shifted to a foreign air carrier even 

though Atlas Air provided several conditions of service. Lastly, simply documenting that an 

individual has completed a foreign air carrier’s hazardous materials training program does not 

provide assurance that United States regulatory requirements have been met.

The FAA’s Decision:

In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exemption would not be in the 

public interest. Therefore, pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113 and

44701, delegated to me by the Administrator, the petition of Atlas Air Inc. for an exemption from 

14 CFR § 121.1005(c) is hereby denied.

Issued in Washington, D.C., on August 7, 2014 .

/s/

John Barbagallo

Acting Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service