Order 2010-11-22

Served: November 19, 2010 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 19th Day of November, 2010

Docket DOT-OST-2009-0155

INTERIM ORDER

In this proceeding, Delta Air Lines and its partners in the Virgin Blue Group (the Applicants) 

are seeking a grant of antitrust immunity for a new alliance. On September 8, 2010, the Department 

issued an Order to Show Cause which tentatively found that their application should be denied for 

several reasons that were discussed in detail in that Order.

1 We will address the comments 

submitted in response to that Order, and render our decision, in a future order.

In their October 13, 2010 pleading, the Applicants generally did not dispute the rationale for the 

Department’s tentative decision to deny their application. Rather, they chose to introduce new 

information and proposed changes to their alliance agreements, including modifications to the 

structure and scope of the alliance, in an effort to address the concerns that had been raised by the 

Department.

2

 The Applicants also proposed commitments to maintain capacity in the market for 

two years following the grant of antitrust immunity.

3

 In addition, they provided a renewed 

commitment and a revised timetable to make the necessary changes to their business processes to 

more capably flow traffic across their respective networks to realize public benefits.4

 1 Show Cause Order 2010-9-4, pp. 5-13.

 Finally, they 

represented that some of these commitments will be implemented in February 2011, at the earliest, 

2 Joint Applicants’ Response to Show Cause Order 2010-9-4, pp. 3-4, 14-19. 3 Joint Applicants’ Response to Show Cause Order 2010-9-4, pp. 5-6, 34-36. 4 Joint Applicants’ Response to Show Cause Order 2010-9-4, pp. 4-5, 24-33.

Joint Application of:

DELTA AIR LINES, INC.

VIRGIN BLUE AIRLINES PTY LTD

VIRGIN BLUE INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES

 PTY LTD D/B/A V AUSTRALIA

PACIFIC BLUE AIRLINES (NZ) LTD

PACIFIC BLUE AIRLINES (AUST) PTY LTD

Under 49 U.S.C. §§ 41308-41309 for approval of 

and antitrust immunity for alliance agreements
2

and offered to demonstrate, prior to any antitrust immunity, that the changes described above have 

been made.5

 

Having thoroughly reviewed the Applicants’ filing, we find that additional action by the 

Applicants, which must be documented, is necessary to enable us to fully and fairly evaluate their 

proposed changes to the alliance. We are, therefore, directing the Applicants to provide the 

following information:

1. Updated and finalized written alliance agreements incorporating the proposed commercial 

changes and capacity commitments;

2. A report on the Navitaire programming and testing process and the date on which the upgrade 

was completed; 

3. A detailed status report on any third-country regulatory or other approvals required to 

implement the revised alliance agreements or an explanation of why approvals are not required; 

and

4. At such time as the Applicants submit the above information, they should also provide the latest 

available passenger and fare data, with additional explanation, to substantiate their assessment 

that market conditions have stabilized.

ACCORDINGLY:

We direct Delta Air Lines, Virgin Blue Airlines, Virgin Blue International Airlines, Pacific Blue 

Airlines (NZ), and Pacific Blue Airlines (Australia) to file the additional information described 

above in the docket.

By:

SUSAN L. KURLAND

Assistant Secretary for Aviation

and International Affairs

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available at: http://www.regulations.gov

 5 Joint Applicants’ Response to Show Cause Order 2010-9-4, pp. 4-5, 24-33.