**Re: Fly**  **Jamaica A irway** **s Limited :**  **Ap plication**  **dated October 11, 2012 for a Foreign A** **ir Carrier Permit pursuant to** 

### 49 U.S.C. **§** 

### 41301 and an **Ap plication for an Exemption from the Foreign A** **ir Carrier Permit requirement pursuant to**  **49 U.S.C. § 40109(c)**
1. I, John Gilmore, am an interested party with respect to the instant application. I have been accepted as an interested party by the Department in other similar proceedings and am party to several such ongoing at this time. 2. I support this application by Fly Jamaica Airways Limited (Fly Jamaica)

. The applicant is an unsubsidized private sector corporation licensed in Jamaica, an IASA Category 1 country and its efforts should be encouraged by the Department in the US public interest and more generally in the interest of broader choice for the travelling public. Historically Caribbean based airlines have been government owned and heavily subsidized and have distorted the competitive landscape inhibiting the emergence of Caribbean based private sector, uns ubsidized airlines and thereby perpetuating the need for the subsidized airlines and the damage they do to their homeland by the diversion of much needed budgetary resources from more pressing social and economic problems. Such subsidized competition cont inues to exist in the US

– Jamaica market which Fly Jamaica seeks authority to serve. Caribbean Airlines, owned by the Governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, is heavily subsidized, paying only $ 1.50 per US Gallon for Jet Fuel on its Trinidad operations and $ 2.34 on its Jamaican operations the difference between that and the current market price of U$ 3.25 being paid to it as a subsidy by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in addition to direct subsidies to cover its ongoing losses. The Governm ent of Jamaica does not contribute to these subsidies. Fly Jamaica will have to deal with this subsidized competition, competition in the form of artificially low prices of which British Airways has recently publicly complained with respect to its London

– Trinidad service. I urge the Department in approving this application to maintain a watching brief on the routes served by Fly Jamaica where it is in competition with Caribbean Airlines to ensure that the latter does not engage in predatory pricing ena bled by its subsidies. 3

. I would make the observation that the applicant has not in its application provided the flight schedule information required by 14 CFR §211.20 (c) (2). This omission makes it difficult to evaluate whether its proposed service is primarily focused on the Jamaica

– US market rather than on the Guyana

- US market via Jamaica. I note that Fly Jamaica’s AOC limits it to the Jamaica

– New York andJamaica

– Guyana routes and that its AOC proving flights under Jamaican CAA

supervision included the Jamaica

– Guyana route. Wh ile Fly Jamaica, as a Jamaican controlled company, would be ineligible for Guyana

– US route authority under the Bermuda I and II ASAs without an waiver of the homeland ownership requirement , I would argue that such an exemption if sought should be granted to encourage such private sectors initiatives. Notwithstanding, any focus on connecting traffic ex Guyana would be no different than the traffic carried by Emirates over Dubai, BA over London, Lufthansa over Frankfurt or Air France/KLM over Paris and Amsterdam. 4. The final point I wish to raise relates to the financial fitness test applied in such foreign air carrier permit and exemption applications. The Department applies a ‘six month zero revenue’ capital requ irement in license applications from US based start up airlines: that the airline have sufficient cash on hand or committed at start up to operate its proposed schedule for six months with no revenues. It would be useful for prospective start up applicants for foreign air carrier permits, as is the case with Fly Jamaica, to know whether that requirement also is applicable them, whether the local CAA certification of fina n cial fitness as part of an IASA Category 1 AOC process is sufficient or whether the re quirement is somewhere between the two.

Respectfully submitted this 25 th day of October , 2012 by and on behalf of

/s/ John Gilmore

_______________________ John Gilmore 48

– 7 St. Antoine We st Montreal, QC H2Z 1G8 514 716 7665 jptgilmore@hotmail.com**CERTIFICA TE OF SERVICE** 

I hereby certify that on this 25th day of October , 201 2 , a copy of this Certificate of Service and of my foregoing Answer to the October 11 , 2012 Application by Fly Jamaica Ai rways Limited for a Foreign Air Carrier Permit pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 41301 and an Application for an Exemption from the Foreign Air Carrier Permit requirement pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 40109(c) was filed on the Docket at www.regulations.gov and served by electronic mail : On Counsel for the Applicant at pmurphy@lopmurphy.com ; on Robert Finamore of the US DOT at robert.finamore@dot.gov ; and, on each of the persons named below in the Service List provided by the Applicant

.
/s/ John Gilmore

_______________________________ John Gilmore 48

– 7 St. Antoine We st Montreal, QC H2Z 1G8 514 716 7665 jptgilmore@hotmail.com
carl.nelson@aa.com ; jrichardson@johnlrichardson.com ; jcanny@amerijet.com ; dan.weiss@united.com ; steve.morrissey@united.com ; jonathan.linde@united.com ; sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com; jeff.morgan@delta.com ; sametta.c.barnett@delta.com; esauer@ssd.com ; msinick@ssd.com; john.fredericksen@suncountry.com ; jyoung@yklaw.com ; anita.mosner@hklaw.com ; jennifer.nowak@hklaw; howard.kass@usairways.com ; mlbenge@zsrlaw.com ; jhfoglia @zsrlaw.com ;