U.S. Department of 

Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

Of Transportation 

August 23. 2012 

Mr. Jim Buntz 

Senior Vice President of Finance 

Carlsbad-Palomar Airlines. Inc. 

d/b/a California Pacific Airlines 

5670 El Camino Real. SuiteD 

Carlsbad, CA 92008 

-' ~-~~ ( <~ 

" 

1200 New Jersey Ave., S.E. 

washington, DC 20590 

Re: Dockets DOT -OST -2010-0126 and DOT -OST-2010-

0125. Ruling on Motion of Carlsbad-Palomar Airlines, 

Inc. d/b/a California Pacific Airlines for Confidential 

Treatment of Documents 

Dear Mr. Buntz: 

The purpose of this letter is to notify you of our intended ruling on your request for confidential 

treatment of documents filed August 7, 2012, in support the of Carlsbad-Palomar Airlines. Inc. 

d/b/a California Pacific Airlines' ("CP Air") request for a waiver from section 204.7 of our 

rules (14 CFR 204.7). Specifically, CP Air requests that the following material be considered 

for confidential treatment under 14 CFR 302.12 (Rule 12): 

Exhibit 8- First-year Operating Forecast 

Exhibit 9 - Operating expenses to be paid to date and forecasted to first day of service 

Exhibit 10- Audited financials through 2011 and year-to-date P&L for 2012 

Exhibit 11 - Third-party verification of cash balances 

Exhibit 12 - Status of fund raising efforts 

Exhibit 13 - Verification of aircraft leases 

Exhibit 14 - Negotiations for aircraft 2 

Exhibit 15 - Negotiations for aircraft 3 & 4 

Exhibit 16- Statement and supplement of financial information 

Exhibit 17 -Approval from Torrey Pines Bank for $1,000.000 line-of-credit 

Exhibit 18 - Updated Private Placement Memorandum and subscription booklet 

In suppol1 of your request for confidential treatment of the noted documents. you stated that 

these documents include sensitive commercial and/or financial information the public 

disclosure of which could adversely affect CP Air's commercial and financial interest. 
2 

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 standard, information may be withheld from disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) if it is (1) 

commercial or financial, (2) obtained from a person outside the government, and (3) privileged 

or confidential. [Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. v. United States, 615 F.2d 527, 529 (D.C. 

Cir. 1979)]. 

The information identified above clearly meets the first two requirements. The remaining 

question is whether the information is privileged or confidential, that is, whether "disclosure of 

the information is likely to have either of the following effects: (1) impair the Government's 

ability to obtain necessary information; or (2) 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. [Gu~fand Western Industries, Inc. v. United States, 615 F.2d 527, 530)] 

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

disclosure information regarding an applicant's historical or projected financial statements; preoperating and first-year operating expense forecasts; proposed operating plans and related 

statistics; third-party verification of funds or an applicant's funding plans; or information 

pertaining to the ownership of an applicant. Moreover, CP Air's motion provides no indication 

of how public disclosure of any of this type of information would likely result in substantial 

competitive harm. Therefore we have decided to deny CP Air's request to withhold Exhibits 8-

12 and 16-17 from public disclosure. However, the Department will generally grant 

confidential treatment to information pertaining to contractual agreements and negotiations, as 

well as detailed business plans that disclose an applicant's competitive strategy, proposed fares, 

or projected revenues for planned routes. Therefore we will grant CP Air's request to withhold 

Exhibits 13-15 and 18 from public disclosure. 

Under Rule 12, the Department's ruling on a motion 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 CP Air elects to petition the 

Department as to this confidentiality determination, we expect that it will provide a statement 

explaining how the items fall within the exceptions under the Freedom of Information Act and 

is not otherwise required to be filed publicly by all applicants for certificates of public 

convenience and necessity. Responses shall be due within five calendar days of the filing of 

such a petition. 

If CP Air elects not to file a petition, we direct that it file the information 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. 
3 

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. If you have any questions, please feel free to 

contact Damon Walker at (202) 366-7785 or by e-mail at Damon.Walker@dot.gov. 

Chief, Air Carrier Fitness Division 

Air Carrier Fitness Division 

cc: Docket DOT-OST-2010-0126