BEFORE THE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRAN S PORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON D

. C

.

________________________________ _____ _____ )

Application of )

)

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO

. )

) Docket No. OST

- 201 5

-

f or an exemption pursuant to 49 U.S.C § 40109 )

t o engage in foreign scheduled air transportation )

of persons, property and mail between Denver, )

Colorado and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico )

(DEN

– PVR) )

_____________________________________ _____ )

APPLICATION OF SOUTH W EST AIR LINES CO

.

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to:

Ron Ricks Robert W. Kneisley

Executive Vice President & Associate General Counsel

Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer Leslie C. Abbott

Mark Shaw Senior Attorney

Vice President General Counsel & SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.

Corporate Secretary 919 18th Street , N.W. , Suite 600

Washington, D.C. 200 0 6

bob.kneisley@wnco.com

(202) 263

- 6284

April 14

, 201 5

NOTICE : Any person may file an answer to this a pplication in this docket and

served on the persons listed above, on or before April 29 , 2015

. Southwest will

poll the U.S. carriers on the attached service list and will notify the Department of

the results as soon as possible.1 BEFORE THE

U.S. DEPARTMEN T OF TRAN S PORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON D

. C

.

________________________________ _____ _____ )

Application of )

)

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. )

) Docket No. OST

- 2015

-

f or an exemption pursuant to 49 U.S.C § 40109 )

to engage in foreign scheduled air transportation )

of persons, property and mail between Denver, )

Colorado and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico )

(DEN

– PVR) )

_____________________________________ _____ )

APPLICATION OF SOUTH W EST A IRLINES CO

.

Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 40109 and Subpart C of the Department’s Rules of

Practice, Southwest Airlines Co. (“Southwest” or “the Company” ) hereby applies for an

exemption from 49 U.S.C. § 41101 authorizing Southwest to engage in scheduled

foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail between Denver International

Airport (“DEN”) and Lic. Gustavo Diaz Ordaz International Airport in Puerto Vallarta,

Mexico (“PVR”)

.

Assuming receipt of all necessary approv als, Southwest proposes to begin

selling DEN

- PVR service on May 14, 2015 for flights commencing on or about

November 2

, 2015

. Southwest requests that the exemption authority specified in th is

application be granted as soon as possible for a period of at least two years.

In support of this application, Southwest states the following :

1. Southwest is a Texas corporation with its principal place of business at 2702

Love Field Drive, Dallas, Texas, 75235

.2 2. Southwest is a citizen of the United States as defined by Section 40102(a)(15) of

Title 49 of the United States Code and Section 204.2(c) of the Department’s Economic

Regulations. Southwest’s president and at least two

- thirds of its board of directors and

other manag ing officers are citizens of the United States. Southwest is under the actual

control of citizens of the United States and more than 75 percent of its voting interest is

owned or controlled by persons that are citizens of the United States.

3. Southwest is fit, willing and able to conduct the services described in this

application. Southwest commenced commercial service in 1971 as an intrastate airline,

and has operated as a U.S. certificated air carrier since 1979. Southwest requests that

the Department take official notice pursuant to Rule 24 of the Department’s Rules of

Practice ( 14 CFR § 302.24 ) of Southwest's Certificate of Public Convenience and

Necessity for Interstate Air Transportation, originally issued by Order 79

- 6

- 187, and

subsequently amended by Order 86

- 5

- 60 (May 15, 1986), Order 98

- 7

- 6 (July 8, 1998),

and Order 2005

- 12

- 4 (December 9, 2005). Southwest h as consistently maintained its

c ertificate in good standing for the past 3 6 years.

4. Furthermore, Southwest already holds exemption authorities from the

Department authorizing service in numerous U.S.

– Mexico markets

, including BWI

CUN, AUS

- CUN, AUS

- SJD, DEN

- CUN, MKE

- CUN, MDW

- CUN, SAT

- MEX, SA T

- CUN,

SNA

- MEX

, and SNA

- SJD

, 1 as well as countries in the Caribbean, including Aruba, the

Bahamas, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. 2 Pursuant to Rule 24

, Southwest

asks the Department to take off icial notice of all data on file necessary to establish

Southwest ’s fitness

.

1 See Notice of Action Taken issued October 23, 2013 in Docket DOT

- OST

- 2013

- 018 0

. 2 See Notice of Action Taken issued October 23, 2013 in Docket DOT

- OST

- 2013

- 0181.3 5. Southwest proposes to commence service between DEN and PVR on or about

November 2 , 2015 with daily service using Stage III Boeing 737

- 700 aircraft configured

for 143 seats

.

6. The requested exemption authority is fully consistent with the terms of the U.S.

-

Mexico Air Transport Agreement (Agreement) as amended by the two governments on

December 12, 2005. The Agreement authorizes carriers designated by the U.S. to

operate “[f]rom a point or points in the United States to a point or points in Mexico.”

Annex I(A)(1)(a). Pursuant to the amended Agreement, three U.S. carrier designations

are authorized on the DEN

– PVR route . Annex I(B)(5). The only carriers currently

holding designations on this route are United Airlines, Inc. and Frontier Airlines

.

T herefore one U.S. carrier designation is available

.

7. Southwest is the largest U.S. airline based on domestic passengers and carries

the highest number of local Denver passengers of any airline

. 3 Southwest offers 185

daily flights to 58 cities from DEN including two cities in Mexico: San Jose del Cabo

(“SJD”) and Cancun (“CUN”). Southwest’s proposed new international service at DEN

w ill provide consumers with another flight option and important low

- fare competition on

this route, particularly because it appears that Frontier is ceasing its DEN

- PVR service

at the end of this month. 4 Southwest’ s daily, low

- fare, large

- jet service in this market is

clearly is in the public interest.

8. The environmental impact of Southwest ’s propose d service is de minimis , and

will therefore not lead to a near

- term annual increase in aircraft fuel consumption of 10

million gallons or more. Accordingly , grant of this application will not constitute a “major

3 U.S. DOT, O&D Survey, YE Q3 2014, via Diio.

4 Based on Innovata Schedule D ata , April 9, 2015

.4 regulatory action” within the meaning of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975

or Part 313 of the Department’s Economic Regulations.

9. Southwest will accept and comply with the terms and conditions that the

Department routinely imposes on exemption authority for scheduled foreign air

transportation.

WHEREFORE, Southwest requests that the Department act expeditiously in

granting the requested exemptio n authority to enable Southwest to engage in scheduled

foreign air transportation of persons, property and mail between Denver, Colorado and

Puerto Vallarta , Mexico as described above.

Respectfully submitted,

______________________ Robert W. Kneisley

April 14 , 20155 C ERTIFICATE OF SERVIC E

I hereby certify that on April 14 , 2015 , a copy of the foregoing was served via e

mail on the following persons:

dheffernan@cozen.com (Alaska Airlines)

jeremey.ross@alaskaair.com (Alaska Airlines)

howard.kass@aa.com (American Airlines)

robert.wirick@aa.com (Ame rican Airlines)

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com (Delta Air Lines)

chris.walker@delta.com (Delta Air Lines)

matwood@cozen.com (Frontier Airlines)

stephen.lachter@cozen.com (Frontier Airlines)

robert.land@jetblue.com (JetBlue Airways)

jhill@cooley.com (JetBlue Airways)

perkmann@cooley.com (JetBlue Airways)

robert.cohn@hoganlovells.com (Republic Airways)

patrick.rizzi@hoganlovells.com (Republic Airways)

dkirstein@yklaw.com (Spirit Airlines)

jyoung@yklaw.com (Spirit Airli nes)

thomas.ting@suncountry.com (Sun Country Airlines)

dan.weiss@united.com (United Air l ines)

thomas.bolling@united.com (United Airlines)

gmurphy@crowell.com (United Airlines)

sseiden@crowell.com (United Airlines)

john.varley@virginamerica.com (Virgin America)

susan.kurland@dot.gov

brian.hedberg@dot.gov

reese.davidson@dot.gov

brett.kruger@dot.gov

robert.finamore@dot.gov

todd.homan@dot.gov

peter.irvine@dot.gov

cristinasa@state.gov

info@airlineinfo.com

__________________________ Leslie C. Abbot t