U.S. Department of

Transportation

Office of the Secretary

of Transportation

DEPARTMENT ACTION ON APPLICATION IN DOCKET DOT-OST-2012-0095

(filed June 11, 2012)

Application of Virgin America Inc. (Virgin America) for a blanket Statement of Authorization to permit 

Virgin America to display the “VA” designator code of Virgin Australia International Airlines Pty Ltd.

(Virgin Australia) on Virgin America’s flights between any points in the United States (in conjunction 

with Virgin Australia’s Australia-U.S. services in foreign air transportation either non-stop or via thirdcountry intermediate points). 

Virgin America also requests a waiver of the 45-day advance filing requirement under 

14 CFR Part 212.

1

 Approved under assigned authority (14 CFR §385.13).

 Date of Action: June 26, 2012

This action is subject to the conditions attached (see Appendix A). Persons entitled to petition the Department 

for review of this action under the Department’s regulations, 14 CFR §385.30, should file their petitions within 

seven days of the date of this action. This action is effective immediately, and the filing of a petition for review 

will not alter its effectiveness.

We may amend, modify, or revoke the authority granted at any time without hearing at our discretion.

An electronic version of this document is available on the World Wide Web at

http://www.regulations.gov

 1 Virgin America filed a motion requesting confidential treatment of its unredacted Codeshare Agreement under 14 CFR 

§302.12. We will grant the motion.
APPENDIX A

The statement of authorization is subject to the following conditions:

(a) The statement of authorization will remain in effect only as long as (i) Virgin American and Virgin 

Australia continue to hold the necessary underlying authority to operate the code-share services at issue, 

and (ii) the code-share agreement providing for the code-share operations remains in effect;

(b) Virgin America and/or Virgin Australia must notify the Department no later than 30 days before they 

begin any new code-share service under the code-share services authorized here. Such notice shall 

identify the market(s) to be served and the date on which the service will begin. Such notices should be 

filed in Docket DOT-OST-2012-0095;

2 3

(c) Virgin America and/or Virgin Australia must notify the Department immediately if the code-share 

agreement under which these code-share services are operated is no longer in effect or if the carriers 

decide to cease operating all or a portion of the approved code-share services. Such notices should be 

filed in Docket DOT-OST-2012-0095; 4

(d) The code-sharing operations conducted under this authority must comply with 14 CFR Part 257 and 

with any amendments to the Department's regulations concerning code-share arrangements that may be 

adopted. Notwithstanding any provisions in the contract between the carriers, our approval here is 

expressly conditioned upon the requirements that the subject foreign air transportation be sold in the 

name of the carrier holding out such service in computer reservation systems and elsewhere; that the 

carrier selling such transportation (i.e., the carrier shown on the ticket) accept responsibility for the 

entirety of the code share journey for all obligations established in its contract of carriage with the 

passenger; and that the passenger liability of the operating carrier be unaffected; 

(e) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that neither Virgin America nor Virgin 

Australia shall give any force or effect to any contractual provisions between themselves that are 

contrary to these conditions; and

(f) We may amend, modify, or revoke the authority granted at any time without hearing at our discretion.

 2 See Appendix B for list of initial code-share points. 3 Virgin America provided blanket notification of its intent to display Virgin Australia’s designator code in 

conjunction with foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail held out by Virgin Australia between 

Open-Skies points. We note, however, that the statement of authorization we are granting here is limited, per the 

express terms of Virgin America’s application, to the display of Virgin Australia’s designator code only between 

points in the United States. We will, therefore, disregard the blanket notice as moot. 4 We expect this notification to be received within 10 days of such non-effectiveness or of such decision.
APPENDIX B

Initial code-share points

Display of Virgin Australia’s “VA” Designator Code on Virgin America Operated Flights

Routing:

From/To Los Angeles, California (LAX)

Boston, Massachusetts (BOS)

Chicago, Illinois (ORD)

Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas (DFW)

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (FLL)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (PHL)

Portland, Oregon (PDX)

Seattle, Washington (SEA)

Washington, D.C. (IAD)