Order 2012-6-24

Served: June 26, 2012

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

 OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

 WASHINGTON, D.C.

 Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 26th day of June, 2012

________________________________________________

:

ALASKA AIRLINES, INC., ET AL., :

: DOT-OST-2007-27331

v. : 

:

LOS ANGELES WORLD AIRPORTS, ET AL. :

:

FIFTH ORDER GRANTING AN INTERIM STAY OF PROCEEDINGS AND 

EXTENDING DEADLINE

TO FILE PROCEDURAL COMMENTS

By this Order, the United States Department of Transportation (Department) 

grants the June 8, 2012, Request of the Complainants1 and Respondents2 to continue the 

stay of further proceedings in the case and to extend the deadline for filing written 

submissions on certain procedural and evidentiary issues (the “Remanded Issues”)3 for an 

additional 90 days, to September 28, 2012.

 1 The Complainants include certain carriers that operated out of Terminals 1 and 3 at Los Angeles 

International Airport (LAX) at the time the complaint was filed in Docket No. OST-2007-27331, namely 

Southwest Airlines and US Airways at Terminal 1 (T/1 Carriers) and AirTran Airways, ATA Airlines, 

Frontier Airlines, and Midwest Express at Terminal 3 (T/3 Carriers). 

2 The Respondents in this case include the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), operator of Los Angeles 

International Airport (LAX), owned by the City of Los Angeles.

3 The issues remanded to us by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 

Alaska Airlines, Inc., et al. v. U.S. Department of Transportation, 575 F.3d 750 (D.C. Cir. 2009) include:

• Airfield vs. non-airfield space. “We must therefore grant the T1/T3 Airlines’ petition and 

again remand the matter to the DOT either to justify or to abandon its disparate treatment 

of airfield and non-airfield space.”

• Other aeronautical uses of terminal space. “We grant the City’s petition in this respect 

and direct the DOT on remand, either to justify or to abandon its objection to the City’s 

considering non-aeronautical uses when setting terminal rents based upon FMV.”

• Burden of persuasion on rentable space. “We therefore grant the City’s petition to the 

extent of directing the DOT on remand to revisit the T1/T3 Airlines’ complaint of 
2

Neither Airports Council International-NA (ACI-NA) nor Airlines for America 

(A4A, previously called Air Transport Association) filed objections or comments to the 

parties’ request. 

We are heartened to learn, by the June 8 Joint Report on the Status of Settlement 

Discussions, that Southwest Airlines (and AirTran Airways, a wholly-owned subsidiary 

of Southwest) and LAWA are actively engaged in discussions on the terms of a potential 

settlement agreement that could result in the dismissal of these air carriers’ claims in this 

docket. Accordingly, because of our continued wish to encourage a local settlement of 

the remaining remanded issues, we are willing to grant the relief requested. We will 

continue to require the parties to report to us on settlement discussions during this time 

period, in order to keep the Department apprised of the progress of the negotiations. The 

next status report will be due by September 7, 2012.

Accordingly, 

1. We grant the June 8, 2012 Joint Request;

2. We stay the proceeding on remand until September 28, 2012, during which time

the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), on the one hand, and any or all of the 

T1/T3 Carriers, on the other hand, will attempt to resolve the remaining remanded 

issues described in Order 2009-11-24 at 2-3, namely Paragraphs No. 1 (Airfield 

vs. non-airfield space), 2 (Other aeronautical uses of terminal space), 4 (Burden of 

persuasion on rentable space) and 5 (Monopoly power);

 

discrimination and to apply to them the burden of persuasion that their disparate 

treatment is unjust.”

• Monopoly power. “On remand the DOT must explain why this case does not present the 

‘extraordinary situation’ in which alleged monopoly power is relevant to a fee dispute or, 

if it cannot, then go on to consider whether LAX had monopoly power in a relevant 

geographic market.”

See, DOT Order 2009-11-24 (Nov. 24, 2009).
3

3. We order the T1/T3 Carriers and the LAWA to file a written status report as to the 

progress of their settlement discussions by September 7, 2012. 
4

SO ORDERED 

 

By:

 

ROBERT LETTENEY

 Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation

 and International Affairs

(SEAL)

Dated

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

http://dms.dot.gov//reports/reports_ aviation.asp

DOT-OST-2007-27331

We served a copy of this Order on June 26, 2012, on the persons listed in the Service 

List.

SERVICE LIST 

U.S. DOT Dockets 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., 

Washington, DC 20590

Steve S. Rosenthal, Esq. 

Jefferey A. Tomasevich, Esq. 

J.D. Taliaferro, Esq. 

KAYE SCHOLER LLP 

901 Fifteenth Street, N.W., Suite 1100

Washington, DC 20005-2327

srosenthal@kayescholer.com;jtomasevich@kayescholer.com;

jtaliaferro@kayscholer.com

TEL: (202) 682-3500 FAX: (202) 682-3580

M. Roy Goldberg

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton 

1300 I Street, N.W., Suite 1100 East 

Washington, DC 20005-3314

rgoldberg@sheppardmullin.com

TEL: (202) 218-0007 FAX: (202) 218-0020
5

Robert S. Kneisley

 Associate General Counsel

Leslie Abbott

 Attorney

Southwest Airlines Co.

1901 L Street, NW

Suite 640

Washington, DC 20036

Howard Kass

Vice President, Legal Affairs

US Airways Group, Inc.

1401 H Street, NW

Suite 1075

Washington, DC 20005

Keith Loveless

General Counsel

Alaska Airlines, Inc.

19300 International Boulevard

Seattle, WA 98188-5303

Jacqueline Peter

Counsel

Frontier Airlines, Inc.

7001 Tower Road

Denver, CO 80249

Steve Rossum

Executive Vice President & General Counsel 

Air Tran Airways, Inc.

9955 AirTran Boulevard

Orlando FL 32827

Edward P. Faberman

Wiley Rein LLP

1776 K Street, NW

Washington, DC 20006
6

Carmen A. Trutanich

 Los Angeles City Attorney

Raymond S. Ilgunas, Esq. 

 General Counsel of LAWA

City of Los Angeles Attorney’s Office 

Los Angeles World Airports 

One World Way 

Los Angeles, CA 90045

rilgunas@lawa.org

;c.trutanich@lacity.org 

TEL: (424) 646-5010; FAX: (424) 646-9617

David A. Berg, Esq. 

Vice President & General Counsel 

Airlines for America

1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 

Washington, DC 20004

dberg@airlines.org

TEL: (202) 626-4234 FAX: (202) 626-4139

Robert P. Silverberg, Esq. 

Silverberg, Goldman & Bikoff, LLP

1101 30th Street, N.W. Suite 120

Washington, DC 20007

rsilverberg@sgbdc.com

TEL: (202) 944-3300 FAX: (202) 944-3306

Scott P. Lewis, Esq.

Anderson & Kreiger LLP 

One Canal Park, Suite 200

Cambridge, MA 02141

slewis@andersonkreiger.com

TEL: (617) 621-6560 FAX: (617) 621-6501

Monica Hargrove Kemp, Esq.

General Counsel 

Airports Council International – North America

1775 K Street, N.W. 

Washington, DC 20006

mkemp@aci-na.org; 

TEL: (202) 293-8500 FAX: (202) 331-1362

Nancy Kessler, Esq. 

Office of General Counsel 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. 

Washington, DC 20590

Nancy.kessler@dot.gov

TEL: (202) 366-9287 FAX: (202) 493-0154
7

The Honorable Richard C. Goodwin

Administrative Law Judge

Office of Hearings, M-20, Room 5411

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. 

Washington, DC 20590

Richard.goodwin@dot.gov;ira.leibowitz@dot.gov;patricia.matthews@dot.gov

TEL: (202) 366-2139; (202) 366-2139 Legal Assistant (202) 366-5121 FAX: (202) 

366-7536

Rosalind A. Knapp 

Deputy General Counsel 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., W92-312

Washington, DC 20590

Lindy.knapp@dot.gov 

TEL: (202) 366-4713

Paul M. Geier

Assistant General Counsel for Litigation 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., W94-310

Washington, DC 20590

Paul.geier@dot.gov

TEL: (202) 366-4731

Robert Letteney

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation 

 And International Affairs

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., W88-324 

Washington, DC 20590

Robert.letteney@dot.gov

TEL: (202) 366-4551 

Dana Gresham 

Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., W85-332

Washington, DC 20590

dana.gresham@dot.gov

TEL: (202) 366-4573
8

Sasha Johnson

Assistant Secretary and Director of Public Affairs

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., W93-310

Washington, DC 20590

Sasha.johnson@dot.gov

Bill Mosley

Public Relations 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., W93-501

Washington, DC 20590

Bill.mosley@dot.gov 

TEL: (202) 366-5582