U.S. Department of 

Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

Of Transportation 

February 4, 2014 

Mr. JE Murdock III 

Counsel for Pentastar Aviation Charter, Inc. 

5034 Nebraska Ave., NW 

Washington, DC 20008 

Re: Docket DOT-OST-2014-0004 

·-- L; 

1200 New Jersey Ave., S.E. 

Washington, DC 20590 

Motion ofPentastar Aviation Charter, Inc., for Confidential Treatment of Documents 

Dear Mr. Murdock: 

We are currently reviewing the application of Pentastar Aviation Charter, Inc. ("PACI"), in 

Docket DOT-OST-2014-0004 for commuter authority. The purpose of this letter is to notify you of 

our intended ruling on your request for confidential treatment of documents filed in support of this 

application. 

On January 14, 2014, PACI filed a motion requesting that Attachment K, page 20 which shows the 

income statement for the first two quarters of 2013, be afforded confidential treatment under 14 

CFR § 302.12 ("Rule 12"). 

In support of your request for confidential treatment, you state that the documents P ACI requests to 

withhold from public disclosure are commercial, financial data which competitors could use to bid 

against PACI for other public charters and/or possible scheduled service markets. Further, you state 

that disclosure would harm PACI's ability to compete effectively. Lastly, you contend that the 

information in this exhibit is highly detailed and would not otherwise be made accessible to persons 

outside the company. 

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 if it is "( 1) commercial or financial, (2) obtained from 

a person outside the government, and (3) privileged or confidential." [Gulf & Western Industries, 

Inc. v. US., 615 F.2d 527, 529 (D.C. Cir. 1979).] 

The information sought to be withheld from disclosure clearly meets the first two requirements. 

The only question, therefore, is whether the information is privileged or confidential--whether 

"disclosure of the information is likely tp have either of the following effects: (1) to impair the 

government's ability to obtain necessary information in the future; or (2) to cause substantial harm 
2 

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. [Gulf & Western Industries, Inc. v. US., supra, 615 F.2d at 530.] 

It is not the Department's practice to withhold from public disclosure information regarding an 

applicant's current and/or historical financial statements. The Department uses the financial 

information contained in these statements to determine the financial viability of an applicant and to 

calculate any negative working capital, which is included in our financial fitness test. Moreover, we 

note that P ACI' s financial statements neither contain detailed expense categories, such as aircraft 

lease, fuel, hangar expenses, nor any explanatory footnotes that describe the basis for the amounts 

shown. Therefore, we deny the company's request. 

Under Rule 12, a Department ruling on motions 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 P ACI elects to petition the Department as to this 

confidentiality determination, we expect that it will provide a statement explaining how the item 

falls within the exceptions under the Freedom of Information Act and is not otherwise required to be 

filed publicly by all applicants for commuter authority. Responses shall be due within five calendar 

days of the filing of such a petition. 

If P ACI 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. In addition, once this matter is satisfactorily resolved, P ACI can expect to receive a 

request for additional and/or clarifying information needed in connection with its application. 

If you have any questions regarding this letter, please feel free to contact me or Shabu Thomas of 

my staff at (202)-366-9721. 

. ynJ. Remo 

Chief, Air Carrier Fitness Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

cc: Docket DOT-OST-2014-0004 

Mr. Bartholomew M. Angle 

POI for Pentastar Aviation Charter, Inc.