BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Slot Exemption Proceeding 

at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 41718(b) 

Docket DOT-OST-2000-7182 

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE 

AND SURREPLY OF THE CITY OF HOUSTON 

AND THE GREATER HOUSTON PARTNERSHIP

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to: 

Mario C. Diaz 

 Director 

Ian Wadsworth 

 Chief Commercial Officer 

Department of Aviation 

CITY OF HOUSTON 

16930 John F. Kennedy Blvd. 

Houston, TX 77032 

(281) 233-3000 

(281) 233-1859 (fax) 

Robert Harvey 

 President and Chief Executive Officer 

GREATER HOUSTON PARTNERSHIP 

1200 Smith Street, Suite 700 

Houston, TX 77002 

(713) 844-3600 

(713) 844-0200 (fax) 

Rachel B. Trinder 

Jol A. Silversmith 

ZUCKERT, SCOUTT & 

 RASENBERGER, L.L.P. 

888 Seventeenth Street, N.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20006-3309 

(202) 973-7927 

(202) 342-0683 (fax) 

rbtrinder@zsrlaw.com

jasilversmith@zsrlaw.com

For the City of Houston 

 and the Greater Houston Partnership 

Dated: January 16, 2013 
BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Slot Exemption Proceeding 

at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 41718(b) 

Docket DOT-OST-2000-7182 

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE AND 

SURREPLY OF THE CITY OF HOUSTON 

AND THE GREATER HOUSTON PARTNERSHIP

The City of Houston and the Greater Houston Partnership (collectively, “Houston” 

or the “Houston Parties”) respectfully seek leave to file an otherwise unauthorized 

document pursuant to 14 C.F.R. § 302.6, namely this surreply to the opposition and 

reply filed in this docket on January 10, 2013 by JetBlue.1

This surreply has the very limited purpose of alerting the Department to 

misstatements of authority and the record, which clearly constitutes the good cause 

required by the rules of practice. As the Department is aware, § 302.6 motions are 

routinely granted. See, e.g., Order 2012-7-26, at 21 (accepting all unauthorized 

documents filed in prior DCA slot exemption proceeding, which also did not specifically 

provide for reply comments). Southwest and Houston are entitled to a decision that is 

based on an accurate record, and Houston has no doubt that the Department also 

wishes to ensure such accuracy. Houston hopes that further filings on this matter will 

not be necessary. 

 

1

 Common names are used for carriers and airports. 
Motion for Leave to File and Surreply of the City 

of Houston and the Greater Houston Partnership 

Page 2

1. JetBlue’s January 10, 2013 reply does not take issue with Houston and 

Southwest’s demonstration that JetBlue’s references to the Congressional 

Record were misleading. Indeed it could not, since the details of those 

references are what they are. Regrettably, however, JetBlue does proffer a 

further Congressional quotation, that again is cited in a context that is 

misleading. On page 6 of its filing, JetBlue references a statement by former 

Senator Robert Byrd that “slots within the perimeter will be reserved for flights 

to small communities.”2 In fact, however, a restriction reserving those slots 

solely for flights to small communities appears neither in the text of the 

amendment then under consideration by the Senate,3

 nor in the statute as 

subsequently adopted and currently in effect.

4

 Indeed, one of the sponsors of 

the amendment specifically noted that the slot exemptions would be available 

for service to “medium hubs or smaller airports from Reagan National.”5 As 

previously established by Houston in its reply, Hobby is a qualifying mediumhub airport (see p. 2). In any event, as also noted in Houston’s reply (see p. 

5), the slot exemptions reserved for small airports are not at issue in this 

proceeding. 

 

2

 145 Cong. Rec. S11911 (October 5, 1999); attached as Exhibit HOU-S-101. 

3

 145 Cong. Rec. S11884 (October 4, 1999); attached as Exhibit HOU-S-102. 

4

 Indeed, the amendment then under consideration did not even contain the language that would later 

appear at 49 U.S.C. § 41718(c)(3)(A), providing that certain slot exemptions would be reserved for small 

hubs and nonhubs (i.e., that reservation of four exemptions was only later added to AIR-21) – and as 

noted elsewhere, those slots are not under consideration in this proceeding. 

5

 145 Cong. Rec. S11852 (October 4, 1999) (emphasis added); attached as Exhibit HOU-S-103. 
Motion for Leave to File and Surreply of the City 

of Houston and the Greater Houston Partnership 

Page 3

2. In its January 10, 2013 reply, JetBlue objects to Houston’s “quote” in a heading 

addressing JetBlue’s assertion that granting Southwest’s Hobby application 

would contravene congressional intent and exceed the Department’s discretion, 

on the grounds that the “quote” refers to JetBlue’s assertions against US 

Airways, not Southwest. See id. at fn.1. In fact, JetBlue made similar assertions 

with respect to both Southwest and US Airways, and it is regrettable that JetBlue 

apparently did not understand that the reference was not a quotation but rather a 

standard grammatical usage (i.e., the use of inverted commas) for emphasis and 

to capture a concept. A quotation would have necessitated a citation, which was 

not provided. The irony is that, despite its current protestations, in its December 

19, 2012 response JetBlue in fact took the position that an award to Southwest 

would both contravene Congressional intent and exceed the Department’s 

discretion. Using direct quotations from JetBlue’s filing with respect to 

Southwest: 

 “[G]ranting Southwest’s application to serve Houston ... would be 

inconsistent with a fundamental Congressional directive.” Id. at 2. 

 “Southwest’s proposal is inconsistent with the statutory direction 

that the Department foster service to small communities.” Id. at 6-

7. 

 “Granting Southwest’s Application would undermine a critical 

Congressional mandate when enacting AIR-21.” Id. at 18. 

In short, inverted commas aside, JetBlue did in fact assert that Southwest’s 

application would contravene congressional intent and exceed the Department’s 

discretion, and thus the header was entirely accurate and certainly not egregious. 
Motion for Leave to File and Surreply of the City 

of Houston and the Greater Houston Partnership 

Page 4

WHEREFORE, as before, the Houston Parties request that the Department grant 

their motion, incorporate the corrections stated above into its deliberations, and award 

the two slot exemptions at issue in this proceeding to Southwest for DCA-HOU service. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Rachel B. Trinder 

Jol A. Silversmith 

ZUCKERT, SCOUTT & 

 RASENBERGER, L.L.P. 

888 Seventeenth Street, N.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20006-3309 

(202) 973-7927 

(202) 342-0683 (fax) 

rbtrinder@zsrlaw.com

jasilversmith@zsrlaw.com

For the City of Houston 

 and the Greater Houston Partnership 

Dated: January 16, 2013 
Exhibit HOU-S-101 

Statement of Senator Byrd – 145 Cong. Rec. S11911 (October 5, 1999) 
Exhibit HOU-S-102 

Excerpt from Gorton-Rockefeller Amendment – 145 Cong. Rec. S11884 (October 4, 1999) 
Exhibit HOU-S-103 

Excerpt from Statement of Senator Gorton – 145 Cong. Rec. S11852 (October 4, 1999) 
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I certify that on this 16th day of January 2013, a copy of the foregoing was 

served on the parties named below in accordance with the Department’s Rules of 

Practice. 

Jol A. Silversmith 

Ron Ricks 

 Executive Vice President – Chief 

 Legal and Regulatory Officer 

Madeleine Johnson 

 Vice President – General Counsel 

Robert W. Kneisley 

 Associate General Counsel 

Leslie Abbott 

 Senior Attorney 

Southwest Airlines Co. 

ron.ricks@wnco.com

madeleine.johnson@wnco.com

bob.kneisley@wnco.com

leslie.abbott@wnco.com

Howard Kass 

 Vice President, Legal and 

 Government Affairs 

Benjamin Slocum 

 Director, Legal and Government 

 Affairs 

US Airways, Inc.

howard.kass@usairways.com

benjamin.slocum@usairways.com

Jonathan B. Hill 

J. Parker Erkmann 

Counsel for JetBlue Airways 

 Corporation 

jhill@dowlohnes.com

perkmann@dowlohnes.com

Dan Weiss 

 Managing Director, International and 

 Regulatory Affairs 

United Continental Holdings, Inc. 

dan.weiss@united.com

John E. Potter 

 President and Chief Executive Officer 

Quince Brinkley 

 Vice President and Secretary 

Metropolitan Washington Airports 

 Authority 

john.potter@mwaa.com

quince.brinkley@mwaa.com

Steve Grossman 

 Executive Director – Chief Executive 

 Officer 

Jacksonville Aviation Authority 

steve.grossman@flyjacksonville.com

Mark Kranenburg 

 Director 

Oklahoma City Department of 

 Airports

mark.kranenburg@okc.gov

todd.homan@dot.gov

susan.kurland@dot.gov

esta.rosenberg@dot.gov

barbara.hairston@dot.gov

info@airlineinfo.com