BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

) 

Application of ) 

) 

ALASKA CENTRAL EXPRESS, INC. ) Docket DOT-OST-1996-1657 

) 

for reissuance of its certificate of public ) 

convenience and necessity pursuant to ) 

49 U.S.C. § 41102 ) 

) 

MOTION OF ALASKA CENTRAL EXPRESS, INC. 

FOR CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT PURSUANT TO RULE 12 

Communications with respect to this document may be served upon: 

Michael A. Bergt 

President 

ALASKA CENTRAL EXPRESS, INC. 

5901 Lockheed Avenue 

Anchorage, Alaska 99502 

Date: December 22, 2010 

Robert P. Silverberg, Esq. 

SILVERBERG, GOLDMAN & 

BIKOFF, L.L.P. 

1101 30th Street, N.W. 

Suite 120 

Washington, D.C. 20007 

Tel: (202) 944-3300 

Fax: (202) 944-3306 

Email: rsilverberg@sgbdc.com 

Attorneys for 

ALASKA CENTRAL EXPRESS, INC. 

'" ..., , . '-

T' 
BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

) 

Application of ) 

) 

ALASKA CENTRAL EXPRESS, INC. ) 

) 

for reissuance of its certificate of public ) 

convenience and necessity pursuant to ) 

49 U.S.C. § 41102 ) 

) 

Docket DOT-OST-1996-1657 

MOTION OF ALASKA CENTRAL EXPRESS, INC. 

FOR CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT PURSUANT TO RULE 12 

Alaska Central Express, Inc. ("Alaska Central") hereby moves, pursuant to Rule 

12 of the Department's Rules of Practice (14 C.F.R. § 302.12), to withhold from public 

disclosure certain confidential financial information being filed under seal herewith. 

In response to a letter request from the Department of Transportation, dated 

December 17, 2010, Alaska Central is filing concurrently in this Docket a letter 

containing certain additional information in support of its November 12, 2010 application 

for a fitness determination and reissuance of its certificate of public convenience and 

necessity to permit Alaska Central to engage in scheduled interstate air transportation of 

passengers. Alaska Central hereby requests confidential treatment of the revenue and net 

income projections included in the forecast profit and loss statement for its proposed 

scheduled passenger operations, which are being submitted to the Department in response 

to DOT's December 17th letter. The forecast profit and loss statement is enclosed in the 

attached sealed envelope. 
Motion of Alaska Central Express, Inc. 

December 22,2010 

Page 2 

In further support of this motion, Alaska Central states as follows: 

Pursuant to 14 C.F.R. § 302.12, participants in any proceeding before the 

Department may request that information submitted to the Department not be disclosed to 

the public if that information falls within one of the exemptions from disclosure in the 

Freedom ofInformation Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(l)-(9) ("FOIA"). Alaska Central submits 

that the information for which it seeks confidential treatment falls within § 552(b)(4) of 

FOIA ("Exemption 4"). 

Exemption 4 protects from disclosure "trade secrets and commercial or financial 

information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential." Exemption 4 has 

been held to include "information that is not the type usually released to the public and is 

of the type that, if released to the public, would cause substantial harm to the competitive 

position of the person from whom the information was obtained." Gulf & Western 

Industries, Inc. v. United States, 615 F.2d 527, 530 (D.C. Cir. 1980); see also American 

Airlines, Inc. v. NMB, 588 F.2d 863, 871 (2nd Cir. 1978); National Parks & Conservation 

Ass'n. v. Kleppe, 547 F.2d 673, 684 (D.C. Cir. 1976); Joint Application of Delta and 

Virgin Atlantic, Order 94-5-42 (May 28, 1994); Joint Application of United and 

Lufthansa, Order 93-12-32 (December 18, 1993); Joint Application of Northwest and 

KLM, Order 93-1-11 (January 8, 1993). Exemption 4 is designed "to protect the 

confidentiality of information which citizens provide to their government, but which 

would customarily not be released to the public, and to facilitate citizens' ability to 

confide in their government." Burke Energy Corp. v. Dept. of Energy, 583 F.Supp. 507, 
Motion of Alaska Central Express, Inc. 

December 22,2010 

Page 3 

510 (D. Kan. 1984); Sterling Drug, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, 450 F.2d 698,709 

(D.C. Cir. 1971). 

In order to fall within Exemption 4, the information at issue must be: (l) 

commercial or financial in nature; (2) obtained from a person outside the government; 

and (3) privileged or confidential. See Public Citizen Health Research Group v. FDA, 

704 F.2d 1280, 1290 (D.C. Cir. 1983); Gulf & Western, 615 F.2d at 529. The 

information for which confidential treatment is sought in this motion clearly meets this 

three-part test. 

With respect to the first prong of the test, the information for which Alaska 

Central seeks confidential treatment is clearly commercial or financial in nature (i.e., 

revenue and net income projections contained in a profit and loss statement). 

With respect to the second prong of the confidentiality test, it is axiomatic that the 

information at issue has been "obtained from a person outside the government" having 

been submitted to the Department by Alaska Central. 

Finally, with respect to the third element of the test (the "confidential" nature of 

the information), the D.C. Circuit has held that a commercial or financial matter is 

"confidential" for purposes of Exemption 4 if it would not customarily be released to the 

public by the person from whom it was obtained and if disclosure of the information is 

likely to have either of the following effects: (l) to impair the Government's ability to 

obtain necessary information in the future; or (2) to cause substantial harm to the 

competitive position of the person from whom the information was obtained. National 

Parks & Conservation Ass'n. v. Morton, 498 F.2d 765, 770 (D.C. Cir. 1974). 
Motion of Alaska Central Express, Inc. 

December 22, 2010 

Page 4 

Alaska Central submits that the information for which confidential treatment is 

sought herein clearly meets the definition of "confidential." This type of forecast revenue 

information is highly proprietary and confidential, and would not normally be made 

available to the public. Nevertheless, Alaska Central is providing this confidential 

information to the Department so that the DOT can fulfill its statutory duty to assess the 

fitness of Alaska Central to initiate scheduled passenger operations. 

In addition, disclosure of this information would cause substantial harm to the 

competitive position of Alaska Central. Knowledge of such detailed financial 

information would permit a competitor to make strategic judgments - to the detriment of 

Alaska Central - based on data that it would not otherwise have access to. Indeed, the 

Department has previously granted confidential treatment to revenue projections 

contained in a forecast profit and loss statement submitted by Alaska Central in 

connection with its prior application for passenger charter authority. See Order to Show 

Cause Proposing Reissuance of Certificate, Order 2007-3-25, issued March 30, 2007, 

page 7. Moreover, disclosure of this information might impair the Government's ability 

to obtain similar information from air carriers in the future thus hindering the 

Government's ability to assess the fitness of other carriers. 
Motion of Alaska Central Express, Inc. 

December 22, 2010 

Page 5 

WHEREFORE, Alaska Central Express, Inc. respectfully moves the Department 

of Transportation, pursuant to Rule 12 of the Department's Rules of Practice, to withhold 

from public disclosure the confidential financial information that is being submitted 

under seal with this motion. 

Respectfully submitted, 

SILVERBERG, GOLDMAN & BIKOFF, L.L.P. 

Attorneys for 

ALA ENTRAL EXPRESS, INC. 

By: 

Dated: December 22,2010 
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I hereby certify that I have on this 22nd day of December 2010, served the 

foregoing Motion of Alaska Central Express, Inc. for Confidential Treatment by firstclass mail on the following: 

Hugh A. McLaughlin 

Manager, Flight Standards District Office 

Federal Aviation Administration 

300 West 36th Avenue, Suite #101 

Anchorage, Alaska 99503 

Ms. Dee Rice 

Principal Operations Inspector 

Federal Aviation Administration 

300 West 36th Avenue, Suite #101 

Anchorage, Alaska 99503 

Marc Luiken 

Deputy Commissioner of Aviation 

Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities 

P.O. Box 112500 

Juneau, AK 99811-2500