AFS-16-9305-E

July 22, 2016

 Exemption No. 5487L

 Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2002-12455

Mr. Jeff Miller

Managing Director Flight Operations

Airlines for America

1275 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 1300

Washington, DC 20004

Dear Mr. Miller:

This letter is to inform you that we have granted your petition to extend Exemption No. 5487, as 

amended. It explains the basis for our decision, describes its effect, and lists the conditions and 

limitations.

The Basis for Our Decision

By letter dated February 4, 2016, you petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on 

behalf of Airlines for America (A4A), for an extension and amendment to Exemption No. 5487, 

as amended. That exemption from §§ 61.3(a) and (c), 63.3(a), and 121.383(a)(2) of Title 14, 

Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) allows an air carrier to issue written confirmation of an 

FAA-issued crewmember certificate to a flight crewmember employed by that air carrier based 

on information in the air carrier’s approved record system.

In your petition, you indicate that there has been no change in the conditions and reasons relative 

to public interest and safety that were the basis for granting the original exemption.

You requested an amendment to allow the temporary confirmation to be provided through an 

electronic document. The FAA found that this amendment would be precedent setting and 

published a summary of the petition in the Federal Register on April 15, 2016 (78 FR 23799). 

In order to expedite the issuance of the extension before the exemption expires on July 31, 

2016, A4A withdrew its request for the amendment. The FAA is prepared to consider the 
2

requested amendment when A4A resubmits its petition after receiving an extension to 

Exemption No. 5487.

As a separate issue, when A4A previously petitioned for this exemption, the FAA granted relief 

to the petitioner’s member airlines, as well as to all other “similarly situated” air carriers, which 

included any air carrier operating under the provisions of part 121 in Exemption No. 5487. 

However, in an effort to manage exemptions granted by the FAA and to facilitate operator 

compliance with the conditions and limitations of a grant of exemption, the FAA is no longer 

including “similarly situated air carriers” in grants of exemption. 

In order for any air carrier that is not a member or associate member of A4A to exercise the 

relief provided by this grant of exemption, the carrier must submit a petition for similar relief

that references Exemption No. 5487. After analysis of the petition, if appropriate, the FAA will 

amend Attachment 1 to Exemption No. 5487 to include the additional air carrier. An air carrier 

may only exercise the relief provided by this grant of exemption when it is listed in Attachment 

1 to Exemption No. 5487, as amended.

The FAA highlights that the Regional Airline Association’s part 121 member carriers have been 

granted a separate exemption to allow issuance of written confirmation of an FAA-issued 

crewmember certificate, on a temporary basis, to a flight crewmember employed by that air 

carrier based on information in the air carrier’s approved record system (Exemption No. 

11152). Exemption No. 11152 applies to Regional Airline Association members only.

Our Decision

The FAA has determined that the justification for the issuance of Exemption No. 5487, as 

amended, remains valid with respect to this exemption and is in the public interest. Therefore, 

under the authority provided by 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113, and 44701, which the FAA 

Administrator has delegated to me, Airlines for America is granted an extension of its 

exemption from 14 CFR 61.3(a) and (c), 63.3(a), and 121.383(a)(2) which allows an air carrier 

to issue written confirmation of an FAA-issued crewmember certificate to a flight crewmember 

employed by that air carrier based on information in the air carrier’s approved record system, 

subject to the following conditions and limitations.

Conditions and Limitations 

1. Prior to utilizing any provision of this plan each air carrier must develop, submit to, and 

have approved by the FAA Principal Operations Inspector assigned to that carrier a plan 

outlining the procedures it expects to employ in issuing a temporary confirmation 

document to crewmembers who do not have in their personal possession the airmen or 

medical certificate required under 14 CFR 61.3 and/or 63.3 for a particular flight.

2. If the individual no longer has any identification, the carrier’s procedures, specified in 

condition and limitation No. 1, must include a method to assure positive identification of 

the individual.
3

3. Each airman who operates a flight under this exemption must comply with §§ 61.29 

and/or 63.16 and assure that a request for an official communication from the FAA 

confirming the applicable certificate is made within 72 hours of the initiation of any 

flight conducted under this exemption. The air carrier is authorized to make this 

application to the FAA on behalf of each applicable airman. The airman must provide a 

copy of the official communication to the air carrier within 24 hours of the receipt of that 

official communication.

4. The carrier’s confirmation must include the written words “Issued under the authority of 

Exemption No. 5487, as amended.”

5. The privileges of this exemption may only be exercised when the affected airman 

operates totally within the District of Columbia and the 48 contiguous states of the 

United States.

The Effect of Our Decision

Our decision extends the termination date to July 31, 2018, unless sooner superseded or 

rescinded. 

Sincerely,

/s/

John Barbagallo

Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service