U.S. Department of

Transportation

Office of the Secretary

of Transportation

DEPARTMENT ACTION ON APPLICATION IN DOCKET DOT-OST-2011-0186

(Filed September 28, 2011)

Application of Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (Hawaiian) for a blanket statement of 

authorization to display the “VA” designator code of Virgin Australia International 

Airlines Pty Ltd d/b/a V Australia (V Australia) on flights operated by Hawaiian 

between (1) points in the United States, in conjunction with V Australia’s services 

between Australia and the United States; (2) points in the United States and points in 

Australia (either nonstop or via intermediate points in third countries); and (3) points in

the United States and points in third countries.

1

Hawaiian also requests a waiver of the 45-day advance filing requirement under 14 CFR Part 

212. 2

 * Approved under assigned authority (14 CFR §385.13).

 Date of Action: October 20, 2011

This action is subject to the conditions attached. Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of this action 

under the Department’s regulations, 14 CFR §385.30, should file their petitions within seven days of the date of this 

action. This action is effective immediately, and the filing of a petition for review will not alter its effectiveness.

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

http://www.regulations.gov

 1 We note that Hawaiian requested flexibility to expand its code-share relationship to additional points (including 

destinations in the continental United States and foreign destinations) in the future. The carrier advised us orally that 

it is seeking authority to code share between (1) points in the United States, in conjunction with V Australia’s 

services between Australia and the United States; (2) points in the United States and points in Australia (either 

nonstop or via intermediate points in third countries); and (3) points in the United States and points in third 

countries. 2 Hawaiian filed a motion requesting confidential treatment of its unredacted Codeshare Agreement under 14 CFR 

§ 302.12. We will grant the motion.
APPENDIX A

The code-share operations authorized here are subject to the following conditions:

(a) The statement of authorization will remain in effect only as long as (i) Hawaiian and V Australia

continue to hold the necessary underlying authority to operate the code-share services at issue, and (ii) 

the code-share agreement providing for the code-share operations remains in effect.

(b) Hawaiian and/or V Australia, as appropriate, must notify the Department no later than 30 days before 

they begin any new code-share service under the code-share services authorized here. Such notice shall 

identify the market(s) to be served and the date on which the service will begin. Such notice should be 

filed in Docket DOT-OST-2011-0186.

3

(c) Hawaiian and/or V Australia, as appropriate, must promptly notify the Department if the code-share 

agreement providing for the code-share operations is no longer effective or if the carriers decide to cease 

operating all or a portion of the approved code-share services. Such notice should be filed in Docket 

DOT-OST-2011-0186.

4

(d) The code-sharing operations conducted under this authority must comply with 14 CFR 257 and with 

any amendments to the Department’s regulations concerning code-share arrangements that may be 

adopted. Notwithstanding any provisions in the contract between the carriers, our approval here is 

expressly conditioned upon the requirements that the subject foreign air transportation be sold in the 

name of the carrier holding out such service in the computer reservation systems and elsewhere; that the 

carrier selling such transportation (i.e., the carrier shown on the ticket) accept responsibility for the 

entirety of the code-share journey for all obligations established in its contract of carriage with the 

passenger; and that the passenger liability of the operating carrier be unaffected.

(e) The authority to operate to third countries is subject to the condition that any service provided under 

the statement of authorization shall be consistent with all applicable agreements between the United 

States and the foreign countries involved. Furthermore, (i) nothing in the award of this blanket statement 

of authorization should be construed as conferring upon Hawaiian rights (including code-share, fifth 

freedom intermediate and/or beyond rights) to serve markets where U.S. carrier entry is limited unless 

Hawaiian notifies the Department of its intent to serve such a market and unless and until the Department 

has completed any necessary carrier selection procedures to determine which carrier(s) should be 

authorized to exercise such rights; and (ii) should there be a request by any carrier to use the limitedentry route rights that are included in the authority of Hawaiian by virtue of the blanket statement of 

authorization granted here, but that are not then being used by Hawaiian, the holding of such authority 

will not be considered as providing any preference for Hawaiian in a competitive carrier selection 

proceeding to determine which carrier(s) should be entitled to use the authority at issue.5

(f) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that neither Hawaiian nor V Australia shall 

give any force or effect to any contractual provisions between themselves that are contrary to these 

conditions.

We may amend, modify, or revoke the authority granted at any time without hearing at our discretion.

 3 See Appendix B for list of initial code-share points. 4 We expect this notification to be received within ten (10) days after such non-effectiveness or of such decision. 5 The notice in paragraph (b) above can be used for this notification. 
APPENDIX B

CODESHARING POINTS

Initial Hawaiian Operated Codeshare Flights (both directions, commencing as soon as

Department approval has been received):

- Honolulu – Kahului, Kona, Lihue, Hilo

- Honolulu – Sydney, NSW, Australia