^ 

U.S. Departmen t o f Assistant Secretary 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Transportatio n Washington, DC 2059 0 

Office Of the Secretary 

of Transportation ««,,„, , 

MAR 0 3 20ru 

The Honorable Mike Byers 

President 

The Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce 

110 West Main Street 

Humble, TX 77338 

Dear Mr. Byers: f j 

Thank you for your letter supporting the application for antitrust immunity filed by All Nippon 

Airways, United Air Lines, and Continental Airlines. I am responding on behalf of Secretary 

LaHood. 

As you may know, the applicants—members of the Star Alliance—are seeking antitrust 

immunity to closely coordinate flights between the United States £ind Asia. According to the 

application, the alliance partners plan to launch a joint venture for conveyance of transpacific 

traffic. 

The application is administered in a public docket, which ensures that interested parties have the 

opportunity to comment. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will evaluate the 

application according to rigorous statutory standards, beginning with a review of the record to 

determine if it is substantially complete. Decisions on the application are made in consultation 

with the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division following a thorough analysis of 

competitive factors. As this matter is now pending, I hope you understand that I carmot 

comment on the merits of the application. I can assure you, however, that DOT will give full 

and fair consideration to the application as well as any corrmients filed in the docket. 

As is our normal practice, I am placing a copy of your letter and this response in Docket 

DOT-OST-2009-0350 as a contact outside the record in this matter. I appreciate your interest in 

this proceeding. 

Sincerely yours. 

Susan L. Kurland 

Assistant Secretary 

for Aviation and International Affairs 
SI 0-100218-029 

LAKE HOUSTON 

AEEA CHAMBER 

EST HUMBLE, TX 1925 

January 30,2010 

The Honorable Ray LaHood 

Secretary". 

United States Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, D.C. 20590 

bear Secretary LaHood: 

On behalf of the" Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce (previously the Humble Area Chamber of 

Commerce), I am writing in support of the Continental/United/All Nippon Airways joint application for antitrust 

immunity and approval for the three carriers to create the first ever joint airline venture between the U.S. and 

Asia.. 

Last year, the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce supported Continental's Trans-Atlantic antitrust 

immunity and joint venture application to join the Star Alliance, given the consumer benefits it would provide. 

Continental's subsequent entrance into Star has enhanced competition among all three global alliances and, for 

instance, is the primary reason Continental has launched new non-stop service between Houston and Frankfurt, 

Germany and Edmonton, Canada. Continental also reinstated the Houston-Washington/Dulles market, which 

allows easy access for.custoraers to United's Dulles hub, a Star Alliance partner; Additionally, service from 

Newark/New York to Munich, Germany is scheduled to be added this year, giving the Houston area an easy onestop connection. We are confident that approval of the Pacific application can also be helpful to Continental in 

expanding its network in the Pacific region once economic conditions warrant. 

We fiiTTily believe cooperation among airlines benefits air travel consumers, airline competition, and drives jobs 

and economic growth; With the recent U.S. - Japan open skies agreement, barriers to new air service between our 

region and points, in Japan have been removed. Antitrust immunity will enable all three airlines to rnake 

coordinated decisions that will give airline customers and shippers more flight choices, more itinerary options, 

and rnore fares to choose from when traveling between the U.S. and Asia. 

We encourage you to approve this joint application as promptly as possible. 

Best regards. 

z!^/-^/ 

Bye 

President 

Lake Houston Area Chamber 

Leon Brashier 

Chairman 

Lake Houston Area Chamber 

£ AJ 

110 WEST MAIN STREET * HUMBLE, TX 77338 

PHONE: (281) 446-2128 * FAX; (281) 446-7483 

www.lakehoustonareachamber.org