U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the Secretary of Transportation September 5 , 2014 Mr. Pierre Murphy Law Offices of Pierre Murphy 1200 New Hampshire Avenue, NW Suite 590 Washington , DC 20036 Re: Docket DOT

- OST-2014

-0145 Ruling on Harris Aircraft Services, Inc. For Confidential Trea tment of Information Dear Mr. Murphy: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE Wash i ngton DC 20590

On August 25 , 2014, Harris Aircraft Services, Inc. ("Harris Air"), filed an application in Docket DOT-OST-2014-0145 requesting that the Department find it fit to conduct operations as a U.S. certificated air carrier. In connection with this filing, Harris Air filed a motion for confidential treatment under 14 CFR 302.12 ("Rule 12 ") of our Procedural Regulations fo r certain information the company was providing. The purpose of thi s letter is to notify you of our ruling on that motion. In its motion , Harris Air requested that the Department withhold a bank statement indicating the amount of funds available to the company. Harris Air states in its motion that the financial information set forth in the document is confidential and not otherwise available to the public and that the disclosure of the details of such informati on is not required to further the public intere st. Rule 12 instructs us to evaluate reque sts for confidential treatment by the standards of disclosure found in the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. section 552). Information may be wi thhe ld fro m di sclosure under 5 U
. S.C
. 

### § 552(b) (4) if it is (1) commercial or fmancial,(2) obtained from a person outside of government , and (3) privileged or confidential 

### (Gulf and Western Industries, Inc
. v. U nit ed States , 615 F.2d 527 ,529 (D.C. Cir.1979))
. The information identified above clearly meets the first two requirements. The remammg question is whether the information is pri vileged or confidential , that is , " disclosure of the information is likely to have either of the following effects: (1) impair the Government ' s ability to obtain the necessary information ; or (2) cau se substantial harm to the competitive po sition of the person from whom the information was obtained. " 

### (National Parks and Conservation Association v . 

### Morton, 498 F
.2d 765 , 770 (D.C
. Cir. 1974)) Furthermore , to be privileged or confidential , the information must not be of the type that is usuall y released to the public. 

### (Gulf and Western Industries , Inc. v. United States , 615 F.2d 527 , 530)).After re view ing Ha rri s Air ' s motion , we have decided to den y Harris A ir ' s request for confidential treatment. It i s not the Departme nt ' s practice to w ithhold from public di sc lo s ure information which demonstrate s an applicant ' s ability to meet o ur financial criteria. U nder Rule 1 2, the D epartment's ruling on a motion for confidential treatment will not take effect if , within fi ve (5) bu s ine ss days after iss uanc e, the perso n reque s ting confidential treatment file s a petition for reconsideration of that decision , or files a statement that he or s he in good faith intend s to seek judicial review of the deci s ion. If Harri s Air elects to petition the D epartment as to this confidentiality determination , we expect that it will provide a statement explaining how the item s fall within the exception s under the Freedom of Information Act and is not otherwise required to be filed publicl y b y all applicants for certificates of public co nvenie nce a nd necess ity. Re spon ses shall be due within fi ve calendar days of the filing of such petition. If Harris Air elects not to file a petition , we direct that it file the document noted above in the public docket in thi s proceeding within five bu si ness days of the date of thi s letter. Thank yo u for your cooperation in this matter. If you have any ques tion s, ple ase feel free to contact Barbara Snoden at (202) 366 -4 834 or by email at Barbara.Snoden @ dot.go v. Sincerely,

C hief, Air Carrier Fitness Di v ision Office of Aviation Analysis

cc: Docket DOT-OST- 2 014-0145 Mr. Bri an N. Frederick POI for Harri s Aircraft Services , Inc
. Juneau Flight Standards District Office 3032 Vintage Park Bl v d. Suite 106 Jun eau , AK 9980 1

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