UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

 

Served: March 28, 2013

NOTICE TO EXTEND COMMENT PERIOD

On March 11, 2013, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) filed for 

approval under Part 303 of our Economic Regulations new IATA Resolution 787 

(Enhanced Airline Distribution) that was adopted by the 34th IATA Passenger Services 

Conference during its October 18-19, 2012 meeting.1 IATA states that Resolution 787 

establishes a process for developing a new electronic data interchange standard for airline 

distribution communications using Extensible Markup Language (XML). IATA states 

further that Resolution 787 also refers to a New Distribution Capability, or NDC, that 

would address various distribution improvements, which, if adopted in the market, the 

new XML standard would be capable of supporting.

Under our regulations, answers to IATA’s application would be due on April 1, 2013. 

On March 18, we received a motion from the Open Allies for Airfare Transparency 

(Open Allies) to require IATA to produce additional documents or, in the alternative, to 

extend the comment period.2

 Open Allies asks us to require IATA to produce all 

documents in its possession, whether authored by IATA or not, relating to Resolution 787 

or NDC.3

 Open Allies states that in light of the “critically important and complex issues 

raised here,” even if no additional documents are produced, it will still require at least 30 

days beyond the current comment deadline to prepare and submit appropriate comments.4

On March 26, IATA responded to Open Allies’ Motion. IATA states that it recognizes 

that Resolution 787 has engendered a great deal of interest and that a number of parties, 

including parties outside the United States, might wish to comment. Accordingly, it 

 1 IATA specifies that it is not seeking antitrust immunity.

2 According to its motion “Open Allies is a coalition of nearly 400 independent distributors and sellers of 

air travel, corporate travel departments, travel trade associations and consumer organizations that believe 

that air travelers should be able to see, compare and buy the total price of their airfare.” Motion, at 1.

3 Open Allies’ Motion includes an itemized list of those documents that, at a minimum, Open Allies 

believes IATA should be required to produce. 4 Motion, at 10, n. 7.

Agreement Adopted by the of the International Air Transport Association as 

Resolution 787

 Docket DOT-OST-2013-0048
2

states that it does not oppose a reasonable extension of the comment period, and it 

specifically proposes April 25, 2013.5

In the circumstances presented, we have decided to extend the answer date on IATA’s 

application for approval of Resolution 787 from April 1 to May 1, 2013.6 We will defer 

our decision on that portion of the Open Allies’ Motion seeking production of documents.

IATA itself recognizes the benefit of giving interested persons additional time to 

comment on its application, and we do not regard according Open Allies the full 30-day 

extension they have requested, which is just under one week more than IATA is in fact 

proposing, as prejudicial to IATA or detrimental to the public interest.

Accordingly,

We extend the answer date on IATA’s application in the captioned docket for approval of 

Resolution 787 until May 1, 2013. We will serve this notice on all parties on the service 

lists attached to IATA’s application and to Open Allies’ Motion, as well as on all parties 

that have already filed comments in the captioned docket.

By:

 PAUL L. GRETCH

 Director, Office of International Aviation

(SEAL)

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

http://www.regulations.gov

 5 IATA takes no position at this time on the request for document production, believing that this issue is 

more properly considered as part of the comment process on its application.

6 Interested persons are reminded that they are required to serve any comments intended for inclusion in the 

record on the applicant and on the persons on the service lists attached to the application and to the Motion, 

as well as on other persons who have already formally commented on the record of the proceeding.