UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation on January 25, 2013

NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN -- DOCKET DOT-OST-2012-0208

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

This serves as notice to the public of the action described below, taken by the Department official indicated (no 

additional confirming order will be issued in this matter).

Joint Applicants: AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. (American)

1 and AEROVIAS DE INTEGRACIO REGIONAL, 

AIRES S.A. d/b/a LAN COLOMBIA (LAN Colombia)

Date Filed: December 17, 2012

Relief requested: Statements of authorization under 14 CFR Part 212 to permit the applicants to engage in 

code-sharing services as follows:

(A) American requests a blanket statement of authorization to display LAN Colombia’s “4C” or “LA” 

designator code in conjunction with foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail on flights 

operated by American or American Eagle between (1) points in the United States; (2) points in the United 

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

United States and points in third countries; and (4) points in Colombia and points in third countries.2

(B) LAN Colombia requests a blanket statement of authorization to display American’s “AA” designator code in 

conjunction with foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail on flights operated by LAN 

Colombia between (1) points in Colombia; (2) points in Colombia and points in the United States (either 

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

and (4) points in the United States and points in third countries.3

The joint applicants further request a waiver of the 45-day advance filing requirement under 14 CFR 212.10 (d) (2).

Applicant representatives: Francis C. Heil (American), 202-496-5642; and 

 Jeffery N. Shane and Patrick R. Rizzi (LAN Colombia), 202-637-6581

DOT analyst: Brett D. Kruger, 202-366-8025

Responsive pleadings: None.

DISPOSITION

Action: Approved, subject to conditions (See below).

Action date: January 25, 2013

Effective dates of authority granted: The statements of authorization granted are effective January 25, 2013, for an 

indefinite period. 

Basis for approval (bilateral agreement/reciprocity): U.S.-Colombia Air Transport Agreement.

 1 American also applies on behalf of its affiliates American Eagle Airlines, Inc. and Executive Airlines, Inc. d/b/a American Eagle 

(together, “American Eagle”).

2 At the time its application was filed, American held only certain point-specific certificate authority to serve Colombia. The U.S.-

Colombia Air Transport Agreement is now being applied and American’s request for exemption authority is encompassed by its 

blanket open-skies certificate (Order 2007-4-2). Therefore, we will dismiss American’s request for exemption authority as moot. 3 LAN Colombia has separately filed an application in Docket DOT-OST-2008-0390 for corresponding amended exemption 

authority to perform these services. We are acting on that request concurrently. 
Except to the extent exempted/waived, this authority is subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations of our standard 

code-share conditions attached as Appendix A, and to the conditions outlines in the special conditions/remarks section 

immediately below.

Special conditions/Remarks: We note that LAN Colombia currently holds exemption authority that permits it, along 

with LAN Airlines S.A. and LAN Peru, S.A., common use of the trade name “LAN” and the designator code “LA” for 

all of its services to/from the United States.4 This common branding authority held by LAN Colombia is subject to 

certain additional conditions imposed in ordering paragraphs one, three, four, and seven of Order 2005-10-9. In order 

to avoid potential consumer confusion resulting from use of the common brand and designator code, these conditions 

include, among other things, a requirement that the carriers use the common “LA” designator code, and stop using 

other two-letter designator codes for their services to/from the United States. Consistent with our prior action, we will 

limit our grant of American’s statement of authorization to the display of the LAN Colombia “LA” designator code. 

We note that American has conducted a safety audit of LAN Colombia under the Department’s Code-Share Safety 

Audit Program, and the FAA has advised us that it has reviewed the relevant audit report and found it to be acceptable.

Action taken by: Paul L. Gretch, Director, Office of International Aviation

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Under authority assigned by the Department in its regulations, 14 CFR Part 385, we found that (1) our action was consistent with 

Department policy; and (2) grant of the authority was consistent with the public interest. To the extent not 

granted/deferred/dismissed, we denied all requests in the referenced Docket. We may amend, modify, or revoke the authority 

granted in this Notice at any time without hearing at our discretion.

Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of the action set forth in this Notice under the Department’s regulations, 14 

CFR §385.30, may file their petitions within seven (7) days after the date of issuance of this Notice. This action was effective 

when taken, and the filing of a petition for review will not alter such effectiveness.

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

http://www.regulations.gov

 4

See Notice of Action Taken dated October 25, 2011 in Docket DOT-OST-2005-21121, with a timely filed renewal application 

pending. Our October 11, 2011 action granted this authority to LAN Colombia in its previous trade name of Aerovias de 

Integracion Regional (AIRES). By letter dated January 13, 2012, the Department granted the request of AIRES to register the 

LAN Colombia trade name. 
Appendix A

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

(a) The statements of authorization will remain in effect only as long as (i) American and LAN Colombia 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) American and/or LAN Colombia, 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, which carrier will be operating the aircraft in the code-share market added, and the date on 

which the service will begin. Such notice should be filed in Docket DOT-OST-2012-0208.

5

(c) American and/or LAN Colombia, 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-2012-0208.

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

carrier shall not permit the code of its U.S. code-sharing partner to be carried on any flight that enters, departs, or 

transits the airspace of any area for whose airspace the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a flight prohibition.

(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 American rights (including code-share, fifth freedom intermediate and/or beyond rights) to serve 

markets where U.S. carrier entry is limited unless American 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 

limited-entry route rights that are included in the authority of American by virtue of the blanket statements of 

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

considered as providing any preference for American in a competitive carrier selection proceeding to determine which 

carrier(s) should be entitled to use the authority at issue.7

(f) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that neither American nor LAN Colombia 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.

 5 The joint applicants provided notice of their intent to engage in code-share services (1) between any point or points in the United 

States and any point or points in Colombia (on a nonstop basis and intermediate routings via Open Skies points); (2) between 

points in the United States; (3) between points in Colombia; (4) beyond Colombia to any Open Skies point or points; and (5) 

beyond the United States to any Open Skies point or points. See Appendix B for a list of initial points. 6 We expect this notification to be received within ten (10) days after such non-effectiveness or of such decision. 7 The notice in paragraph (b) above can be used for this notification. 
Appendix B

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List of Initial Code-Share Points
Appendix B

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