### THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION WASHINGTON , D
. C
. 20590



### The Honorable Roger Williams U.S. House ofRepresentatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Congressman Williams: April 04, 2014



### Thank you for your letter regarding the application ofNorwegian Air International Limited (NAI) for authority to conduct U.S. services. Given that a number of interested parties have fil ed re sponsi ve pleadings to NAI's application and this matter is currently pending before the Department, I am sure you understand that I cannot comment on the merits ofNAI's application. I assure you , however, that we will give full and careful consideration to all of the pleadings filed on the record before we reach a determination in this matter. As is our standard practice, I am placing a copy ofyour letter and my response in Docket DOT-OST-2013-0204 , as a contact outside the record ofthis case. You may track the progress of this case and view the publicly available documents filed in the docket by accessing the Federal Docket Management System at www.regulations.gov and searching for Docket DOT-OST-2013-0204. I hope this information is helpful. Sincerely,

Anthony R. FoxxROGER WILLIAMS 25TH DISTR I C T , T EXAS
C OMMmEE ON T HE B UDGET C OMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND I NFRASTRUCTURE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION SUBCOMMITTEE ON RAILROADS, PiPELINES, AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SuBCOMMITTEE ON H I GHWAYS AND TRANSIT

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The Honorable Anthony Foxx Secretary U.S. Department ofTransportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, D.C. 20590 Dear Secretary Foxx: February 11,2014 WASHINGTON OFFICE : 1 1 22 LONGWORTH HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING WASH I NGTON, DC 205 1 5

TEL: (202) 225-9896 FA><: (202) 225-9692

DISTRICT OFFICES: 1005 CONGRESS AVENUE, SUITE 925 AUSTIN, TEXAS 78701 TEL: (512) 473-8910 FAX : (512) 473-8946 1 WALNUT STREET, SUITE 14 5 CLEB URN E, T EXAS 76033

TEL: (817) 774-2575 FAX: ( B17) 774·2576 williams.house.gov

I write to express deep concern over the application before your Department by Norwegian Air International Limited (NAI) to operate into the U.S
. as a foreign air carrier. Approval ofthis 

### application would not be in the public interest. The NAI application proposes a global outsourcing business that will put U.S. airlines and their 

### employees at a competitive disadvantage. Indeed, this airline bearing the name " Norwegian" describes itself in the application as "a foreign carrier ofIreland's" application provides little information about itself or its plans, but it appears to be in the same corporate farrtily with another carrier, a rapidly-growing low-cost airline, Norwegian Air Shuttle (NAS). For one thing, the CEO ofNAI, named in the application as Asgeir Nyseth, is the Chief Operating Officer ofNAS. For another, NAI is seeking an operating license from Irish aviation authorities, a step that NAS previously signaled it would take
. NAS has stated that to conduct its new long-haul operations it will seek to register its aircraft and receive an aii operator's certificate from a European Union country whose labor laws will allow outsourcing of aircrew beyond the EU. NAS/NAI has chosen Ireland and stated that it plans to operate this Irish subsidiary-registered aircraft to fly from Norway and other EU points to the United States. These flights will be operated by outsourced lower-wage aircrew, based in Southeast Asia, under individual employment contracts governed by Singapore law. It is clear that NAS intends to use NAI as its Irish affiliate to bring its plan to fruition. This business model is designed expressly to underrrtine fair wages and working conditions. It would also put U.S. carriers who have to compete against it at a competitive disadvantage. Finally, approval ofNAI ' s application for authority would be inconsistent with the Congressionally-established public interest as set forth in the aviation statutes and runs afoul ofthe current EU-U.S. Air Transport Agreement. I hope you will reject this misguided application and thank you for your consideration ofthis critical matter.



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