BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Request of: ) 

) 

Silk Way West Airlines ) Docket OST-2014-0111 

) 

to amend issued exemption authority and ) 

pending application for a foreign air carrier permit ) 

and motion to expedite processing ) 

(Baku-Hong Kong-Chicago-New York-Luxemburg-Baku) ) 

ANSWER OF NATIONAL AIRLINES TO 

REQUEST OF SILK WAY WEST AIRLINES TO AMEND 

FOREIGN AIR CARRIER PERMIT PENDING APPLICATION 

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to: 

Glen G. Joerger 

President 

National Air Cargo Group, Inc., 

d/b/a National Airlines 

5955 T. G. Lee Blvd 

Suite 500 

Orlando, FL 3 2822 

October 29,2014 

Pierre Murphy 

Law Offices of Pierre Murphy 

1200 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. 

Suite 590 

Washington, D.C. 20036 

Telephone: (202) 776-3980 

Facsimile: (202) 776-3975 

Email: pmurphy@lopmurphy.com 

Attorney for National Air Cargo Group, Inc. 

d/b/a National Airlines 
Request of: 

Silk Way West Airlines 

BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Docket OST-2014-0111 

to amend issued exemption authority and 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

pending application for a foreign air carrier permit ) 

and motion to expedite processing ) 

(Baku-Hong Kong-Chicago-New York-Luxemburg-Baku) ) 

ANSWER OF NATIONAL AIRLINES TO 

REQUEST OF SILK WAY WEST AIRLINES TO AMEND 

FOREIGN AIR CARRIER PERMIT PENDING APPLICATION 

National Air Cargo Group, Inc., d/b/a National Airlines ("National") respectfully 

responds to the request of Silk Way West Airlines ("Silk Way West") to amend its pending 

application for a foreign air carrier permit. 

Other than a purported "greater economic efficiency" for its Baku- New York operation 

already authorized by the Department on principles of comity and reciprocity, Silk Way West 

has in its amended application submitted no valid basis for an award of the additional, 

extraordinarily broad intermediate and beyond authority (Hong Kong & Luxemburg) it is again 

seeking and nothing has changed since the award to Silk Way West of Baku -New York 

authority. The Department should not change its initial decision to decline awarding the 

incredibly broad intermediate and beyond authorities sought by Silk Way West. 
ANSWER OF NATIONAL AIRLINES 

Clearly it is Silk Way West's intention to transport substantial Hong Kong- U.S. and 

U.S.- Luxemburg cargo, both major U.S. all-cargo markets, but markets to which a carrier from 

a country where there is no governing aviation bilateral agreement has no basis to operate. As 

reflected in the Department's original award of Baku-NY authority herein, there is any basis for 

the award of such substantial major 3rd country authority on the basis of comity and reciprocity 

which has not been demonstrated. 

In its October 24 Response to National's Answer to Exemption application, Silk Way 

West accuses National of being "small-minded" and attempts to reprimand National for choosing 

to raise its bilateral problems in an Answer to Silk Way West's applications. However, far from 

being small-minded, in the absence of any bilateral aviation mechanism and National 

recognizing that it is "on its own" as far as the local treatment of its Azerbaijan operations, the 

only way for National to raise the local doing-business problems it has encountered is when an 

application for broad 3rd country authority on the basis of comity and reciprocity is filed by a 

carrier of Azerbaijan. 

Further, in connection with the comity and reciprocity principles which apply to U.S. 

Azerbaijan aviation relations, National has on multiple occasions now effectively been denied 

crew visas both in and out of Baku due to unreasonable delays, thereby preventing and 

substantially hindering National's authorized operations in the region. 

Secondly, even when National has been able to operate flights to/from Baku, there have 

also been significant problems encountered associated with the price of fuel required to be 

2 
ANSWER OF NATIONAL AIRLINES 

uploaded in Baku. In earlier flights, National uploaded fuel at pre-negotiated rates from its 

regular fuel-supplier. However, in later fights National was obliged to purchase fuel from a 

designated fueler at a per gallon rate that was 22% higher than National's pre-negotiated price. 

These differing fuel prices were charged for 2 back-to-hack flights and National believes the 

higher-priced fuel is clearly discriminatory. 

Under these circumstances, Silk Way West's application should be denied as being 

unduly broad and inconsistent with the applicable governing aviation principles. 

October 29, 2014 

R~ ectfull submitted, ., 

. . -· ' 

hy 

. 0 . 1ces of Pierre Murphy 

3 

1200 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. 

Suite 590 

Washington, D.C. 20036 

Telephone: (202) 776-3980 

Facsimile: (202) 776-3975 

Email: pmurphy@lopmurphy.com 

Attorney for National Air Cargo Group, Inc. 

d/b/a National Airlines 
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I hereby certify that I have on this day served a copy of the foregoing document on this 

29th day of October 2014 upon each of the following email addresses: 

gpwicks@wicks-group.com 

ekagrimes@wicks-group.com 

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com 

chris. walker@delta.com 

dshort@fedex.com 

sllunsford@fedex.com 

nssparks@fedex.com 

gbleopard@fedex.com 

msinick@ssd.com 

enisson@nac.aero 

mwiegele@nac.aero 

kevin.montgomery@polaraircargo.com 

peter .beckett@polaraircargo.com 

dan.weiss@united.com 

pdoell@naca.cc 

robert.wirick@aa.com 

francis.heil@aa.com 

howard.kass@usairways.com 

benjamin.slocum@usairways.com 

rsilverberg@sgbdc.com 

ijohnson@sgbdc.com 

jrichardson@johnlrichardson.com 

jcanny@amerijet.com 

john@mietuslaw.com 

rpommer@atlasair .com 

matwood@cozen.com 

nwallace@wallaceair.com 

agoerlich@ggh-airlaw .com 

dhainbach@ggh-airlaw.com 

rzerkel@lac.lynden.com 

gwhite@lac.lynden.com 

jdavis@lac.lynden.com 

TGillies@southernair .com 

anita.mosner@hklaw .com 

jennifer.nowak@hklaw .com 

dsmalls@ups.com 

stephen.lachter@lachterlaw.com 

EngleTS@state.gov 

h4~f'it~ Kristin K. Leake