BEFORE THE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

_____________________________________ Application of )

)

AIRTRAN AIRWAYS, INC. )

) Docket No. OST

- 2010

- 01 58

under 49 U.S.C. § 40109 for renewal of )

exemption authori ty to engage in foreign )

scheduled air transportation of persons, )

property and mail between the United States )

and the Dominican Republic )

_____________________________________ )

APPLICATION OF AIRTRAN AIRWAYS, INC.

FOR RENEWAL OF EXEMP TION

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to:

Bob Jordan Robert W. Kneisley

President Associate General Counsel

AIRTRAN AIRWAYS, INC. Leslie C. Abbott

9955 AirTran Boulevard Senior Attorney

Orlando, F L 32827 SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.

1901 L Street, N.W., Suite 640

Washington, D.C. 20036

bob.kneisley@wnco.com

(202) 263

- 6284

May 2 9 , 2012

NOTICE : Any per son may file an an swer to this A pplication in this docket and

served on the persons listed above, on or before June 13 , 2012. AIRTRAN WILL

POLL THE U.S. CARRIE RS ON THE ATTACH ED SERVICE LIST REGA RDING THIS

A PPLICATION AND WILL NOTIFY THE DEPARTMEN T OF THE RESULTS AS

SOON A S POSSIBLE.1 BEFORE THE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

_____________________________________ Application of )

)

AIRTRAN AIRWAYS, INC. )

) Docket No. OST

- 2010

- 01 58

under 49 U.S.C. § 40109 for renewal of )

exempti on authority to engage in foreign )

scheduled air transportation of persons, )

property and mail between the United States )

and the Dominican Republic )

_____________________________________ )

APPLICATION OF AIRTRAN AIRWAYS, INC.

FOR RENEWA L OF EXEMPTION

Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 40109, AirTran Airways, Inc. (“AirTran”) 1 hereby applies

for renewal of exemption authority to engage in scheduled foreign air transportation of

persons, property, and mail between a point or points in the United St ates and a point or

points in the Dominican Republic

. Th e Department of Transportation (“DOT”) originally

awarded t his exemption authority to AirTran by Notice of Action Taken (“NOAT”) on July

8 , 2010 in this Docket

. The current exemption is scheduled to expire on July 8 , 2012. 2

To ensure no interruption of scheduled service, AirTran respectfully requests prompt

renewal of its exemption authority for a minimum of two years

.

Renewal of the subject exemption is in the public interest for the same reasons

that supported the original issuance of authority for AirTran to provide service between

1 AirTran Airways, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines Co.

2 To the extent necessary, AirT ran r e q u e s t s a w a i v e r f r o m 1 4 C F R § 3 7 7

. 1 0 ( c ) a n d relies upon the automatic

extension provisions of 5 U.S.C. § 558(c) to maintain the subject authority in effect beyond the expiration date,

pending DOT action on this Application.2

the United States and the Dominican Republic

. AirTran currently serves Punta Cana

(“PUJ ”) year

- round with daily service from Atlanta (“ATL”) and has provided consumers

with high

- quality, low

- cost travel options and low

- fare competition in this market using

Stage III Boeing 737

- 700 aircraft configured for 137 seats

. AirTran’s U.S.

– Dominican

Republic service is in the public interest.

AirTran continues to be fit, will ing and able to conduct the services described in

this A pplication

. In fact, the Department recently granted AirTran exemption authority to

provide service in several other international markets including MDW

- CUN, SAT

- MEX

,

and SNA

- SJD

. See Docket s OST

- 2012

- 0001 (MDW

- CUN) a nd OST

- 2011

- 0205 (SAT

MEX and SNA

- SJD)

. AirTran requests that the Department take official notice, pursuant

to Rule 24 of the Department's Rules of Practice, of all data on file with the Department

necessary to establish AirTran 's fitness.

The requested renewal of exemption authority is fully consistent with the terms of

the aviation agreement between the United States and the Dominican Republic. As the

Department found in its July 8, 2010 NOAT granting AirTran’s original Dominican

Republic exemption request, “the authority granted is consistent with the aviation

agreement between the United States and the Dominican Republic of 1986 and the

overall state of aviation relations between the United States and the Dominican

Republic.”

WHEREFORE

, AirTran Airways , Inc. resp ectfully requests renewal of its

exemption authority under 49 U.S.C. § 40109 for a minimum of two years to provide

scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail between a point or

points in the United Stat es and a point or points in the Dominican Republic

.3 Respectfully submitted,

______________________ Robert W. Kneisley

May 29 , 20124 C ERTIFICATE OF SERVIC E

I hereby certify that on May 29 , 2012 , a copy of the foregoi ng was served via e

mail on the following persons:

msinick@ssd.com (Alaska Airlines)

carl.nelson@aa.com (American Airlines)

sasc ha.vanderbellen@delta.com (Delta Air Lines)

robert.cohn@hoganlovells.com (Frontier Airlines)

patrick.rizzi@hoganlovells.com (Frontier Airlines)

jhill@dowlohnes.com (JetBlue Airways)

dkirstein@yklaw.com (Spirit Airlines)

John.Fredericksen@suncountry.com (Sun Country Airli nes)

dan.weiss@united.com (United Air Lines)

howard_kass@usairways.com (US Airways)

ben.slocum@usairways.com (US Airway s)

pmurphy@lopmurphy.com (USA3000)

jegillick@zsrlaw.com (Virgin America)

barbara.russell@virginamerica.com (Virgin A merica)

susan.kurland@dot.gov

paul.gretch@dot.gov

brian.hedberg@dot.gov

brett.kruger@ dot.gov

info@airlineinfo.com

__________________________ Leslie C. Abbott