European Low Fares Airline Association

46 Avenue des Arts

B

- 1000 Brussels Belgium

tel: +32 (0)2 504 90 05

– fax: +32 (0)2 732 71 76

- info@elfaa.com

- www.elfaa.com

Registered address: 21

- 23, 1 st Floor, West Street, Oundle, Cambridgeshire, PE8 4EJ, United Kingdom Registered in England & Wales No. 5882574 24 January, 2014

The Hono u rable Anthony R. Foxx Secretary

U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. Washington, DC 20590

Re: SUBMISSION BY EUROPEAN LOW FARES AIRLINE

ASSOCIATION TO U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

IN SUPPORT OF APPLICATION BY NORWEGIAN AIR

INTERNATIONAL LIMITED IN ACCORDANCE WITH EU /U.S.

OPEN SKIES AGREEMENT. 1

Docket No. OST

- 2013

- 0204

Dear Secretary Foxx,

The European Low Fares Airline Association ( “ ELFAA ” ) supports the application of Norwegian Air International Limited (“Norwegian International”) in the above

- referenced docket for authority to provide foreign scheduled and charter air transportation to the full extent permitted under the U.S.

- EU

- Iceland

- Norway O pen S kies Air Transpo rt Agreement

of 2011 (the “EU/U

. S

. Open Skies Agreement”)

.

ELFAA is the representative body for the major European low fares airlines, which

constituted 43% of intra

- Europe point to point scheduled traffic in 2 010 and are forecast to represent 60% by 2020. 2 ELFAA member airlines carried over 20 2 million passengers in

2012 to nearly 1,000 destinations , operating a combined fleet of some 900 state

- of

- the

- art aircraft, offering the highest level of environmental efficiency.

1 To the extent necessary under the Department’s Rules of Practice (14 C.F.R. Part 302)

, ELFAA requests

leave to file this subm ission. Consideration of ELFAA’s comments will enhance the Department’s review of Norwegian International’s pending application and give the Department a more complete record upon which to make a decision in this proceeding.

2 Source: York Aviation ‘ Market Share of Low Fares Airlines in Europe ’ (February 2011)tel: +32 (0)2 504 90 05

– fax: +32 (0)2 732 71 76

- info@elfaa.c om

- www.elfaa.com

Registered address: 21

- 23, 1 st Floor, West Street, Oundle, Cambridgeshire, PE8 4EJ, United Kingdom Registered in England & Wales No . 5882574 Fr om intra

- EU beginnings, ELFAA member airlines have progre ssively extended their

networks to take advantage of opportunities

, secured as part of comprehensive and horizontal Air Service Agreements, negotiated by the EU with non

- EU states. Norwegian

Internat ional’s proposed service to the U.S. would continue in this tradition.

The EU /U.S. Open Skies Agreement granted the right to any EU

- approved carrier to operate air services between the EU and U

. S. It further provided for mutual recognition of regulatory a pprovals and oversight by all competent U

. S

. or EU regulatory authorit ies

. Norwegian International has follo wed to the letter the procedures described in the Open Skies Agreement, having submitted applications to the Irish Civil Aviation Authority for

an Air Operator Certificate and o perating licen c e

. Upon approval by the Irish authorities, Norwegian International will properly qualify for a U.S. exemption and operating permit

under the terms of the EU/U

. S

. Open Skies Agreement.

The traffic rights

, sought by Norwegian

, were the product of an important compromise

between the government s, and their industry stakeholders

, on both sides of the Atlantic. At

the time of the conclusion of the EU /U.S. Open Skies Agreement , the agreement was publicly denounc ed by several senior EU industry representatives. Martin Broughton,

Chair of B ritish A irways

, likened it to the EU having given away the family silver

– access to Heathrow and intra

- EU traffic rights for U

. S

. carriers

– with no compensating gains for EU c arriers in terms of beyond rights behind their U.S. entry points. Steve Ridgeway, CEO of Virgin Atlantic

, was similarly critical. EU airlines were also concerned

at the Agreement’s failure to amend ownership constraints, which remain heavily

unbalanced in favour of the U.S.

In response, U

. S

. defenders of the Agreement pointed to a claimed balancing factor in the ability of any EU carrier

– i ncluding low fares airlines

– to operate between all points in

the EU and all points in the U.S. Norwegian International is seeking to take advantage of this opportunity.

Since committing to Open Skies, the EU has not sought to withhold any of the freedoms granted to U

. S

. carriers , which have actively made us e of them. Those U

. S

. carriers which formerly operated to Gatwick have progressively transferred to Heathrow and U

. S

. carriers are exercising their intra

- EU operating rights without let or hindrance.

The EU has upheld the agreement

, even though the imbalance in ownership rights

remains : Delta has been permitted to take 49% ownership of UK carrier Virgin

, even though EU airlines remain limited to maximum 25% voting interest in U.S. carriers.

ELFAA looks to the U.S. to honour its legal obligations u nder the Open Skies in its consideration of Norwegian International’s application , just as the EU has honoured the commitments it made in the Open Skies Agreement. Subject to the grant to Norwegian International by the Irish regulatory authority of the req uisite AOC and o perating permit,

DOT should grant the exemption and operating permit

, for which Norwegian International has applied, in accord with the Agreement.tel: +32 (0)2 504 90 05

– fax: +32 (0)2 732 71 76

- info@elfaa.c om

- www.elfaa.com

Registered address: 21

- 23, 1 st Floor, West Street, Oundle, Cambridgeshire, PE8 4EJ, United Kingdom Registered in England & Wales No . 5882574 While ELFAA is aware of certain stakeholder objections to Norwegian International’s U.S. oper ating authority, primarily by labo u r unions from the established alliance airlines

, ELFAA considers these ill

- informed and without proper basis.

In concluding the EU /U.S. Open Skies Agreement , both sides were motivated to increase competition

, to the cons iderable benefit of consumers. ELFAA support s greater competition in air services between the U.S. and EU, 8 7 % of which are at present controlled by carriers that are part of immuni s ed alliances. It is no surprise that this lack of competition has kept fares uniformly high. F or example, w hen travelling to the 08 January Joint Committee meeting in Washington from London, the cheapest economy fare which was available to book on traditional networks by any rout ing

– i ncluding some 18 hour long itineraries

– was GBP £ 1687. Norwegian ’s LGW

- OSL

- JFK service would have cost

GBP £ 547 but sadly did not provide a connection JFK

- WAS in time for the meeting.

U

. S

. and EU consumers desperately need the availability of low fares between the U.S.

and the EU and this need should outweigh the defensive

, protectionist concerns, expressed by other stakeholders. Thank you for your consideration of Norwegian International’s application.

Sincerely,

John Hanlon Secretary General, ELFAA

cc : steve.morrissey@united.com thomas.bolling@united.com

dan.weiss@coair.com

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com howard.kass@usairways.com mlbenge@zsrlaw.com rpommer@atlasair.com russell.bailey@alpa.org jonathan.cohen@alpa.org edw@ttd.org clytle@portoakland.com kgeorge@broward.org mrichardson@swapa.org

robert.wirick@aa.com

francis.heil@aa.com jesse.elliot@faa.gov nicholas.tsokris@faa.gov john.chen@faa.gov john.allen@faa.gov

anita. mosner@hklaw.com jennifer.nowak@hklaw.com nssparks@fedex.com gbleopard@fedex.comtel: +32 (0)2 504 90 05

– fax: +32 (0)2 732 71 76

- info@elfaa.c om

- www.elfaa.com

Registered address: 21

- 23, 1 st Floor, West Street, Oundle, Cambridgeshire, PE8 4EJ, United Kingdom Registered in England & Wales No . 5882574 dberg@airlines.org jcasey@airlines.org kglatz@airlines.org cc@eurocockpit.be ejames@jamhoff.com romanow@pillsburylaw.com peter.nelson@pillsburylaw.com urskr@state.gov eugene.alford@trade.gov Matthew.Baldwin@ec.europa.eu Felix.LEINEMANN@eeas.europa.eu David.Batchelor@sesarju.eu Ottar.Ostnes@sd.dep.no

John.Hanlon@ELFAA.com paul.gretch@dot.gov Robert.Finamore@dot.gov