BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

In the matter of the application of 

CONCESIONARIA VUELA COMPAŇIA DE 

AVIACIÓN, S.A.P.I. DE C.V. 

d/b/a Volaris 

for an exemption from 49 U.S.C. § 41301 

Docket DOT-OST-2014-0137

REPLY OF THE CITY OF HOUSTON 

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to:

Mario C. Diaz 

 Director 

Ian Wadsworth 

 Chief Commercial Officer 

Department of Aviation 

CITY OF HOUSTON 

16930 John F. Kennedy Blvd. 

Houston, TX 77032 

(281) 233-3000 

(281) 233-1859 (fax) 

Rachel B. Trinder 

Jol A. Silversmith 

ZUCKERT, SCOUTT & 

 RASENBERGER, L.L.P. 

888 Seventeenth Street, N.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20006-3309 

(202) 973-7927 

(202) 342-0683 (fax) 

rbtrinder@zsrlaw.com

jasilversmith@zsrlaw.com

For the City of Houston 

Dated: August 22, 2014 
BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

In the matter of the application of 

CONCESIONARIA VUELA COMPAŇIA DE 

AVIACIÓN, S.A.P.I. DE C.V. 

d/b/a Volaris 

for an exemption from 49 U.S.C. § 41301 

Docket DOT-OST-2014-0137

REPLY OF THE CITY OF HOUSTON 

The City of Houston (“Houston” or the “City”) respectfully submits this reply to the 

answer filed in this docket on August 13, 2014 by American Airlines, Inc. (“American”) to 

the July 31, 2014 application of Concesionaria Vuela Compaňia de Aviación, S.A.P.I. de 

C.V. d/b/a Volaris (“Volaris”) for FLL – Mexico authority. The reply solely addresses the 

issue raised by American concerning anomalies in the treatment of U.S. cities insofar as 

available designations under the U.S.-Mexico bilateral are concerned. 

As American has noted, there are significant inconsistencies in how city-pair 

markets are defined for designation allocation purposes under the current U.S.-Mexico 

bilateral air services agreement. This leads to a severe disadvantage competitively for 

certain cities and carriers, as well as lost opportunities in the development of new 

transborder air services by both U.S. and Mexican carriers. As DOT knows, in certain 

metropolitan areas – including Houston, Chicago and New York – multiple airports are 

required to share a single pool of city-pair designations. This limits the available 

designations to only two or three for each side (depending on the market) in each city 
Reply of the City of Houston 

Page 2 

pair, while in other cities each airport is treated as having its own pool of designations; 

the latter includes Washington/Baltimore (IAD and BWI), Los Angeles area airports 

(LAX, ONT, and SNA), San Francisco area airports (SFO, OAK, and SJC), and airports 

in the MIA/FLL markets. For such markets, the number of available designations is in 

effect doubled or tripled, regardless of market size, traffic demand, or other relevant 

factors. 

Houston recognizes that there are historical bases for these differences and that 

the U.S. Government is not in sole control of the variations in treatment. However, 

there is considerable inconsistency in the rationale for the differing treatment, and the 

adverse impact on the Houston metropolitan area is significant. The Houston region is 

at the forefront of the nation’s economic recovery. Just since the 2010 Census its 

metropolitan area has led the country in population growth – adding the equivalent 

number of residents of a city the size of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Houston’s airports have 

enjoyed a 60% growth in international traffic over the last decade, even before the startup of new international services at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (“HOU” or 

“Hobby”) next year. With both U.S. and Mexican carriers seeking to provide additional 

services in Houston, the City, the region, carriers and the economy will suffer if both 

Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport (“IAH”) and HOU are treated as having a single 

pool of designations for Mexico services. 

As Houston has expressed in other contexts, the City hopes that before the end 

of this year, bilateral negotiations with Mexico will result in a complete liberalization of at 

least all third and fourth freedom passenger designations so that the current city-pair 

limits and single pool of designation issues will no longer be obstacles to new service. 
Reply of the City of Houston 

Page 3 

To the extent that this does not occur, or cannot be achieved soon enough, Houston 

asks that DOT pursue every opportunity to resolve the problem by other means, so that 

additional services can be provided to meet market demand, and so that neither cities, 

airports, carriers, or the economy are disadvantaged competitively. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Rachel B. Trinder 

Jol A. Silversmith 

ZUCKERT, SCOUTT & 

 RASENBERGER, L.L.P. 

888 Seventeenth Street, N.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20006-3309 

(202) 973-7927 

(202) 342-0683 (fax) 

rbtrinder@zsrlaw.com

jasilversmith@zsrlaw.com

For the City of Houston 

Dated: August 22, 2014 
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I certify that on this 22nd day of August 2014, a copy of the foregoing was served 

on the parties named below in accordance with the Department’s Rules of Practice. 

 

Jol A. Silversmith 

msinick@ssd.com

(Counsel for Alaska Airlines) 

rpommer@atlasair.com

(Atlas Air) 

robert.wirick@aa.com, francis.heil@aa.com, and 

howard.kass@aa.com

(American Airlines) 

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com, 

chris.walker@delta.com, and 

sametta.c.barnett@delta.com

(Delta Airlines) 

cefelts@fedex.com

nssparks@fedex.com

(Federal Express) 

jhill@cooley.com and perkmann@cooley.com

(Counsel for JetBlue Airways) 

matwood@cozen.com

(Counsel for Kalitta Air) 

kevin.montgomery@polaraircargo.com

(Polar Air Cargo) 

robert.cohn@hoganlovells.com and 

patrick.rizzi@hoganlovells.com

(Counsel for Republic Airlines) 

ethan.blank@rjet.com

(Republic Airlines) 

temerson@skywest.com

(SkyWest Airlines) 

bob.kneisley@wnco.com and 

leslie.abbott@wnco.com

(Southwest Airlines) 

dkirstein@yklaw.com and jyoung@yklaw.com

(Counsel for Spirit Airlines) 

john.fredericksen@suncountry.com and 

thomas.ting@suncountry.com

(Sun Country) 

hershel.kamen@united.com, 

dan.weiss@united.com, 

steve.morrissey@united.com, 

karine.faden@united.com, 

thomas.bolling@united.com, and 

abby.bried@united.com

(United Airlines) 

sseiden@crowell.com and 

gmurphy@crowell.com

(Counsel for United Airlines) 

anita.mosner@hklaw.com and 

jennifer.nowak@hklaw.com

(Counsel for UPS) 

dsmalls@ups.com

(UPS) 

john.varley@virginamerica.com and 

barbara.russell@virginamerica.com

(Virgin America) 

charles.donley@squirepb.com

(Counsel for Volaris) 

paul.gretch@dot.gov, brian.hedberg@dot.gov, 

brett.kruger@dot.gov, reese.davidson@dot.gov, 

todd.homan@dot.gov, peter.irvine@dot.gov, and 

laura.remo@dot.gov

(DOT) 

john.s.duncan@faa.gov

(FAA) 

ronald.williams@ustranscom.mil 

(USTRANSCOM) 

englets@state.gov and cristinasa@state.gov 

(State Department) 

info@airlineinfo.com