Order 2010-11-12

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 12th day of November, 2010

Served: November 12, 2010

 Docket DOT-OST-2010-0241

FINAL ORDER

By Order 2010-10-6, we issued a tentative decision In the Matter of Brazil Cargo 

Charter Authorizations. We tentatively determined that, for the 2010/2011 charter year, 

it was in the public interest to allow scheduled carriers immediate but limited access to 

the ad hoc charter pool in the U.S.-Brazil market without the need for a case-by-case 

Department waiver. 

Specifically, we tentatively determined to allow carriers holding scheduled authority to 

request up to 10 charter allocations per month, beginning immediately, for the 2010/2011 

charter year, without the need for a waiver from the charter allocation procedures. 

We also tentatively decided to increase the number of charter flights that may be 

requested by charter-only operators from 20 to 30 on a monthly basis, without the need 

for a waiver.

Objections to the Department’s tentative decision were due on October 18, 2010. We said 

that, if no objections were filed, we would deem all further procedural steps to be waived 

and we would enter an order finalizing our tentative decision. No objections were filed.

We have therefore decided to make final our tentative decision in Order 2010-10-6. We 

will begin implementing the modified procedures upon issuance of this final order.

In the Matter of Brazil Cargo Charter

Authorizations
2

For completeness and clarity, we have included in this Order all of the procedural rules 

that will be applicable to carriers seeking a distribution of U.S.-Brazil charter flights.1

Reporting requirements

As we stated in Order 2010-10-6, our ability to administer the ad hoc charter pool 

efficiently and effectively depends upon our knowing, at any time, how many flights 

remain in the charter pool for distribution. We must rely upon prompt and accurate 

reporting, no later than the tenth day of each month, of flight usage during the prior 

month by incumbent carriers holding an advance allotment and those receiving ad hoc

allotments from the pool. The reporting requirements that have applied to charter 

operators are the same reporting requirements that will apply to scheduled carriers. 

Carriers must return unused charters promptly should plans for using them not 

materialize. As we have previously stated, “[w]here charter rights are limited, it is 

imperative that full, effective use be made of the available charter opportunities.”2 We 

remind carriers that we will not be prepared to distribute additional charters to a carrier 

requesting them where the carrier has not yet reported its usage for the prior month and 

returned any unused charters to the pool.

All reports and notifications that would be required under the terms of this order should 

be submitted to the Office of International Aviation by electronic mail to the following 

addresses: Bernice.Gray@dot.gov and Esta.Rosenberg@dot.gov.

ACCORDINGLY,

1. We make final, effective immediately, our tentative findings, conclusions, and 

decisions in Order 2010-10-6 to modify and further streamline the simplified procedures 

for distributing the available U.S.-Brazil all-cargo round-trip charters available to U.S. 

carriers for operation in the U.S.-Brazil market for the 2010/2011 charter year;

2. The advance allotments issued by the June 11, 2010 Brazil Charter Notice for 

operations in the 2010/2011 charter year, as well as distributions to charter and scheduled 

U.S. carriers on an ad hoc basis, are therefore subject to the following conditions and 

procedures:

A. Subject to C., below, for the first three months of the charter year, the period 

July 1- September 30, only those carriers that have not received or accepted an 

advance allotment may have access to the ad hoc charter pool; distributions 

will be made on a first-come, first-served basis and eligible applicants may 

request and operate up to 30 charters per month;

 1

 The procedural rules appear in ordering paragraphs 2 through 4 this Order. These rules reflect the 

existing procedures set forth in Order 2009-1-5, as modified by this action. We recognize that the 

timeframe for certain reporting requirements has already passed. Carriers that have already provided the 

required notifications need not resubmit them. 

2 See Order 98-6-4, at footnote 4.
3

B. Any carrier that has received and accepted an advance allotment is not eligible 

to obtain flights from the ad hoc charter pool during the first three months of 

the charter year, i.e., until October 1. Beginning October 1, a carrier that has 

received and accepted an advance allotment may request and operate up to 30 

charters per month, consistent with the terms of this order;

C. A carrier holding scheduled authority in the U.S.-Brazil market may have 

access to the ad hoc charter pool beginning immediately to request and 

operate up to 10 charters per month;

D. Beginning May 1, there are no restrictions on the number of charters for 

which a carrier may apply for each month remaining in the charter year;

E. Carriers may continue to request distributions of flights on an ad hoc basis 

from the charter pool within 30 days of the proposed date of operation. 

Requests for distributions from the ad hoc charter pool may also be filed for 

an entire calendar month, beginning on the 15th day of the prior month;

F. Each application must identify (a) the number of flights requested, 

(b) proposed flight dates including a four-day service window, (c) the 

charterer(s), (d) the city-pair, and markets involved by direction. Copies of 

the charter contract, or some form of written evidence of the charter 

commitment is required at the time a distribution from the charter pool is 

requested.

G. Each carrier granted either an advance allotment or a distribution of flights 

from the ad hoc charter pool for a given month is required to report to the U.S. 

Air Carrier Licensing Division, Office of International Aviation, by electronic 

mail, by the tenth day of the following month, or within 10 days of having 

used all of its pool charters, whichever is earlier, the following; (a) if the 

reported flights were from the ad hoc charter pool, the date of the Notice of 

Consistency under which the flight was operated; (b) the number of Brazil allcargo charters operated during the preceding month; (c) the city-pairs served 

by direction; (d) the date of each flight; (e) the charterers(s); and (f) the 

number of charters for which Brazilian authority was obtained for that month 

which subsequently were canceled or rescheduled.3

 Unless its advance 

allotment has been exhausted, a carrier that has received an advance allotment 

is required to report its usage from the allotment, on a monthly basis, 

consistent with this order, even if it operated no charters in the preceding 

month; and 

 3 Carriers are advised that they must follow the Brazilian government’s procedures for notification of 

change or cancellation or be subject to forfeiture of those charter flights by the Brazilian government and 

that they should include a statement verifying that the Government of Brazil has been notified in writing of 

any changes and/or cancellations of flights.
4

H. In addition to the reporting requirements in paragraph G., above, a carrier that 

has received an advance allotment must inform the U.S. Air Carrier Licensing 

Division (X-44), Office of International Aviation, by electronic mail, by 

January 5 of each charter year after 2009, of the number of charters it has 

operated or has committed to operate by a firm contract.4 For charters under 

contract, the carrier shall indicate the charterer(s), dates, and city-pair markets. 

Where a carrier has not used or committed for use, at least 40 percent of its 

allocated charters in the first six months of the charter year (July 1-December 

31), that carrier will forfeit a portion of its allotment. A forfeiting carrier may 

retain, for the second half of the charter year, that portion of its advance 

allotment that is equal to the number of charters used or committed for use in 

the first half of the charter year. The forfeited flights will be returned to the 

ad hoc charter pool;

3. For the current charter year, we require that each carrier holding an advance allotment 

of U.S.-Brazil all-cargo charters inform the U.S. Carrier Licensing Division (X-44), 

Office of International Aviation, by electronic mail, no later than 10 days after the service 

date of Order 2009-1-5 issued January 14, 2009, if it has not yet done so, as to how many 

of the flights in its advance allotment it has plans to operate and how many it is returning 

to the charter pool;5

4. Any carrier holding an advance allotment of U.S.-Brazil all-cargo charters that elects 

to opt out of its advance allotment as set forth in the May 30, 2008 Brazil Charter Notice 

must so notify the U.S. Carrier Licensing Division (X-44), Office of International 

Aviation, by electronic mail, no later than 10 days after the service date of Order 2009-1-

5 issued January 14, 2009;

5. We delegate to the Director of the Office of International Aviation authority to 

administer distribution of flights from the ad hoc charter pool and, where deemed in the 

public interest, to waive the restrictions set forth in this order for all U.S. certificated air 

carriers; 

6. We will not entertain petitions for reconsideration of this order; and 

 4 The annual reporting requirement for the current charter year is set forth in paragraph 3, below. 5 We remind carriers receiving advance allotments of the importance of returning charters promptly at any 

time should the plans for their use not materialize.
5

7. We will serve a copy of this order on U.S. air carriers holding an advance allotment 

under the June 11, 2010 Brazil Charter Notice; all other U.S. certificated air carriers 

operating large aircraft; the Ambassador of Brazil in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. 

Department of State (Office of Aviation Negotiations).

By:

SUSAN L. KURLAND

Assistant Secretary for

Aviation and International Affairs

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available on the World Wide Web at

http://www.regulations.gov