U.S. Department of

Transportation

Office of the Secretary

of Transportation

DEPARTMENT ACTION ON APPLICATION IN DOCKET DOT-OST-2001-10417

(Filed March 8, 2011)

Joint application of Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. (Pinnacle), C.A.I. Compagnia Aerea 

Italiana S.p.A. (Alitalia), and Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Delta), for a statement of 

authorization permitting Pinnacle to display the “AZ” designator code of Alitalia on 

Delta Connection flights operated by Pinnacle on behalf of Delta (i) within the United 

States (in conjunction with Alitalia’s services in foreign air transportation); and (ii) 

between the United States and third countries. The Joint Applicants also request a 

waiver of the 45-day advance filing requirement under 14 CFR Part 212.1

* Approved under assigned authority (14 CFR §385.13).

Date of Action: March 9, 20112

This action is subject to the conditions attached. Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of 

this action under the Department’s regulations, 14 CFR §385.30, should file their petitions within seven 

days of the date of this action. This action is effective immediately, and the filing of a petition for review 

will not alter its effectiveness.

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

http://www.regulations.gov

 1 The Joint Applicants also request that the code-share authority granted here be administered jointly with the 

existing Delta/Alitalia blanket statements of authorization in this docket and that a non-Mexico, non-open skies 

point code-share notice given by Delta, Alitalia, or any of the regional partners or code-share affiliates authorized in 

this docket be deemed notice given by all the carriers, and incorporate by reference all such prior notices. The Joint 

Applicants further note that 30-day notice for all U.S.-EU and open-skies markets was given on March 2, 2009, in 

this Docket, and incorporate that notice by reference as well. 2 The Department is acting on the Joint Applicants’ request prior to the expiration of the answer period with the 

consent of all parties served.
The code-share operations authorized here are subject to the following conditions:

(a) The statement of authorization will remain in effect only as long as (i) Delta, Pinnacle, and Alitalia

continue to hold the necessary underlying authority to operate the code-share services at issue, and (ii) the 

code-share agreement providing for the code-share operations remains in effect.

(b) Delta, Pinnacle, and/or Alitalia, as appropriate, must notify the Department no later than 30 days 

before they begin any new code-share service under the code-share services authorized here. Such notice 

shall identify the market(s) to be served, which carrier will be operating the aircraft in the code-share 

market added, and the date on which the service will begin. Such notice should be filed in Docket DOTOST-2001-10417.

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(c) Delta, Pinnacle, and/or Alitalia, as appropriate, must promptly notify the Department if the code-share 

agreement providing for the code-share operations is no longer effective or if the carriers decide to cease 

operating all or a portion of the approved code-share services. Such notice should be filed in Docket 

DOT-OST-2001-10417.

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(d) The code-sharing operations conducted under this authority must comply with 14 CFR 257 and with 

any amendments to the Department’s regulations concerning code-share arrangements that may be 

adopted. Notwithstanding any provisions in the contract between the carriers, our approval here is 

expressly conditioned upon the requirements that the subject foreign air transportation be sold in the name 

of the carrier holding out such service in the computer reservation systems and elsewhere; that the carrier 

selling such transportation (i.e., the carrier shown on the ticket) accept responsibility for the entirety of 

the code-share journey for all obligations established in its contract of carriage with the passenger; that 

the passenger liability of the operating carrier be unaffected; and that the operating carrier shall not permit 

the code of its U.S. code-sharing partner to be carried on any flight that enters, departs, or transits the 

airspace of any area for whose airspace the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a flight 

prohibition.

(e) The authority to operate to third countries is subject to the condition that any service provided under 

the statement of authorization shall be consistent with all applicable agreements between the United 

States and the foreign countries involved. Furthermore, (i) nothing in the award of this blanket statement 

of authorization should be construed as conferring upon Delta or Pinnacle rights (including code-share, 

fifth freedom intermediate and/or beyond rights) to serve markets where U.S. carrier entry is limited 

unless Delta or Pinnacle notifies the Department of their intent to serve such a market and unless and until 

the Department has completed any necessary carrier selection procedures to determine which carrier(s) 

should be authorized to exercise such rights; and (ii) should there be a request by any carrier to use the 

limited-entry route rights that are included in the authority of Delta or Pinnacle by virtue of the blanket 

statement of authorization granted here, but that are not then being used by Delta or Pinnacle, the holding 

of such authority will not be considered as providing any preference for Delta or Pinnacle in a 

competitive carrier selection proceeding to determine which carrier(s) should be entitled to use the 

authority at issue.5

(f) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that neither Delta, Pinnacle, nor Alitalia shall 

give any force or effect to any contractual provisions between themselves that are contrary to these 

conditions.

We may amend, modify, or revoke the authority granted at any time without hearing at our discretion.

 3 We have granted the Joint Applicants’ request that a non-Mexico, non-open skies point code-share notice given by 

Delta, Alitalia, or any of the regional partners or code-share affiliates authorized in this docket be deemed notice 

given by all the carriers. In this regard, the Joint Applicants note that 30-day notice for all U.S.-EU and open-skies 

markets was given on March 2, 2009, in this Docket.

4 We expect this notification to be received within ten (10) days after such non-effectiveness or of such decision. 5 The notice in paragraph (b) above can be used for this notification.