AFS-12-071-E December 21, 2011

Exemption No. 8653E Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2005-22105

Mr. Maurice J. Montgomery Manager – Flight Operations United Continental Holdings, Inc.
233 South Wacker Drive Chicago, IL 60606

Dear Mr. Montgomery:

This letter is to inform you that we have granted your petition to extend Exemption No. 8653, as amended. It explains the basis for our decision, describes it s effect, and lists the
conditions and limitations.

Please note that the Federal Aviation Admini stration (FAA) has amended the conditions and limitations of this exemption to standardize it with those of other similarly situated operators.

This exemption combines Exemption No. 8653 and Exemption No. 9621. This exemption also includes all of the provisions and limitations of Op erations Specification C355 (exemption to § 121.619 for domestic destination a lternate airport requir ements); therefore, the operations specification is no longer required and should be archived after the conditions of this exemption have been implemented.

The Basis for Our Decision

By letter dated Nove mber 3, 2011, you petitioned the FAA on behalf of United Continental Holdings, Inc. (CALA), for an extension of Exemption No. 8653, as amended. That exemption from § 121.619(a)(1) and (2) of Titl e 14, Code of Federal Regulations allows United Airlines (United) and Continental Airlines (Continental) and/or United and Continental, their certificated aircraft dispat chers, and their pilots in command (PIC) to dispatch flights to domestic airports at which for at least 1 hour before and 1 hour after theestim ated time of arrival at the destination airp ort the appropriate weather reports or forecasts, or any combination of them, indicate the ceili ng may be reduced from at least 2,000 feet to 1,000 feet above the airport elevation and visibil ity may be reduced from at least 3 statute miles to 2 statute miles for Category (CAT) I approaches and 1 statute mile for CAT II and CAT III approaches. 2

In your petition, you indicate that there has been no change in the conditions and reasons relative to public interest and safety that were the basis for granting the original exemption. The FAA has determined that good cause exists for not publishing a summary of the petition
in the Federal Register because the requested extension of the exemption would not set a precedent, and any delay in acting on this petition would be detrimental to United and
Continental and/or United and Continental.

Our Decision

The FAA ha s determined that the justificati on for the issuance of Exemption No. 8653, as amended, remains valid with respect to this exemption and is in the public interest. Therefore, under the authority provided by 49 U.S.C. 40113 and 44701, which the FAA Administrator has delegated to me, I grant your petition, subject to the following amended
conditions and limitations.

Conditions and Limitations

1. Before conducting operations under this ex emption, United and Continental and/or
United and Continental must obtain an updated Operations Specification A005 (Exemptions and Deviations) that provides for operations under this exemption.

2. Operations under this exemption are limited to only those destinati on airports in the contiguous United States.

3. Operations conducted under this exemption must use a current and qualified aircraft dispatcher.

4. Operations under this exemption are limited to only those airports at which an operable instrument landing system (ILS) procedure is published. Alternate minimums are predicated on the following table:

Table - Alternate Minimums (Ceiling and Visibility Required)

Operable ILS Ceiling Required Visibility Required

CAT I 1,000 feet above ground level (AGL) 3 statute miles

CAT II 1,000 feet AGL 2 statute miles

CAT III 1,000 feet AGL 2 statute miles5. 3

Before conducting operations under this exem p tion, United and Continental and/or United
and Continental must demonstrate to the sa tisfaction of the FAA principal operations inspector (POI) assigned to the United Ai rlines Certificate Management Office that:

a. Each United and Continental and/or Un ited and Continental dispatcher has a system available to display the location of each flight within 3 minutes of real time;

b. Each United and Continental and/or Un ited and Continental dispatch facility has a system that provides its dispatch ers with overlays of weather returns updated at least once every 5 minutes;

c. Each United and Continental and/or Un ited and Continental dispatch facility has a system that provides its dispatchers with a display of the specific aircraft routing as assigned by air traffic contro l (ATC) and actual filed flight plan routing;

d. Each United and Continental and/or Un ited and Continental dispatcher must have the capability to ex peditiously recompute project ed arrival fuel from a “point aloft” to the intended destin ation in the event conditions, including those required to be reported in co ndition 8 below, occur that negatively impact the flight;

e. Each United and Continental and/or Un ited and Continental dispatcher must have data available that will show aircraft status, including the aircraft capability to conduct CAT I, CAT II, or CAT III operations as applicable to the exemption being used;

f. Each United and Continental and/or Un ited and Continental dispatcher has a system available to display locations of other airborne aircraft including aircraft of other operators;

g. Each United and Continental and/or Un ited and Continental dispatch facility has a system available that provides it s dispatchers with a display of planned and actual fuel at regular intervals al ong the route and the difference between planned and actual fuel;

h. Each United and Continental and/or Un ited and Continental dispatch facility has a system available that automatica lly alerts its dispatchers to special weather updates, changes in weather reports, and forecasts and/or other significant weather-related reports and ensures that these can be relayed to flightcrews in an expeditious manner;

i. Each United and Continental and/or Un ited and Continental dispatcher is provided the capability to access the se rvices of a qualified meteorologist approved by the POI whenever the dispat cher believes that consultation is necessary to ensure safety of operations under this ex emption. The presence of4

an approved Enhanced Weather Informa tion System program satisfies this requirement; and

j. Each dispatch release issued in accordance with this exemption will contain a
statement such as “ALTERNATE WEATHER EXEMPTION APPLIED. REFERENCE (APPROPRIATE DOCUMENT SUCH AS FLIGHT OPERATIONS MANUAL, GENERAL OPERATONS MANUAL, ETC.).” The certificate holder may choose to us e other wording, if desired, but the meaning must be clear.

6. The reporting requirements of the flightcrew s listed in condition 8, Mandatory Pilot Reports, below and the required dispatch flight planning and tracking systems in
condition 5 above must be used to determine th e feasibility of dispat ching the flight under this exemption and/or continui ng the flight after dispatch.

7. Approved Procedures. If the use of these sy stems, reports, or th e occurrence of other
factors indicate that the cond itions under which the flight wa s originally dispatched have changed and may negatively impact the flight , the dispatcher and flightcrew must reevaluate the continued operation of the flight using approved procedures, and if necessary, agree on an alternate plan as soon as pract icable after the occu rrence of any of the following:

(1) En route holding or delaying v ectors, airspeed changes, altit ude changes, or re-routings; (2) Unplanned or sustained use of deici ng and anti-icing systems or other factors directly relating to fuel consumption that may have a negative effect on trip fuel requirements; (3) The deterioration of de stination weather below a 1,000-foot ceiling and 2-mile visibility if using an exempti on that requires at least 3 statute miles visibility as listed in the Table above; and (4) The deterioration of de stination weather below a 1,000-foot ceiling and 1-mile visibility if using an exemp tion that requires for at least 2 statute miles visibility as
listed in the Table above.

8. Mandatory Pilot Reports. Pilots will notify disp atch as soon as practicable in the event of any of the following:

(1) Lateral deviation from the planned r oute by greater than 100 nautical miles; (2) Vertical deviation from the planne d altitude by greater than 4,000 feet; (3) Estimated time of arrival will exc eed planned by greater than 15 minutes; (4) Fuel consumption in excess of planned th at may have a negative effect on trip fuel requirements; (5) Fuel system component failure or appa rent malfunction that may have a negative effect on trip fuel requirements; (6) The flight encounters weather significan tly different than forecast, to include turbulence; (7) The flight is assigned en route or arrival holding; and5

(8) Unplanned or sustained use of deicing or anti-icing systems.

9. United and Continental and/or United and C ontinental must maintain CAT I (Operations Specification C074)/CAT II/CA T III (Operations Specificat ion C059) ILS approach authorization (as applicable) fo r those aircraft to which th is exemption would apply, and each aircraft must have fully operating equi pment needed for the appropriate CAT I/CAT II/CAT III ILS approach for that aircra ft to operate under this exemption.

10. At the time of dispatch, the flightcrew must be qualified to conduct a CAT I/CAT II/ CAT III ILS approach to published minimums (a s applicable). PICs with less than the requisite minimum hours specified in § 121.652 cannot be used in operations under this exemption, unless the operator also holds Exemption No. 5549, the PIC has been trained in accordance with the requirements of that exemption, and all of th e conditions specified by Exemption No. 5549 are met.

11. Operations are not permitted under this exemp tion at any airport at which thunderstorms are reported or forecast from 1 hour before th rough 1 hour after the es timated arrival time if such reports or forecasts ar e in either or both the main body or the remarks section of the weather report or the weather forecast. Furthermore, United and Continental and/or United and Continental cannot use Exempti on No. 3585 (as amended) issued to Air Transport Association of America, Inc., members (including United and Continental and/or United and Continental) or any s ubsequent exemption granting similar relief regarding any kind of forecast of thunderstorms at the destination airport in conjunction with any operation conduc ted under this exemption.

12. Each certificated United and Continental and/or United and Continental dispatcher and PIC, who conducts operations under this exem ption, must be provided with a copy of pertinent parts of this exemption. Operations under this exemption are permitted by
United and Continental and/or United a nd Continental dispatchers and United and
Continental and/or United and Cont inental PICs but are not required.

13. Use of this exemption in operations to destin ations outside the con tiguous United States is prohibited. United and Continenta l and/or United and Continenta l is authorized to use this exemption in operations to airports within th e 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia from airports outsi de those boundaries provided Un ited and Continental and/or United and Continental also holds Operat ions Specification A 012 (Part 121 Domestic Operations to Certain Airports Outside the 48 Contiguous States and Alaska) and operations are conducted in accordance with the appropriate provisions of that operations specification as they pertain to operations from Alaska and/or the airports listed in the
Table thereof.

14. United and Continental and/or United and Cont inental must provide the Administrator, by
the 15 TH day of each month, reports that include the information listed below, during the preceding calendar month. The POI is authorized to delete this reporting requirement
once United and Continental and/or United and Continental have conducted operations under this exemption satisfactorily for at least 24 continuous calendar months and sufficient data to thoroughl y evaluate operational performance have been obtained.6

Reports must contain the following information:

a. The total number of fli ghts operated by United and C ontinental and/or United
and Continental under domestic rules to destinations within the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia;

b. The total number of f lights operated under this exemption, including those flights conducted under the a ppropriate provisions and lim itations of Operations Specification A012. For each flight operate d, the dates; airport pairs; flight numbers; aircraft make, model, and serial number; trended or graphical summary of flight planned fuel vs. act ual arrival fuel; and contingency fuel must be listed. Report format shall be in chronological order by fleet type;

c. The total number of flights that divert to an alternate airport;

d. The total number of flights that divert to an alternat e airport that are separated under this exemption, and the reason for each diversion, such as weather conditions, mechanical problem, fuel qua ntity, passenger problem, air traffic, crewmember, or any other reason. United and Continental an d/or United and Continental must fully document each diversion; and

e. The total number of United and Cont inental and/or United and Continental flights, operated under this exemption, that declare an emergency and the reason for such declaration, or during whic h flight a low fuel state occurs that results in actions being taken by ATC a nd/or dispatch to provide priority handling, even if no emergency is declared.

The Effect of Our Decision

Our decision extends the term ination da te of Exemption No. 8653, as amended, to January 31, 2014, unless sooner supe rseded or rescinded.

Sincerely,

/s/
John S. Duncan Acting Director, Flight Standards
Service