BEFORE THE DEPAR T MENT OF TRANSPORTATION W AS HINGTON, D .C.

Application of VOLGA-DNEPR J.S. CARGO AIRLINE for an emergency exemption pursuant to 49 

## u.s.c . § 40109(g) Huntsville, AL- Vandenberg AFB , CA ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )



# ______ ______________________ ) Docket OST-2010-

APPLICATION OF VOLGA-DNEPR J.S. CARGO AIRLINE

FOR AN EMERGENCY EXEMPTION Communication with respect to this document should be addressed to: Alexey I. Isaikin Chairman Volga-Dnepr J . S
. Cargo Airline 14 Karbysheva Street 1215 Ulyanovsk, Russia

DATED: August 14, 2012 Colon Miller 

### I Artem Tarasenko Operations Manager Volga Dnepr-Unique Air Cargo, Inc . 9400 Grogan's Mill Road, Town Center Plaza, Suite 220 , The Woodlands, TX USA (832) 585-8611

NOTICE : TillS APPLICATION IS FILED PURSUANT TO TIIE EMERGENCY EXEMPTION PROCEDURES OF 14 C
. F . R. § 302.410 , WinCH AUTHORIZE THE DEPARTMENT TO ACT ON EMERGENCY EXEMPTIONS IMMEDIATELY. ANY PERSON INTERESTED IN FILING AN ANSWER IS REQUESTED TO DO SO IN THE ABOVE DOCKET IMMEDIATELY
. COPIES OF THE SUBMISSION SHOULD BE SERVED ON THE PERSONS LISTED ABOVE AND ON THE ATTACHED SERVICE LIST.BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHINGTON, D . C .
Application of VOLGA-DNEPR J.S. CARGO AIRLINE for an emergency exemption pursuant to 49 

## u.s.c. § 40109(g) Huntsville, AL- Vandenberg AFB, CA ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Docket OST- 2010-



# ____________________________ )

APPLICATION OF VOLGA-DNEPR J.S. CARGO AIRLINE FOR AN EMERGENCY EXEMPTION

Volga-Dnepr J.S
. Cargo Airline ( " Volga-Dnepr Airlines" or "Volga-Dnepr") respectful ly requests an emergency exemption from the provisions of 49 U . S.C
. §§ 40109(g) and 41703(c) , and otherwise applicable provisions of the Department of Transportation ("DOT") regulations,
so as to permit Volga-Dnepr to operate one (1) o ne-way cargo charter flight, utilizing VolgaDnepr's AN-124-100 aircraft to transport cargo from Huntsville, Alabama to Vandenberg AFB, California on around August 26 , 2012

- September 1 , 2012 , on behalf of United Launch Alliance
. The outsize cargo to be transported by Volga-Dnepr consists of the Atlas Booster tank, measuring (119 ' L x 13 ' 6 " W x 14 ' H), weighing approx . 81 , 400 pounds
. As described, the payload is outsized and cannot be accommodated by domestic commercial carrier aircraft. In support of its application , Volga-Dnepr states as follows :1. Volga-Dnepr is a foreign air carrier holding appropriate DOT authority to conduct a llcargo charter foreign air transportation between a point or points in Russia and a point or points in the United States, and all-cargo charter transportation between the United Sates and third countries pursuant to 14 C
. P . R. Part 212. 2. Volga-Dnepr will operate the flights on behalf of United Launch Alliance as part of an effort to provide urgently needed lift to leave Huntsville not later than the set dates. United Launch Alli ance is shipping the payloads to complete aggressive fabrication and launch schedules , while only the use ofVolga-Dnepr's outsized aircraft can make it possible to perform the services in question within the set schedule. 3. Due to the extreme size, the delicate nature of the cargo and its extremely high valu e, United Launch Alliance cannot use surface transportation to ship the payload. A technical evaluation conducted by Lockheed Martin determined that over-the-road transportation would place the cargo in conditions that are incompatible with maintaining system integrity compliance
. 4
. Given th e tight schedules associated with the fabrication, mission integration an d launch activiti es, Volga-Dnepr must perform the operations not later than within the set dates
. Volga-Dnepr is polling all U.S. certificated air carriers on the attached servic e list and will inform the Department of the results of that poll. 

### 5
. Under 49 U.S
. C. § 40109(g), the Department may authorize a foreign air carrier to transport commercial traffic between U . S. points under limited circumstances. Specifically, the Department must find that the authority is required in the public interest; that because of an emergency created by unusual circumstances not arising in the normal course of business th e traffic cannot be accommodated by U.S
. carriers holding certificates under 49 U.S.C
. § 4110 2 ; that all possible efforts have been made to accommodate the traffic on U.S. certificated air carriers; and that the exemption is neces sary t o avoid unreasonable hardship for the traffic
. Th isapplication is c onsistent with the public interest and meets all of the relevant criteria under 49 U.S .C
. § 40109(g) for the grant of an exemption. 6 . Grant of this application is in the public interest. As is evidenced by the attached correspondence, timely shipment of the payloads is imperative to avoid substantial delay in Lockheed Martin's fabrication , mission integration and launch schedules. 7. In this instance , an emergency created by unusual circumstances not arising in the normal course of business exists as a result of the size of the payloads, as well as the exigent circumstances surrounding the impossibility to use any other mode of transportation, and the lack of availability of U.S
. commercial aircraft of the nature of the AN-124-100 operated by Volga-Dnepr Airlines
. As a re s ult, the best way to resolve this emergency is for the AN-124-100 aircraft to transport the payloads in question
. 8
. 'As previously stated, no U.S. carrier operates aircraft that are able to transport this cargo . Indeed, there is no viable transportati o n option by any commercially a v ailabl e means other than Volga

- Dnepr' s aircraft
. 9. Grant of this e x emption application i s necessary to av o id unreasonable hardship for the traffic at issue. 10. Volga-Dnepr ' s fitness and ability t o carry out the proposed transportation has been amply demonstrated through its conduct of numerous cargo charter operations on behalf of United Launch Alliance in and out of the United States and throughout the world. 11. Grant of this application is consistent with Department precedent. Foreign air carrie rs have been granted emergency exemption authority to carry cargo between U.S
. points when an emergency existed as a result of unusual circumstances not arising in the normal course of business
. See, e.g., Orders 96-6-31, 96-4-29, 95-11-35, 95-2-35, 94-11-6 and 94-4-14, as well as Notices of Action Taken in dockets OST-04-17906, OST-07-26806, OST-07-27125 , OST-07- 28857 , OST-08-0003, and OST-09-0041.12
. In light of the exigent circumstances , Volga-Dnepr requests expeditious processing and the immediate grant of this emergency exemption application
. The Department's Procedural Regulations provide that the Department can act on an emergency exemption application immediately
. Designated agent for Volga-Dnepr will promptly advise the Department of the responses of the interested U.S. carriers to the telephone poll regarding this application.WHEREFORE, Volga-Dnepr respectfully requests that the Department issue an emergency exemption permitting it to operate one (1) one-way cargo charter flight, utilizing Volga-Dnepr's AN-124-100 aircraft; to transport cargo from Huntsville, Alabama to Vandenberg AFB, California on or around August 26, 2012

- September 1, 2012, as described herein , and grant such further relief as the Department deems to be consistent with the public interest.

Dated: August 14, 2012 Respectfully submitted,

Colon Miller Designated agent for Volga-Dnepr Airlines (832) 585-8611CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that I have on this day served a copy of the foregoing document upon all persons named on the attached service list via electronic mail.

Colon Miller

Dated: August 14, 2012

### Service List

Robert P. Silverberg Jeff Johnson Silverberg, Goldman & Bikoff, LLP Suite 120 1101 30 th 

### Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20007 For ABX AIR Telephone: 202
- 944 - 3300 Fax: 202 - 944 - 3306 rsilverberg@sgbdc.com jjohnson@sgbdc.com Marshall Sinick Squire, Sanders & Demsey 1201 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, DC 20004 For ALASKA AIRLINES & FLORIDA WEST Telephone: 202
- 626 - 6600 or 202 - 626 - 6649 Fax: 202 - 626 - 6780 msinick@ssd.com
Carl B. Nelson, Jr. , Esq. Associate General Counsel 1101 17 th 

### Street, N.W. Sui te 600Washington, DC 20036
- 4704 For: AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. Telephone: 202
- 496 - 5647 Fax: 202 - 857
- 4246 carl.nelson@aa.com John L. Richardson John L. Richardson, P.L.L.C. 555 13 th 

### Street, N.W. Suite 420 West Washington, DC 20004 For: AMERIJET INTERNATIONAL, INC. Telephone: 202
- 371 - 2258 Fax: 202 - 828 - 0158 jrichardson@johnlrichardson.com Michelle Riordan mriordan@johnlrichardson.com Joan M. Canny Senior Vice President and General Counsel AMERIJET INTERNATIONAL, INC. 28 00 S. Andrews Ave. Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 33316 Office 954
- 320 - 5300, Fax 305
- 423 - 3246 Direct 954
- 320 - 5367 jcanny@amerijet.com

### Stephen H. Lachter

Suite 900 1150 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20036
- 4192 For: ASTAR AIR CARGO Telephone: 202
- 862 - 4321 Fax: 202 - 835
- 3219 slachter@lachter
- clements.com Joe Hrezo Manager - Business Development ASTAR AIR CARGO - Charter Services Phone: 859
- 980 - 1870 Fax: 859
- 980 - 1689 Cell: 859
- 803 - 3882 joe.hrezo@astaraircargo.us Russell Pommer 1747 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W. Suite 875 Washington, D. C. 20006 For: ATLAS AIR Telephone: 202
- 822 - 9121 Fax: 202 - 822 - 9152 rpommer@atlasair.com Ken Johnson Ken.Johnson@aawholdings.com

Williams C. Evans John Mietus Law Office of John Mietus, LLC 6701 Democracy Blvd., Ste 300 B ethesda, MD 20817
- 7500 For: CENTURION AIR CARGO & SKYLEASE Telephone: 301
- 571
- 9334 Fax: 240 - 396 - 5362 john@mietuslaw.com Alexander Van der Bellen 1275 K St., NW, Suite 1200 Washington, DC 20005 For: DELTA AIRLINES sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com

Ben Graves Daniel Commins Kelli Bryan (Charter Sales) Evergreen International Airlines EVERGREEN INTERNATIONAL , INC . Telephone: 503
- 472 - 9361 Tel: 503.472.0011 Fax: 503.434.4210 charters@evergreenairlines.com Sam White sam.white@evergreenaviation.com Ranjit Seth ranjit.seth@evergreenairlines.com An geline N. Garbuzinski 3620 Hacks Cross Rd Bldg. B, 3 rd 

### Floor Memphis, TN 38135 For: FEDERAL EXPRESS CORP. Telephone: 901
- 434 - 8589 Fax: 901 - 434 - 9289 anbird@fedex.com Sandra Lunsford sllunsford@fedex.com

### Dawn Pefley

“Cozen O’Connor” 1627 I Street, NW, Ste 1100 Washington, DC 20006 For: KALITTA AIR, L.L.C. Telephone: 202
- 463 - 2525 Fax: 202 - 463 - 4950 DPefley@cozen.com Mark Atwood matw ood@cozen.com Ned Wallace nwallace@wallaceair.com Lynn Stauffer lstauffer@wallaceair.com Judy McKenzie, President For: LYNDEN AIR CARGO 6441 s. Airpark Place A nchorage, AK 99502 Telephone: 907
- 249 - 4100 Fax: 907 - 245
- 0642 judy@lac.lynden.com Garry White gwhite@lac.lynden.com Jim Davis jdavis@lac.lynden.com

Elaine Nisson Mark Liland 3900 W. Int’l Airport Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99519 For: NORTHERN AIR CARGO Telephone: 907
- 243 - 3331 ext.514 Fax: 907 - 249 - 5190 Mliland@nac.aero Elaine Nisson enisson@nac.aero Margot Wiegele mwiegele@nac.aero Kevin P. Montgomery 1747 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Suite 875 Washington, DC 20006 For: POLAR AIR Telephone: 202
- 828 - 1002 Fax: 202 - 828 - 1003 Peter Beckett Telephone 310
- 743 - 0142 Kevin.montgomery@polaraircargo.com peter.beckett@polaraircargo.com

Aaron A. Goerlich Gar ofalo, Goerlich & Hainbach, PC 1200 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 For: RYAN INTERNATIONAL Telephone: 202
- 776 - 3970 Fax: 202 - 776 - 3975 agoerlich@ggh
- airlaw.com Tom Gillies Richard Mac ri For: SOUTHERN AIR Telephone: 203
- 847 - 6000 vryan@southernair.com sales@southernair.com TGillies@southernair.com RMacri@southernair.com

### Dan Weiss

1600 Smith Street, Ste HQSGV Houston, TX 77002 For: UNITED/CONTINENTAL AIRLINES Telephone: 713
- 324 - 6697 or 713 - 324 - 2140 or (312) 997
- 7573 (Dan Weiss) Fax: 713 - 324 - 2749 dan.weiss@coair.com Anita Mosner Partner Holland & Knight For: UNITED PARCEL SERVICES 2099 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 100 Washington DC 20006 T: +1.202.419.2604 F: +1.202.955.5564 anita.mosner@hklaw.com Howard Kass Ben Slocum For: U.S. AIRWAYS Telephone: 202
- 326 - 5153 Telephone: 480
- 693 - 5782 (Ben) howard_kass@usairways.com Benjamin.slocum@usairways.com Malcolm L. Benge Corporate Counsel 999 Seventeenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20006
- 3309 For: WORLD AIRWAYS, INC. Telephone: 202
- 298 - 8660 Fax: 202 - 342 - 0683 mlbenge@zsr law.com Frank Avent Airline Information Research 343 Round Hill Road Sapphire, North Carolina 28774 Telephone: 703
- 489 - 9801 info@airlineinfo.com Krishna R. Urs Dep. Asst. Secy, Trnsp. Affairs Department o f State 2201 C Street, NW, Room 5830 Washington, DC 20520 Fax: 202 - 647 - 4324 urskr@state.gov Judy Kuo Department of State – EUR/RUS 2201 C. Street, N.W., Room 4417 Washington, DC 20520 Fax: 202 - 647 - 8980 Rog er Rapier Systems Operations Security Center (AJR
- 213) FAA AIR TRAFFIC SYSTEM OPERATIONS SECURITY 800 Independence Ave., SW Washington, DC 20591 Telephone: 202
- 267 - 8115/5775 Fax: 202 - 267 - 9208 9 - ATOR - HQ - RT - REQ @faa.gov

### A. Oakely Brooks, President & CEO

& Paul Doell, Dir. Govt Affairs National Air Carriers’ Association (NACA) Suite 1700 1000 Wilson Avenue Arlington, VA 22209
- 3901 Telephone: 703
- 358
- 8065 Fax: 703 - 358
- 8070 Pdoell@naca.cc