Served: June 10 , 201 1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C.

Joint Application of

AMERICAN AIRLINES, I NC. AND QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMIT ED

under 49 U.S.C. § 41309 for approval of Joint Business Agreement

Docket DOT

- OST

- 2 0 1 1

- 0111

NOTICE

On June 8 , 20 1 1

, American Airlines and Qantas Airways (collectively, the “Joint Applicants”) sought approval from the Department to launch a J oint Business Agreement

.

Access to Documents

Along with their application, the Joint Applica nts filed a motion under 14 C.F.R. § 302.12 (Rule 12) of the Department’s regulations seeking confidential treatment for supporting documents and information. They state that this material is confidential, proprietary, and commercially sensitive, which qu alifies it for being withheld from public disclosure. They ask that access to this material be limited to counsel and outside experts who have filed valid confidentiality affidavits. 1

T o afford interested parties prompt access to the documents in the re cord

, we will grant immediate interim access to all documents covered by the Rule 12 m otion to counsel and outside experts for interested parties who file appropriate affidavits with the Department in advance. 2 Moreover, Parties will be permitted to make copies of the documents, at the Dockets facility, for use by persons who have filed confidentiality affidavits

. We also find it appropriate to grant interim access to any subsequent materials that may be filed in this case under a Rule 12 m otion

under the same terms, unless the party filing the m otion objects.

We expect all affidavits to state, at a minimum, that (1) the affiant is counsel for an interested party or an outside independent expert providing services to such a party; (2) the affiant will u se the information only for the purpose of participating in this proceeding; and (3) the affiant will disclose such information only to other persons who have filed a valid affidavit in the appropriate

1 See Motion of the Joint Applicants for Confidential Treatment

. 2 See, e.g., Delta/Northwest/Air France/KLM/Alitalia/Czech , OST

- 2007

- 28644 (Notice providing access to documents (July 3, 2007) )

.2

docket for this case . Affiants and interested parties must understand and agree that any pleading or other filing that includes or discusses information contained in the covered documents must itself be accompanied by a Rule 12 m otion requesting confidential treatment. Affidavits must be

filed in Docket OST

- 20 1 1

- 0 111 with the Department of Transportation, Dockets, Room W12

- 140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, D.C. 20590.

Affiants may examine the documents at the Department of Transportation at the Dockets location. Affiants must present a stamped copy of the affidavit filed with the Department of Transportation before examination of the documents. Immediately after the completion of any judicial review of our final decision in this docket or the expiration of the 60

- day period within which a pers on may petition for judicial review, all persons who have filed confidentiality affidavits in this proceeding are hereby directed to file a further affidavit stating that all copies of the applicants’ confidential materials have been destroyed or returned to the applicants.

Procedural Schedule

Upon review of the documents provided, we determine that the record is substantially complete

and establish the following procedural schedule : answers must be filed no later than 21 calendar days from the issuance of this Notice, and replies must be filed no later than 7 business days after the last day for filing an answer.

We will serve this notice on all persons on the service list for this docket.

By:

SUSAN L. KURLAND Assistant Secretary

for Aviation and International Affairs

Date: June 10 , 201 1

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available at http://www.regulations.gov