THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20590 

The Honorable Albio Sires 

U.S. House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 205 15 

Dear Congressman Sires: 

April 03, 2014 

Thank you for your letter regarding the application ofNorwegian Air International Limited 

(NAI) for authority to conduct U.S. services. 

Given that a number of interested parties have fi led responsive pleadings to NAI's application 

and this matter is currently pending before the Department, I am sure you understand that I 

cannot comment on the merits ofNAI's application. I assure you, however, that we will give full 

and careful consideration to all of the pleadings filed on the record before we reach a 

determination in this matter. 

As is our standard practice, I am placing a copy of your letter and my response in Docket 

DOT-OST-201 3-0204, as a contact outside the record of this case. You may track the progress 

of this case and view the publicly available documents fi led in the docket by accessing the 

Federal Docket Management System at www.regulations.gov and searching for Docket 

DOT-OST-2013-0204. 

I hope this information is helpful. 

Sincerely, 

Anthony R. Foxx 
ALBIO SIRES 

8TH DISTRICT, NEW JERSEY 

COMMITIEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

SUBCOMMITTEES: 

WESTERN HEMISPHERE, RANKING MEMBER 

EUROPE, EURASIA, AND EMERGING THREATS 

COMMITIEE ON TRANSPORTATION 

AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

SUBCOMMITTEES: 

HIGHWAYS AND TRANSIT 

RAILROADS, PIPELINES, AND 

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 

Qlnnzvtu of tlyt ~nit£o~ta±tz 

~ of ~pnz.enicrlib.e.s 

;ID!fas~ingtnn, c!9ill 20515-3013 

HTTP:/ /WWW.SIRES.HOUSE.GOV 

The Honorable Anthony R. Foxx 

Secretary 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Ave SE, 

Washington, DC 20590 

Dear Secretary Foxx: 

February 6, 2014 

2342 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING 

W ASHINGTON, DC 20515 

(202) 225-7919 

5500 PALISADE AVENUE, SUITE A 

WEST New YORK , NJ 07093 

(201) 558-0800 

121 NEWARK AVENUE, SUITE 200 

JERSEY CITY, NJ 07302 

(201) 309-0 301 

800 ANNA STREET 

ELIZABETH, NJ 07201 

(908) 820-0692 

BAYONNE CITY HALL 

630 AVENUE C. ROOM 9 

BAYONNE, NJ 07002 

(201) 823-2900 

I am writing to express my concerns about the application by Norwegian Air International 

Limited (NAI) for exemption authority and a foreign air carrier permit. As you know, approval 

of this application would permit NAIto conduct commercial air transportation operations into 

and out of the United States. I believe that there are several reasons why approval ofNAI's 

application is not in the public interest. 

NAI employs a global outsourcing business model for its pilots and flight attendants that risks 

putting U.S. airlines and their employees at an economic disadvantage. Furthermore, NAI's 

application provides only scarce information about their company and their plans. Based on 

reports in the media, it appears to be in the same corporate family with Norwegian Air Shuttle 

(NAS), a rapidly-growing low-cost airliner. 

My concern is that the publicly stated desire ofNAS is to circumvent Norwegian labor law. 

NAS has stated that it will seek to register its aircraft in, and receive an operator's certificate 

from a European Union country whose labor laws, unlike Norway's, will allow outsourcing of 

aircraft crew beyond the EU. NAS has stated that they will operate out oflreland, where they 

will fly from Norway and other EU points to the United States with outsourced, low-wage 

aircrew, based in Southeast Asia. This will be done under individual employment contracts 

governed by Singapore law. It appears that NAS may now intend to use NAI as its Irish afilliate 

to bring its plan to fruition. 

510-140220-018 
In addition to harming fair wages and working conditions, NAIINAS's model would put U.S. 

carriers in direct competition at a competitive disadvantage. Accordingly, approval ofNAI's 

application for authority would be inconsistent with the Congressional-established public 

interest, set forth in the aviation statutes. 

I thank you for your consideration of my request, and look forward to working with you on this 

issue. 

lbio Sires, 

Member of Congress 

510-140220-018 
'\ 

~ 

(J) 

w 

> 

~ ('t) 

~ 0 z ('t) 

w I 1- (f) l!') z (J) ... w (f) 

w l!') w 0 ~ z a: N :J (/.j c... u (J :J w 0 0 CD 

a: z c ..J 

u.. 0 (J <( 

0 1- ::::i u t9 u:: 

w z ~ LL 

(J) I :J 0 

::J (f) 

D. 

~ I 

• S10-140220-018 

• -~ ? I 1 tu • • I' '· 

-= 

0 

(i\ 

U1 

0 

(\j 

·ri 

IL 

w 

.... 

-·· 

iL 

·:I 

·:I