UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation on December 5, 2014

NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN – DOCKET DOT-OST-2014-0211 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This serves as notice to the public of the action described below, taken by the Department official indicated (no additional 

confirming order will be issued in this matter).

Applicant: ROYAL AIR MAROC (RAM)

Date Filed: December 1, 2014 

Relief requested: 

A. Exemption under 49 USC §40109 to permit RAM to engage in scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, 

property, and mail from points behind Morocco, via Morocco, and intermediate points to a point or points in the United 

States and beyond.1 RAM requests the exemption be granted for a period of at least two years.

B. A blanket statement of authorization under 14 CFR Part 212 to permit RAM to display the (NC*) designator code of 

Northern Air Cargo (NAC) on flights operated by RAM in scheduled foreign air transportation of mail in either direction 

from points behind Morocco, via Morocco, and intermediate points to a point or points in the United States and beyond.

2

RAM further requests a waiver of the 45-day advance filing requirement under 14 CFR Part 212.

Applicant representatives: Don H. Hainbach and Jason E. Maddux, 202-776-3970

DOT analyst: David R. Christofano, 202-366-0584

Responsive pleadings: None

DISPOSITION

Action: Approved, subject to conditions Action date: December 5, 20143

Effective dates of exemption authority granted: December 5, 2014, through December 5, 2016. 

The statement of authorization granted is effective December 5, 2014, and will remain in effect for an indefinite duration, 

subject to conditions. 

Basis for approval (bilateral agreement/reciprocity): U.S.-Morocco Air Transport Agreement.

Except to the extent exempted/waived, this authority is subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations of our standard 

foreign air carrier exemption conditions attached as Appendix A and code-share conditions attached as Appendix B.

Action taken by: Paul L. Gretch, Director Office of International Aviation

 1 RAM holds a foreign air carrier permit that authorizes it to engage in (a) scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, 

and mail between a point or points in Morocco, via the intermediate point New York, NY, and the terminal point Montreal, Canada, 

and (b) charter trips in foreign air transportation pursuant to 14 CFR Part 212. See Order 75-2-61, issued February 12, 1975, in 

Docket 26260.

2 RAM and NAC intend to implement a codeshare arrangement under which RAM will carry U.S. mail tendered by NAC on its 

scheduled service between Casablanca and New York, and to additional points served by RAM beyond Casablanca. 3 The Department is acting on the requests of RAM prior to the expiration of the respective answer periods with the consent of all 

parties served.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Under authority assigned by the Department in its regulations, 14 CFR Part 385, we found that (1) our action was consistent with 

Department policy; (2) the applicant was qualified to perform its proposed operations; (3) grant of the authority was consistent with 

the public interest; and (4) grant of the authority would not constitute a major regulatory action under the Energy Policy and 

Conservation Act of 1975. To the extent not granted, we denied all requests in the referenced Dockets. We may amend, modify, or 

revoke the authority granted in this Notice at any time without hearing at our discretion.

Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of the action set forth in this Notice under the Department’s regulations, 14 CFR 

§385.30, may file their petitions within seven (7) days after the date of issuance of this Notice. This action was effective when taken, 

and the filing of a petition for review will not alter such effectiveness.

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

http://www.regulations.gov
Appendix A

Foreign Air Carrier Exemption Conditions

In the conduct of the operations authorized, the foreign carrier applicant(s) shall:

(1) Not conduct any operations unless it holds a currently effective authorization from its homeland for such 

operations, and it has filed a copy of such authorization with the Department;

(2) Comply with all applicable requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security 

Administration, and with all applicable U.S. Government requirements concerning security, including, but not limited to, 

14 CFR Parts 129, 91, and 36 and 49 CFR Part 1546 or 1550, as applicable. To assure compliance with all applicable 

U.S. Government requirements concerning security, the holder shall, before commencing any new service (including 

charter flights) from a foreign airport that would be the holder’s last point of departure for the United States, contact its 

International Industry Representative (IIR) (formerly referred to as International Principal Security Inspector) to advise 

the IIR of its plans and to find out whether the Transportation Security Administration has determined that security is 

adequate to allow such airport(s) to be served;

(3) Comply with the requirements for minimum insurance coverage contained in 14 CFR Part 205, and, prior to the 

commencement of any operations under this authority, file evidence of such coverage, in the form of a completed 

OST Form 6411, with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Program Management Branch (AFS-260), Flight 

Standards Service (any changes to, or termination of, insurance also shall be filed with that office);

(4) Not operate aircraft under this authority unless it complies with operational safety requirements at least 

equivalent to Annex 6 of the Chicago Convention;

(5) Conform to the airworthiness and airman competency requirements of its Government for international air services;

(6) Except as specifically exempted or otherwise provided for in a Department Order, comply with the requirements 

of 14 CFR Part 203, concerning waiver of Warsaw Convention liability limits and defenses;

(7) Agree that operations under this authority constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity, for the purposes of 28 U.S.C. 

1605(a), but only with respect to those actions or proceedings instituted against it in any court or other tribunal in the 

United States that are: (a) based on its operations in international air transportation that, according to the contract of 

carriage, include a point in the United States as a point of origin, point of destination, or agreed stopping place, or for 

which the contract of carriage was purchased in the United States; or (b) based on a claim under any international 

agreement or treaty cognizable in any court or other tribunal of the United States. In this condition, the term 

"international air transportation" means "international transportation" as defined by the Warsaw Convention, except that 

all States shall be considered to be High Contracting Parties for the purpose of this definition;

(8) Except as specifically authorized by the Department, originate or terminate all flights to/from the United States in its 

homeland;

(9) Comply with the requirements of 14 CFR Part 217, concerning the reporting of scheduled, nonscheduled, and charter 

data;

(10) If charter operations are authorized, except as otherwise provided in the applicable aviation agreement, comply with 

the Department's rules governing charters (including 14 CFR Parts 212 and 380); and

(11) Comply with such other reasonable terms, conditions, and limitations required by the public interest as may be 

prescribed by the Department, with all applicable orders or regulations of other U.S. agencies and courts, and with all 

applicable laws of the United States.

This authority shall not be effective during any period when the holder is not in compliance with the conditions imposed 

above. Moreover, this authority cannot be sold or otherwise transferred without explicit Department approval under Title 

49 of the U.S. Code.

12/2007
Appendix B

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) RAM and NAC 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) RAM and/or NAC 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 notices should be filed in Dockets DOT-OST-2014-0211.

1

(c) RAM and/or NAC 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 and the date on 

which the service will begin. Such notices should be filed in Dockets DOT-OST-2014-0211.

2

(d) The code-sharing operations conducted under this authority must comply with 14 CFR Part 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 waybill) accept responsibility for the entirety of the code-share journey for all obligations established in its contract 

of carriage with the shipper; that the shipper 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) Any service provided shall be consistent with the provisions of the U.S.-Morocco Air Transport Agreement, and all 

applicable agreements with other foreign countries involved. Furthermore, (i) nothing in the award of the blanket 

statement of authorization should be construed as conferring upon NAC rights (including code-share, fifth-freedom 

intermediate and/or beyond rights) to serve markets where U.S. carrier rights are limited unless NAC notifies us of its

intent to serve such 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;3 and (ii) should there be a 

request by any carrier to use the limited-entry route rights that are included in the authority of NAC by virtue of the 

blanket statement of authorization granted here, but that are not being used by NAC, the holding of such authority will 

not be considered as providing any preference for NAC in a carrier selection proceeding to determine which carrier(s) 

should be entitled to use the authority at issue;

(f) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that neither RAM nor NAC 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.

 1 We expect this notification to be received within 10 days of such non-effectiveness or of such decision. 2 Consistent with the Department's Notice in the Matter of Blanket Notification of Code-Share Service to Open-Skies Partners and 

Points, dated February 9, 2009, RAM provided blanket notice of its intent to engage in code-share services between open skies points

as RAM and NAC may agree upon mutually in the future and also provided initial code-share points as specified in Appendix C.

RAM states that it will notify the Department no later than 30 days before commencing any codeshare services to non-open skies 

points. 

3 The notice referenced in condition (c) above may be used for this notification.
 Appendix C

 Initial Code-Share Points