AFS-10-343-E 

Exemption No. 10192 

 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION 

WASHINGTON, DC 20591 

 

In the matter of the petition of 

 

JETBLUE AIRWAYS 

CORPORATION Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2010-0751 

 

for an exemption from § 119.3 

of Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations 

 

DENIAL OF EXEMPTION 

By letter dated July 26, 2010, Mr. Joseph D. DeVito, Manager Flight Standards 

Compliance, JetBlue Airways Corporation (JetBlue), petitioned the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) on behalf of JetBlue for an exemption from § 119.3 of 

Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). The proposed exemption, if 

granted, would allow JetBlue to operate flights between the Dominican Republic and 

Puerto Rico as domestic operations rather than flag operations under part 121. 

The petitioner requests relief from the following regulation:

Section 119.3, which defines a “domestic operation” as including, when specifically 

authorized by the Administrator, operations between any point within the 48 

contiguous States of the United States or the District of Columbia and any 

specifically authorized point located outside the 48 contiguous States of the 

United States or the District of Columbia. 
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The petitioner supports its request with the following information:

The petitioner states that § 119.3 currently allows the Administrator the flexibility to 

determine whether a routing outside the continental United States must be conducted 

under “domestic” or “flag” rules. Section 119.3 defines a “domestic operation” as it 

applies to operations outside the contiguous 48 states to include, when specifically 

authorized by the Administrator, operations between any point within the 48 

contiguous States of the United States or the District of Columbia and any 

specifically authorized point located outside the 48 contiguous United States or the 

District of Columbia. 

While flights from the contiguous United States to the Dominican Republic have 

been authorized by the Administrator, JetBlue’s flights between Puerto Rico and the 

Dominican Republic are not eligible for the Administrator to exercise his discretion 

to allow those operations as “domestic” because Puerto Rico is a possession of the 

United States rather than a point within the 48 contiguous States of the United States 

or the District of Columbia. JetBlue believes this is a consequence of an unintended 

drafting anomaly. JetBlue seeks an exemption to the definition of “domestic 

operation” that would effectively add “or Puerto Rico” after “District of Columbia,” 

in paragraph (2)(iv) of the definition of “domestic operation set forth at § 119.3,” 

thereby permitting JetBlue, with the Administrator’s approval, to operate flights 

between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic as “domestic.” 

The rules applicable to flag operations are intended for long haul carriers, where 

crewmembers are frequently scheduled for more than 8 hours of flight during a 

24-hour period due to the nature and route structure of the airline. By contrast, the 

nature of JetBlue’s operations, route structure, and stage lengths are such that its 

operations between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (which currently are 

operated under the rules applicable to flag operations) are actually shorter in duration 

than its flights between the contiguous States of the United States and both Puerto 

Rico and the Dominican Republic (which are operated under the rules applicable to 

domestic operations). It is JetBlue’s belief that these short flights between Puerto 

Rico and the Dominican Republic simply are not the intended target of the rules 

applicable to flag operations. Therefore, JetBlue petitions the Administrator to 

amend the definition of domestic operation to permit the Administrator to have the 

discretion to allow flights between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic to be 

operated pursuant to the rules applicable to domestic operations. Such flexibility 

would make the flight operations of a carrier such as JetBlue more reasonable by 

potentially eliminating the present anomalous situation of a short duration flight 

operating under flag rules and other much longer flights to the same destination 

operating under domestic rules. 

JetBlue states that a grant of exemption would not adversely affect safety and would 

provide more than an equivalent level of safety. The petitioner believes that granting 

this exemption would increase safety by providing consistency in the rules that apply 
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in this theater of operation and avoiding confusion in constantly transitioning 

between domestic and flag operations in flights to the Caribbean. 

The petitioner believes that under the rest requirements applicable to flag operations, 

a pilot may be repeatedly scheduled for as little as 8 hours of rest without any 

compensatory rest requirement, provided that flying does not exceed 8 hours in any 

24-hour period. By contrast, under the rest requirements applicable to domestic 

operations, if a pilot receives less than 9 hours of rest, compensatory rest must be 

provided. Thus, by granting this exemption, a pilot who conducts JetBlue’s flights 

between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic will become eligible for 

compensatory rest under the domestic operations rules. 

A summary of the petition was published in the Federal Register on August 26, 2010 

(75 FR 52593). No comments were received. 

The FAA’s analysis is as follows: 

The FAA has considered the petitioner’s request and finds that a grant of exemption 

would not be in the public interest and would not provide a level of safety equivalent 

to the current regulations. 

JetBlue requests an exemption from “section 119.3, definition of domestic operation, 

to allow the Administrator authority to permit JetBlue to operate flights between 

Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic...under the rules applicable to domestic 

operations” rather than flag operations under part 121. While JetBlue’s flights 

between the 48 contiguous States and Puerto Rico and flights between the 48 

contiguous States and the Dominican Republic have been specifically authorized by 

the Administrator and defined as domestic operations, JetBlue’s flights between 

Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are “flag operations” as defined in 

paragraph (2)(i) of § 119.3. Accordingly, JetBlue should be requesting an exemption 

from the definition of flag operation in paragraph (2)(i) of § 119.3 so that it will not 

be required to operate its flights between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic 

under the rules applicable to flag operations in part 121 but instead can operate under 

rules applicable to domestic operations. 

The FAA finds that JetBlue’s discussion regarding exceeding 8 hours within a 

24-hour period in a mix of domestic and flag operations neglected to reference the 18 

hours rest requirement if operations exceed 8 hours within a 24-hour period under 

flag rules. If the exemption were granted, relief from this rest requirement could be 

considered significant for an operator conducting mixed domestic and flag 

operations. The FAA finds that granting this exemption would provide JetBlue with 

a unique concession. JetBlue contends the flights between Puerto Rico and the 

Dominican Republic would be a better fit under domestic operations given their 

relatively short duration and granting the exemption would increase safety by 

providing consistency in the rules and avoiding confusing when transitioning 

between domestic and flag operations. JetBlue has not, however, provided any 
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justification or rationale of how it is unique from other similarly situated operators 

that must comply with the regulations. In addition, by granting this exemption, 

JetBlue would have exclusive rights to operate under domestic operations for its 

flights between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. 

JetBlue believes that the Administrator should be allowed to exercise his discretion 

to allow flights between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic to be conducted as 

domestic operations since “Puerto Rico is a possession of the United States” and the 

term “Puerto Rico” was omitted from the definition of domestic operation due to an 

“unintended drafting anomaly.” The FAA disagrees this was a drafting oversight 

since the definition of flag operation specifically references “any territory or 

possession of the United States” (emphasis added). See § 119.3 (definition of “flag 

operation”). Accepting the claim that the term “Puerto Rico” was unintentionally 

omitted from the definition of domestic operation due to a drafting anomaly would 

directly contradict the definition of flag operation. Moreover, the use of the term 

“possession of the United States” in the definition of domestic operation indicates 

that the agency was aware of such entities, including Puerto Rico, when it drafted 

that definition. 

The FAA also recognizes that JetBlue is advocating for a rule change by 

“petition[ing] the Administrator to amend the definition of domestic operation to 

permit the Administrator to have the discretion to allow flights on this route to be 

operated pursuant to the rules applicable to domestic operations.” JetBlue proposes 

to amend paragraph (2)(iv) of § 119.3 definition of “domestic operation” to read as 

follows: 

when specifically authorized by the Administrator, operations between any 

point within the 48 contiguous States of the United States, the District of 

Columbia or Puerto Rico and any specifically authorized point located 

outside the contiguous States of the United States, the District of Columbia or 

Puerto Rico. 

This request is better handled through a petition for rulemaking. Additionally, the 

United States Congress has mandated the FAA to address fatigue issues through 

Public Law 111.216 under Sec. 212, Pilot Fatigue-Flight and Duty Time Regulations 

of the “Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010.” 

On September 14, 2010, the FAA published a notice of proposed rulemaking titled 

“Flightcrew Member Duty and Rest Requirements” (75 FR 55852). It would be 

inappropriate for the FAA to issue an exemption to rules associated with flight and 

duty during ongoing rulemaking that will substantially alter the flight and duty time 

regulations. 
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The FAA’s Decision: 

In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exemption would not be in the 

public interest. Therefore, pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 40113 

and 44701, delegated to me by the Administrator, the petition of JetBlue Airways 

Corporation for an exemption from 14 CFR § 119.3 is hereby denied. 

Issued in Washington, D.C., on January 10, 2011. 

/s/ 

Raymond Towles 

Acting Director, Flight Standards 

 Service