Order 2014-9-1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 2nd day of September, 2014

Served: September 2, 2014

Application of

NORWEGIAN AIR INTERNATIONAL LIMITED Docket DOT-OST-2013-0204

for an exemption under 49 U.S.C. § 40109 and a foreign air 

carrier permit under 49 U.S.C. § 41301 

ORDER DISMISSING EXEMPTION 

Summary

By this order we dismiss on procedural grounds the application of Norwegian Air International Limited 

(NAI) for an exemption under 49 U.S.C. § 40109 for the reasons discussed below. The substantive issues 

involved in NAI’s application for authority will be considered in the context of its request for a foreign air 

carrier permit under 49 U.S.C. § 41301.

Application

By application filed December 2, 2013 (as supplemented on February 13, 2014),1 NAI, a foreign air carrier 

of Ireland, requests an exemption under 49 U.S.C. § 40109 and a foreign air carrier permit under 49 U.S.C.

§ 41301, to enable it to conduct foreign scheduled and charter air transportation of persons, property, and 

mail to the full extent permitted under the U.S.-EU-Norway-Iceland Air Transport Agreement of June 21, 

2011, as amended (the U.S.-EU Agreement). 

Responsive Pleadings

The record in this proceeding contains an extensive number of filings that were submitted over the course of 

several months. These include pleadings filed in response to the application of NAI, as well as additional 

 1 On February 13, 2014, the applicant supplemented its original application by providing its Irish Air Operator Certificate and

Operating License. Until the Department received that February submission the application remained incomplete and could not be 

processed. The application, as supplemented, contained the basic background information about the applicant that is required 

under 14 CFR Part 211 of the Department’s regulations.
information that was provided by the Department for the record on two separate occasions, and subsequent 

pleadings filed in response to that information.2

Supporting Parties

Aside from NAI itself, the parties that filed in support of the NAI application include Federal Express 

Corporation (FedEx), Atlas Air, Inc. (Atlas), the Travel Technology Association (Travel Tech), the European 

Low Fares Airlines Association (ELFAA), the Washington Airports Task Force (WATF), the American 

Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), the Broward County Aviation Department and Fort LauderdaleHollywood International Airport, and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. 

Objecting Parties

NAI’s application is opposed by a number of U.S. and foreign air carriers, including Delta Air Lines, Inc. 

(Delta), United Airlines, Inc. (United), American Airlines, Inc. (American), US Airways, Inc. (US Airways), 

as well as Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Lufthansa) and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), Air France and 

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM), and Austrian Airlines AG (Austrian). It is also opposed by numerous 

U.S. labor interests, specifically the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the Allied Pilots Association 

(APA), the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association (SWAPA), the Transportation Trades Department AFLCIO (TTD), the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), the International Association of Machinists 

and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), as well as Captain 

Stephen Colman, the European Cockpit Association (ECA), the European Transport Workers’ Federation 

(ETF), the Norwegian trade union Parat, and the Signatories to the Joint Declaration Against EU-Based 

Flags of Convenience in Aviation as Endorsed on 5 June 2014 by the Air Crew Working Group of the 

Sectoral Dialogue Committee. 

Other

Airlines for America (A4A) filed comments to NAI’s application stating that the Department should

continue to pursue questions regarding NAI’s proposed U.S. operations through the Joint Committee 

established by the U.S.-EU Agreement.

Additional Submissions on the Record 

As noted above, the record in this case includes additional information that was provided on the record on 

two separate occasions by the Department. Specifically, this information consists of: 1) a Department Notice 

served on January 30, 2014, that provided a summary of a U.S.-EU Joint Committee discussion on NAI’s 

application; and 2) a Department Notice served on August 4, 2014, that provided a summary of a U.S.-EC 

Meeting of July 14, 2014, where EC officials expressed their views on the meaning and applicability of 

Article 17 bis of the U.S.-EU Agreement. Various parties to the proceeding subsequently filed additional 

pleadings in response to the information provided by the Department. 

 2 In the interest of attaining a complete record in this proceeding, we grant all motions for leave to file and also accept all other 

late-filed pleadings. 
Decision

The Department dismisses NAI’s application for exemption authority. The Department typically reserves its 

exemption powers in awarding foreign air carrier authority to situations where the circumstances of a case 

are sufficiently clear-cut to permit acting, at least for a limited term, without the additional procedural 

protections of show-cause procedures and § 41307 review. Because of the extensive record, which reflects 

the novel and complex nature of this case, however, the Department does not find that a temporary 

exemption is appropriate or in the public interest. Accordingly, the Department is dismissing NAI’s request 

for an exemption while it continues to process the applicant’s permit application. 

A tentative decision on the permit application will be issued after the Department completes its review of the 

record and its deliberations regarding the application.

ACCORDINGLY,

1. We dismiss the request of Norwegian Air International Limited for an exemption under 49 U.S.C. 

§ 40109 for the services set forth in its application;

2. We grant all motions for leave to file; and

3. We will serve a copy of this order on Norwegian Air International Limited; all other parties to this 

proceeding; the Embassy of Ireland in Washington, D.C.; the Embassy of Norway in Washington, D.C.; the 

Department of State; and the Federal Aviation Administration.

By:

ANTHONY R. FOXX

SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION

(SEAL)

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

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