UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC

Issued by the Department of Transportation on July 5, 2012

NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN -- DOCKET DOT-OST-2012-0092 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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).

Application of AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC (American) and AIR TAHITI-NUI (Air Tahiti) filed

6/5/12, for:1 2

XX Statement of Authorization under 14 CFR 212 to permit American to engage in the following codeshare services: 

Display the TN* code in conjunction with foreign air transportation of persons, property and mail 

on American-operated flights between Los Angeles, California and points in the U.S.

XX Statement of Authorization under 14 CFR 212 to permit Air Tahiti to engage in the following codeshare services: 

Display the AA* code in conjunction with foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail 

on Air Tahiti-operated flights between Los Angeles, California and Papeete, French Polynesia.3

 

Applicant reps: Evelyn D. Sahr (202) 659-6622 and Carl Nelson (202) 496-5647

DOT Analyst: Darren Jaffe (202) 366-2512

D I S P O S I T I O N

XX Granted Statement of Authorization for American (subject to conditions, see below)

XX Granted Statement of Authorization for Air Tahiti (subject to conditions, see below)

The above actions were effective when taken: July 5, 2012, and will remain in effect indefinitely, 

subject to conditions.

Action taken by: Paul L. Gretch, Director

 Office of International Aviation

 1 The Joint Applicants note that American is also applying on behalf of its affiliated carriers American Eagle 

Airlines, 

Inc. and Executive Airlines, Inc. d/b/a American Eagle. 2 On June 18, 2012 American withdrew its request for exemption authority to serve between Los Angeles, California 

and Papeete, French Polynesia since it already holds that authority under its blanket open-skies certificate issued by 

Order 2007-4-2. 3 Air Tahiti holds permit authority to provide scheduled service from points behind French Polynesia, via French 

Polynesia, and intermediate points to the U.S. and beyond. See Order 2003-9-27 Issuing Foreign Carrier Permit.
XX The authority granted is consistent with the United States-France Air Transport Agreement, as 

amended.

Except to the extent exempted or waived, this authority is subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations 

indicated: 

XX Holder’s certificates of public convenience and necessity 

 XX Conditions for Statements of Authorization (attached as Appendix A) 

We note that American has conducted a safety audit of Air Tahiti under the Department’s Code-Share 

Safety Audit Program, and the FAA has advised us that it has reviewed the relevant audit report and 

found it to be acceptable.

___________________________________________________________________________________

On the basis of data officially noticeable under Rule 24(g) of the Department's regulations, we found the 

applicant qualified to provide the exemption services authorized.

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) grant of the authority was consistent with the public 

interest; and (3) 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 

Docket. 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

The Statements of Authorization granted are subject to the following conditions:

(a) The statements of authorization will remain in effect only as long as American and Air Tahiti continue 

to hold the underlying authority to operate the codeshare services at issue, and the codeshare agreement 

providing for the codeshare operations remains in effect.

(b) American and Air Tahiti must promptly notify the Department (Office of International Aviation) if the 

codeshare agreement is no longer effective or if the carriers decide to cease operating all or a portion of 

the approved codeshare services.4 (Such notice should be filed in Docket DOT-OST-2012-0092.)

(c) American and Air Tahiti 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, which carrier will be operating the aircraft in the code-share market added, and the date on

which the service will begin. 5 (Such notices should be filed in Docket DOT-OST-2012-0092.)

(d) The code-sharing operations conducted under this authority must comply with 14 CFR 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 ticket) accept responsibility for the entirety of 

the code-share journey for all obligations established in its contract of carriage with the passenger; that 

the passenger 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) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that American and Air Tahiti shall not give 

any force or effect to any contractual provisions between themselves that are contrary to these conditions. 

(g) We may amend, modify, or revoke the authority granted at any time without hearing at our discretion.

Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of this action under the Department’s regulations, 

14 CFR §385.30, should file their petitions within seven days of the date of this action. This action is 

effective immediately, and the filing of a petition for review will not alter its effectiveness.

1/2008

 4 We expect this notification to be received within 10 days of such non-effectiveness or of such decision. 5 The Joint Applicants provided blanket notification of their intent to engage in reciprocal code share services 

between all U.S. points and between U.S. points and points in any Open Skies country. We note, however, that the 

statement of authorization we are granting here is limited, per the express terms of the application. We will, 

therefore, disregard the blanket notice as moot. 
APPENDIX C

INITIAL LIST OF CODE-SHARED ROUTES

*= It is agreed and understood between the Parties that TN may only place its Code on the flights 

operated by American on these Routes for purposes of connecting Codeshared Passengers to the 

scheduled flights operated by TN on the LAX-PPT Route.