U.S. Department of 

Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Ave., S.E. 

Washington, DC 20590 

Office of the Secretary 

Of Transportation 

December 11, 2014 

Ms. Rebecca B. MacPherson 

Jones Day 

51 Louisiana Ave., N.W. 

Washington, DC 20001 

Re: Docket DOT -OST -2014-0192 

Motion of Menagerie Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Monarch Air for Confidential 

Treatment of Documents 

Dear Ms. MacPherson: 

We are currently reviewing the application of Menagerie Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Monarch Air 

("Monarch") in Docket DOT-OST-2014-0192 for commuter authority. The purpose of this letter 

is to notify you of our intended ruling on your request for confidential treatment of documents 

filed in support of this application. 

On November 19, 2014, Monarch filed a motion requesting that the following material be 

withheld from public disclosure: 

1. Exhibit 8A 

2. Exhibit 8B 

3. Exhibit 8C 

4. Exhibit 8D 

5. Exhibit 8E 

6. Exhibit 8F 

7. Exhibit 8G 

8. Exhibit 8H 

9. Exhibit 9 

10. Exhibit 13 

11. Exhibit 14 

List of Current Aircraft Fleet 

Aircraft Management Agreement and Operating Agreement for N118GW 

Aircraft Lease Agreement for N 161 RC 

Aircraft Management Agreement and Operating Agreement for N214GB 

Aircraft Lease Agreement for N38MG 

Aircraft Management Agreement and Operating Agreement for N41 C 

Aircraft Lease Agreement for N407W 

Aircraft Lease Agreement for N514DS 

Letter from Steve Young, Legacy Texas Bank, dated October 31, 2014 

Letter from Steve Young, Legacy Texas Bank, dated October 1, 2014 

Letter from Donald Jones, BB&T, dated October 6, 2014 

In support of your request for confidential treatment of the specified documents, you state that 

the documents Mmiarch requests to withhold from public disclosure are (1) commercial or 

financial, (2) obtained from a person outside the government, and (3) privileged or confidential. 

Moreover, you state that disclosure would cause substantial harm to the competitive position of 

Monarch or the individual from whom the information was obtained and serve no public interest 

if released. Further, you contend that the information in Exhibits 8A-8H, 9, 13, and 14 contain 
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sensitive financial and commercial information that could be used by competitors to impede the 

applicant's plans to undertake the proposed air service. Lastly, you state that the information in 

the above exhibits is highly detailed and would not otherwise be made accessible to persons 

outside the company. 

Rule 12 instructs us to evaluate requests for confidential treatment in accordance with the 

standards of disclosure found in the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. section 552). By this 

standard, information may be withheld from disclosure if it is "(1) commercial or financial, (2) 

obtained from a person outside the government, and (3) privileged or confidential." [Gulf & 

Western Industries, Inc. v. U.S., 615 F.2d 527, 529 (D.C. Cir. 1979).] 

The information sought to be withheld from disclosure clearly meets the first two requirements. 

The only question, therefore, is whether the information is privileged or confidential--whether 

"disclosure of the information is likely to have either of the following effects: (1) to impair the 

government's ability to obtain necessary information in the future; or (2) to cause substantial 

harm to the competitive position of the person from whom the information was obtained." 

[National Parks and Conservation Association v. Morton, 498 F.2d 765, 770 (D.C. Cir. 1974).] 

Furthermore, to be privileged or confidential, the information must not be of the type that is 

usually released to the public. [Gulf & Western Industries, Inc. v. U.S., supra, 615 F.2d at 530.] 

Absent extenuating circumstances, it is not the Department's practice to withhold from public 

disclosure information regarding an applicant's current or historical financial condition, 

pre-operating cost forecasts, proposed operating plans and related statistics, first-year operating 

cost forecasts, and forecast balance sheets reflecting these forecasts. When requested, however, 

the Department will generally grant confidential treatment to information pertaining to a 

company's forecast revenues (and related statistics). It is also our practice to grant confidential 

treatment to specific agreements between an applicant and vendors, potential customers, etc. 

Under the circumstances, our decision as to confidential treatment with respect to Monarch's 

application is as follows: 

1. With respect to Exhibit 8A, we have decided to partially grant confidential treatment to 

the list of current aircraft fleet. Specifically, we grant confidentiality to the name of the 

lessees and their addresses. 

2. With respect to Exhibit 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 8F, 8G and 8H, we have decided to grant 

confidential treatment. The Department has, in the past, afforded confidential treatment 

to agreements such as these and we see no reason not to do so here. 

3. With respect to Exhibit 9, letter from Steve Young, Legacy Texas Bank, dated 

October 31, 2014, the Department finds that the information contained in this exhibit is 

not needed to make a fitness determination. Thus, we grant confidential treatment to 

Exhibit 9. 
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4. With respect to Exhibit 13, letter from Steve Young, Legacy Texas Bank, dated 

October 1, 2014, we have decided to deny confidential treatment. Exhibit 13 contains the 

financial information necessary to determine Monarch's fitness. 

5. With respect to Exhibit 14, we have decided to partially grant confidential treatment. 

Specifically, we grnnj: confidentiality to the bank account number mentioned in the letter. 

To the extent that confidential treatment is not specifically granted above, it is denied. 

Under Rule 12, a Department ruling on motions for confidential treatment will not take effect if, 

within five ( 5) business days after issuance, the person requesting confidential treatment files a 

petition for reconsideration of that decision, or files a statement that he or she in good faith 

intends to seek judicial review ofthe decision. If Monarch elects to petition the Department as to 

this confidentiality determination, we expect that it will provide a statement explaining how the 

item falls within the exceptions under the Freedom of Information Act and is not otherwise 

required to be filed publicly by all applicants for commuter authority. Responses shall be due 

within five calendar days of the filing of such a petition. · 

If Monarch elects not to file a petition, we direct that it file the exhibits noted above in the public 

docket in this proceeding within five business days of the date of this letter. In the meantime, as 

is the Department's practice, further processing of your application will be deferred pending 

receipt of this material. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. 

If you have any questions regarding this letter, please feel free to contact me or Shabu Thomas of 

my staff at (202)-366-9721. 

a 

Chie , Air Carrier Fitness Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

cc: DOT-OST-2014-0192 

Mr. Cameron Baker, FAA 

POI for Menagerie Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Monarch Air