BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

__________________________________________ 

 ) 

Application of ) 

 ) 

DELTA AIR LINES, INC. ) Docket DOT-OST-2010-0208 

 and ) 

DELTA CONNECTION CARRIERS ) 

 ) 

for an exemption from 14 C.F.R. Part 212 ) 

__________________________________________) 

ANSWER OF UNITED AIR LINES, INC. 

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to: 

MARY BARNICLE 

Director – International & 

Regulatory Affairs 

UNITED AIR LINES, INC. 

77 West Wacker Drive, HDQIZ 

Chicago, IL 60601 

STEVE MORRISSEY 

Managing Director – International & 

Regulatory Affairs 

JEFFREY A. MANLEY 

Senior Advisor – Regulatory Affairs 

UNITED AIR LINES, INC. 

1025 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. 

Suite 1210 

Washington, D.C. 20036 

Phone: (301) 229-8571 

jeffrey.manley@united.com 

DATED: August 31, 2010 
BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

__________________________________________ 

 ) 

Application of ) 

 ) 

DELTA AIR LINES, INC. ) Docket DOT-OST-2010-0208 

 and ) 

DELTA CONNECTION CARRIERS ) 

 ) 

for an exemption from 14 C.F.R. Part 212 ) 

__________________________________________) 

DATED: August 31, 2010

ANSWER OF UNITED AIR LINES, INC. 

 United Air lines, Inc. (“United”) hereby submits the following answer to the 

Application of Delta Air Lines, Inc. and the Delta Connection Carriers1

 (hereinafter 

“Delta application”) dated August 16, 2010, in the above-captioned docket: 

 1. In its application Delta seeks a blanket exemption from Part 212 to enable the 

Delta Connection carriers operating aircraft with between 61 and 76 seats to display the 

codes of Delta’s approved foreign code-share partners without the need to obtain 

individual statements of authorization for each Delta Connection/foreign partner 

arrangement. The carriers’ request is premised on the desire to harmonize the 

longstanding regulatory exemption from Part 212 for commuter and regional aircraft with 

the modern trend toward larger regional jets. It is also consistent with the Department’s 

 

1

 These carriers are: Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc., Chautauqua Airline, Inc., Comair, Inc., Compass 

Airlines, Inc., Mesaba Aviation, Inc., Pinnacle Airlines, Inc., SkyWest Airlines, Inc., and Shuttle America. 

Three of these carriers (Atlantic Southeast, SkyWest and Shuttle America) also have similar arrangements 

with United when operating as United Express carriers. 
Answer of United 

Page 2 

streamlining initiative. See DOT Notice dated August 26, 2005 in Docket DOT-OST2005-22228. 

 2. As the Department is fully aware, United is a strong supporter of its efforts to 

streamline the regulatory licensing and approvals process. For this reason, United 

believes that the same relief requested by Delta should be granted by the Department sua 

sponte to all U.S. commuter carriers operating under code-share arrangements with 

foreign partners of a U.S. carrier. Such blanket relief would be more in keeping with the 

Department’s streamlining efforts and would avoid the need to process numerous 

repetitive applications of other carriers. Such relief would also have the advantage of 

avoiding the need to amend or update the list of commuter carriers offering code-share 

service under the exemption with a major U.S. carrier partner. Since there are frequently 

changes in the list of participating commuter carriers, avoiding such amendments or 

updating would relieve the carriers and the Department of an additional burden. This 

would also be consistent with the treatment of commuters code-sharing for foreign carrier 

partners in 60-seat or smaller aircraft for which the Department requires no notification 

or other documentation with respect to such arrangements. 

 3. If, notwithstanding the foregoing, the Department decides to proceed on a 

carrier-by-carrier basis, then United does not oppose the Department’s approval of Delta 

and Delta Connection Carriers’ August 16 application so long as the Department is 

prepared to grant comparable relief to other carriers. United would, however, oppose any 

grant of such relief to Delta and its commuters unless comparable relief is granted to their 

competitors, including United Express carriers offering code-share services for United 

and its foreign partners. United reserves the right to submit an application for specific 
Answer of United 

Page 3 

relief on its own behalf and on behalf of its United Express commuter carriers should the 

Department decide to proceed on an ad hoc basis. 

4. United Express carriers2

 operate aircraft on behalf of United, including aircraft 

with 60 seats or less as well as larger aircraft, presently up to 70 seats. Consistent with its 

agreements with these carriers, United not only handles the marketing of United Express 

flights but it also owns and controls the full capacity and inventory for these flights, 

including those in which United’s foreign code-share partners3

 may code share. United’s 

code-shares with its 25 foreign code-share partners have been, up to the present time, 

subject to the statement of authorization requirement of Part 212, and numerous such 

applications have been previously approved consistent with the public interest. However, 

since code sharing between the United Express partners and United’s foreign code-share 

partners may require additional statements of authorization as new foreign and commuter 

carriers are added and as existing United foreign partners and United’s commuters 

expand their cooperation, the continued requirement for ad hoc statements of 

authorization would prove burdensome to both the carriers and the Department, and 

would, in addition, be an unfair and discriminatory burden if competing carriers were to 

be selectively exempted from this requirement. It would also delay the public benefit 

derived from expanding the flights options of the traveling public. Thus, the 

 

2

 These carriers are Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc., ExpressJet Airlines, Inc., GoJet Airlines, LLC, Mesa 

Airlines, Inc., Shuttle America Corporation, SkyWest Airlines, Inc, and Trans States Airlines, Inc. 

Although not all of these carriers currently operate aircraft in excess of 60 seats, by applying the blanket 

relief to all of them they will each have the flexibility to operate aircraft in excess of 60 seats should they 

elect to do so. 

3 These currently are: Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, bmi, 

Croatia Airlines, EgyptAir, Jet Airways, LOT, Lufthansa, Qatar, SAS, Singapore Airlines, SN Brussels, 

South African Airways, Spanair, Swiss, TACA, TAM, TAP, Thai Airways and Turkish Airlines. 

. 
Answer of United 

Page 4 

Department’s grant of a blanket exemption from Part 212 to all carriers that code share 

with approved foreign code-share partners would not only save resources and time for 

the carriers and the Department but would also benefit the traveling public. 

 WHEREFORE, for the foregoing reasons, United urges the Department to grant 

the relief requested by Delta sua sponte to all U.S. commuter carriers operating under 

code-share arrangements with foreign partners of a U.S. carrier and to grant them such 

other and different relief as is consistent with their request and with the public interest. 

Respectfully submitted, 

 Steve Morrissey 

 Managing Director, International & 

Regulatory Affairs 

UNITED AIR LINES, INC. 

DATED: August 31, 2010
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

 I hereby certify that I have this date served a copy of the foregoing document on 

all persons named below by causing a copy to be sent via e-mail. 

anita.mosner@hklaw.com 

barbara.russell@virginamerica.com 

benjamin.slocum@usairways.com 

bill@mietuslaw.com 

bob.kneisley@wnco.com 

brian.gillman@mesa-air.com 

byerlyjr@state.gov 

carl.nelson@aa.com 

cdonley@ssd.com 

charters@evergreenaviation.com 

dhayes@transstates.net 

dwight.moore@ustranscom.mil 

hkamen@coair.com 

howard_kass@usairways.com 

john.allen@faa.gov 

john.fredericksen@suncountry.com 

jrichardson@johnlrichardson.com 

jyoung@yklaw.com 

kevin.montgomery@polariarcargo.com 

matwood@sherblakwell.com 

mroller@rollerbauer.com 

patrick.rizzi@hoganlovells.com (ASA) 

robert.cohn@hoganlovells.com (ASA) 

ronald.williams@ustranscom.mil 

rpommer@atlasair.com 

rsilverberg@sgbdc.com 

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com 

suzi.johnson@expressjet.com 

sdurgin@rjet.com 

slachter@lachter-clements.com 

temerson@skywest.com 

 

 Annalei Avanceña 

Advisor—Regulatory Affairs 

DATED: August 31, 2010