UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC

Issued by the Department of Transportation on February 11, 2014

NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN -- DOCKET DOT-OST-2014-0014 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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 SOUTHERN AIR INC. (SOUTHERN) filed 1/30/14 for:

XX Statement of authorization under 14 C.F.R. Part 212 to engage in the following code-share service:

Southern requests a blanket statement of authorization allowing Southern to display China Cargo Airlines Ltd.’s 

(China Cargo) designator code, CK, on scheduled all-cargo flights operated by Southern between the United States 

and China. 1

XX Waiver of the 45-day advance filing requirement under 14 CFR Part 212.

Applicant representative: Aaron A. Georlich (202) 776-3974

DOT Analyst: Darren Jaffe (202) 366-2512

D I S P O S I T I O N

XX Approved request of Southern for a blanket statement of authorization, subject to conditions (specifically 

including the condition concerning coterminalization; See remarks below).

XX Approved waiver of 45-day advance filing requirement under 14 CFR Part 212.

The above action approving the statement of authorization was effective when taken: February 11, 2014, and will 

remain in effect indefinitely, subject to the conditions listed below.

The above action granting a waiver of the advance filing requirement under 14 CFR Part 212 is effective: February 11, 

2014.

Action taken by: Paul L. Gretch, Director

 Office of International Aviation

XX The authority granted is consistent with the Air Transport Agreement, as amended, between the United States 

and the People’s Republic of China.

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

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

 XX Southern’s U.S.-China all-cargo exemption authority dated December 3, 2013 (see Notice of Action 

 Taken in Docket DOT-OST-2010-0157)

 XX China Cargo’s foreign air carrier permit authorizing all-cargo U.S.-China service dated July 16, 2003 

(see Order 2003-7-21 in Docket DOT- OST-2002-12080)

 1 The code-share agreement submitted by Southern states that Southern will carry China Cargo’s “CK” designator code on all-cargo 

Chicago-Anchorage-Zhengzhou and Zhengzhou-Shanghai-Anchorage-Chicago routings, scheduled to begin service on February 13, 

2014, three times per week using Southern’s B747-400 aircraft. While the code-share agreement only covers the two routings listed 

above, we are granting the broad U.S.-China code-share authority requested by Southern in its application.
______________________________________________________________________________________

Remarks: While we will permit the display of the “CK” designator code between China and the United States, we 

are not prepared at this time to permit Southern to display the “CK” designator code between U.S. points. We have 

taken similar action limiting new coterminalization of U.S. points for all-cargo services by other carriers of the 

People’s Republic of China for the reasons first set forth in a Notice of Action Taken dated April 15, 2010 in Docket 

DOT-OST-2010-0047. See, e.g., Notice of Action Taken dated October 11, 2011, in Dockets DOT-OST-1997-2653, 

DOT-OST-1999-5031, DOT-OST-2001-9314, and DOT-OST-2001-10172 (China Southern); and Notices of Action 

Taken dated January 21, 2011, and October 20, 2010, in Dockets DOT-OST-2006-24629 and DOT-OST-2006-24630 

(Yangtze). Our action here does not preclude the exercise of the Alaska co-terminalization authority granted by 

Notice of Action Taken dated August 16, 2012, in Dockets DOT-OST-2010-0200, DOT-OST-1999-5035, and DOTOST-1996-1600. 

____________________________________________________________________________________

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 Dockets. 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 statement of authorization granted is subject to the following conditions:

(a) The statement of authorization will remain in effect only as long as (i) Southern and China Cargo continue to hold the 

necessary underlying authority to operate the code-share services at issue, and (ii) the code-share agreement providing 

for the code-share operations remains in effect.

(b) Southern and China Cargo must promptly notify the Department (Office of International Aviation) if the code-share 

agreement providing for the code-share operations is no longer effective or if the carriers decide to cease operating all 

or a portion of the approved code-share services. Such notices should be filed in Docket OST-2014-0014.

2

(c) Southern and/or China Cargo 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. Such 

notices should be filed in Docket OST-2014-0014.

(d) The code-sharing operations conducted under this authority must comply with 14 CFR §257 and with 

any amendment to the Department’s regulations concerning codeshare 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 

computer reservation systems and elsewhere; that the carrier selling such transportation (i.e., the carrier shown on the 

waybill) accept responsibility for the entirety of the codeshare journey for all obligations established in its contract of 

carriage with the shipper; and that the cargo liability of the operating carrier be unaffected.

(e) Any service provided shall be consistent with all applicable agreements between the United States and China, and all 

applicable agreements with other foreign countries involved. Furthermore, (i) nothing in the award of this blanket 

statement of authorization should be construed as conferring upon Southern rights (including code-share, fifth-freedom 

intermediate and/or beyond rights) to serve markets where U.S. carrier rights are limited unless Southern notifies us of 

its intent to serve such market and unless and until the Department has completed any necessary carrier selection 

procedures to determine which carrier(s) should be authorized to exercise such rights;3 and (ii) should there be a 

request by any carrier to use the limited-entry route rights that are included in Southern’s authority by virtue of the 

blanket statement of authorization granted here, but that are not being used by Southern, the holding of such authority 

will not be considered as providing any preference for Southern in a carrier selection proceeding to determine which 

carrier(s) should be entitled to use the authority at issue.

(f) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that neither Southern nor China Cargo shall 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. 

 2 We expect this notification to be received within 10 days of such non-effectiveness or of such decision. 3 The notice referenced in condition (c) above may be used for this notification.