Document ID: DOT-OST-2003-14397-0010
Agency: dot
Document Type: Notice
Title: Notice of Action Taken re: Delta Air Lines, Inc. & KLM Cityhopper B.V.
Posted Date: 2006-05-01T04:00Z

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

		        DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

			  OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

			          WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation on May 1, 2006

NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN -- DOCKETS OST-2004-19214  OST-2003-14397

				 OST-2005-20145

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).

Joint Application of DELTA AIR LINES, INC. (DELTA) and KLM CITYHOPPER
B.V. (CITYHOPPER) filed 4/11/06 for: 

OST-2004-19214

XX  Statement of authorization for blanket code-share authority for
Cityhopper under CFR Part 212 to:

Permit Cityhopper to display the“DL” code of Delta on flights
operated by Cityhopper between 

(1) any points in the Netherlands; (2) any point or points in the
Netherlands and any point or points in any third country; and (3) any
points in third countries. 

The applicants request that the Delta and Cityhopper codesharing
authority be administered with the existing Delta and KLM statement of
authorization in the instant docket, and that previous and future notice
given for points served by KLM be deemed notice given for points to be
served by Cityhopper, and vice versa, via all authorized gateways.

OST-2003-14397

XX  Amended exemption for Cityhopper under 49 U.S.C. 40109 to provide
the following service:

Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail by
displaying Delta’s designator code on flights operated by Cityhopper
between (1) any points in the Netherlands; 

(2) any point or points in the Netherlands and any point or points in
any third country; and 

(3) any points in third countries.  The applicants request that the
exemption authority be granted for a period co-extensive with its
exemption granted previously in the instant docket (through 

February 15, 2007).

 

OST-2005-20145 

XX  Amended exemption for Delta under 49 U.S.C. 40109 to include
Cityhopper as an additional authorized foreign code-share partner and
permit Delta to display its designator code on flights operated by
Cityhopper on the following services: 

Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail
between the United States and points worldwide on a third-country
code-share basis pursuant to the blanket code-sharing statement of
authorization with Cityhopper.  The applicants request that the
exemption authority be granted for a period co-extensive with its
exemption granted previously in the instant docket (through February 6,
2008).

Applicant reps: Robert E. Cohn (202) 637-4999 (Delta) DOT Analyst: Thuy
H. Cooper (202) 366-5423 	            Charles F. Donley (202) 626-6840
(Cityhopper)

   

DISPOSITION

XX  Granted amended exemption authority to Delta and Cityhopper (subject
to conditions, see   below)

XX  Granted statement of authorization to Cityhopper (subject to
conditions, see below)

XX  Denied in part (see remarks below)

The above action granting amended exemption authority to Delta was
effective when taken: May 1, 2006, through February 6, 2008.

The above action granting amended exemption authority to Cityhopper was
effective when taken: 

May 1, 2006, through February 15, 2007.

The above action granting a statement of authorization to Cityhopper was
effective when taken: 

May 1, 2006, and will remain in effect indefinitely, subject to the
conditions below.

Action taken by:  Paul L. Gretch, Director

                              Office of International Aviation

XX  The authority granted is consistent with the aviation agreement
between the United States and the Netherlands.

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

	   XX Delta’s certificates of public convenience and necessity

	   XX Standard Exemption Conditions (attached as Appendix B) 

	   XX Foreign Carrier Exemption Conditions (attached as Appendix C)

	   XX Statement of authorization approving Delta/KLM code-share 			    
   	          	          operations and applicable conditions  

________________________________________________________________________
_____________

Conditions:  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) Delta and Cityhopper 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) Delta and Cityhopper 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-2005-19214.

(c) Delta and/or Cityhopper 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 and the date on which the service will begin.  Such notices
should be filed in Docket OST-2004-19214.

(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) Any service provided shall be consistent with all applicable
agreements between the United States and the Netherlands, 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 Delta rights
(including code-share, fifth-freedom intermediate and/or beyond rights)
to serve markets where U.S. carrier rights are limited unless Delta
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;
and (ii) should there be a request by any carrier to use the
limited-entry route rights that are included in Delta’s authority by
virtue of the blanket statement of authorization granted here, but that
are not being used by Delta, the holding of such authority will not be
considered as providing any preference for Delta 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 Delta nor Cityhopper 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. 

Remarks: With regards to the codesharing authority, we grant, on a
prospective basis only, the joint applicants’ request that the
Delta-Cityhopper codesharing authority be administered jointly with the
existing Delta-KLM statement of authorization in Docket OST-2004-19214. 
However, we deny the applicants’ request to deem the code share
services already provided under the KLM-Delta statement of authorization
to be covered by the statement of authorization granted here.  The
applicants must comply with the 30-day notice requirement (condition
(c), above) before beginning any new code share service under the
statement of authorization granted here, including markets currently
served under the KLM-Delta statement of authorization.  

We note that Delta has conducted a safety audit of Cityhopper under the
Department’s Code-Share Safety Audit Program, and the FAA has advised
that it has reviewed the relevant audit and found it to be acceptable.

The exemption authority granted here is for operations with the foreign
code-share partner named above.  Should Delta and any new code-share
partner be granted a statement of authorization, Delta will need to
apply for exemption authority to the extent necessary to permit Delta to
display its code on flights operated by the new code-share partner. 

________________________________________________________________________
____________

On the basis of data officially noticeable under Rule 24(g) of the
Department's regulations, we found the applicants qualified to provide
the 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 exemption authority was consistent with the
public interest; and (3) grant of the authority would not constitute a
major federal 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:

  HYPERLINK "http://dms.dot.gov//reports/reports_aviation.asp" 
http://dms.dot.gov//reports/reports_aviation.asp 



Appendix A

CODE-SHARE ROUTES

Amsterdam-Hamburg 

Amsterdam-Oslo 

Amsterdam-Hanover 

Amsterdam-Nuremburg 

Amsterdam-Newcastle 

Amsterdam-Bremen 

Amsterdam-Luxembourg 

Amsterdam-Riga 

APPENDIX B

U.S. Carrier Exemption Conditions

In the conduct of the operations authorized, the U.S. carrier
applicant(s) shall:

(1)  Hold at all times effective operating authority from the government
of each country served;

(2)  Comply with applicable requirements concerning oversales contained
in 14 CFR 250 (for scheduled operations, if authorized);

(3)  Comply with the requirements for reporting data contained in 14 CFR
241;

(4)  Comply with requirements for minimum insurance coverage, and for
certifying that coverage to the Department, contained in 14 CFR 205;

(5)  Except as specifically exempted or otherwise provided for in a
Department Order, comply with the requirements of 14 CFR 203, concerning
waiver of Warsaw Convention liability limits and defenses;

(6)  Comply with all applicable requirements of the Federal Aviation
Administration and with all applicable U.S. Government requirements
concerning security, including, but not limited to, 49 CFR Part 1544. 
To assure compliance with all applicable U.S. Government requirements
concerning security, the holder shall, before commencing any new service
(including charter flights) to or from a foreign airport, contact its
International Principal Security Inspector (IPSI) to advise the IPSI of
its plans and to find out whether the Transportation Security
Administration has determined that security is adequate to allow such
airport(s) to be served; and

(7)  Comply with such other reasonable terms, conditions, and
limitations required by the public interest as may be prescribed by the
Department of Transportation, with all applicable orders and regulations
of other U.S. agencies and courts, and with all applicable laws of the
United States.

The authority granted shall be effective only during the period when the
holder is in compliance with the conditions imposed above.

										  05/2004

APPENDIX C

Foreign Carrier Exemption Conditions

In the conduct of the operations authorized, the foreign carrier
applicant(s) shall:

(1)  Not conduct any operations unless it holds a currently effective
authorization from its homeland for such operations, and it has filed a
copy of such authorization with the Department;

(2)  Comply with all applicable requirements of the Federal Aviation
Administration, including, but not limited to, 14 CFR Parts 129, 91, and
36, and with all applicable U.S. Government requirements concerning
security, including, but not limited to, 49 CFR Part 1546 or 1550, as
applicable.  To assure compliance with all applicable U.S. Government
requirements concerning security, the holder shall, before commencing
any new service (including charter flights) from a foreign airport that
would be the holder’s last point of departure for the United States,
contact its International Principal Security Inspector (IPSI) to advise
the IPSI of its plans and to find out whether the Transportation
Security Administration has determined that security is adequate to
allow such airport(s) to be served;

(3)  Comply with the requirements for minimum insurance coverage
contained in 14 CFR Part 205, and, prior to the commencement of any
operations under this authority, file evidence of such coverage, in the
form of a completed OST Form 6411, with the Federal Aviation
Administration’s Program Management Branch (AFS-260), Flight Standards
Service (any changes to, or termination of, insurance also shall be
filed with that office);

(4)  Not operate aircraft under this authority unless it complies with
operational safety requirements at least equivalent to Annex 6 of the
Chicago Convention;

(5)  Conform to the airworthiness and airman competency requirements of
its Government for international air services;

(6)  Except as specifically exempted or otherwise provided for in a
Department Order, comply with the requirements of 14 CFR Part 203,
concerning waiver of Warsaw Convention liability limits and defenses;

(7)  Agree that operations under this authority constitute a waiver of
sovereign immunity, for the purposes of 28 U.S.C. 1605(a), but only with
respect to those actions or proceedings instituted against it in any
court or other tribunal in the United States that are: (a)  based on its
operations in international air transportation that, according to the
contract of carriage, include a point in the United States as a point of
origin, point of destination, or agreed stopping place, or for which the
contract of carriage was purchased in the United States; or (b)  based
on a claim under any international agreement or treaty cognizable in any
court or other tribunal of the United States.  In this condition, the
term "international air transportation" means "international
transportation" as defined by the Warsaw Convention, except that all
States shall be considered to be High Contracting Parties for the
purpose of this definition;

8) Except as specifically authorized by the Department, originate or
terminate all flights to/from the United States in its homeland; 

(9)  Comply with the requirements of 14 CFR Part 217, concerning the
reporting of scheduled, nonscheduled, and charter data;

(10) If charter operations are authorized, except as otherwise provided
in the applicable aviation agreement, comply with the Department's rules
governing charters (including 14 CFR Parts 212 and 380); and

(11) Comply with such other reasonable terms, conditions, and
limitations required by the public interest as may be prescribed by the
Department, with all applicable orders or regulations of other U.S.
agencies and courts, and with all applicable laws of the United States.

This authority shall not be effective during any period when the holder
is not in compliance with the conditions imposed above.  Moreover, this
authority cannot be sold or otherwise transferred without explicit
Department approval under Title 49 of the U.S. Code.

5/04

 The code-share partners provided a listing of specific code-share
markets that they intend initially to serve under this arrangement.  We
have reproduced it as Appendix A of this Notice.  

 By Notice of Action Taken dated March 1, 2005 in the instant docket,
the Department granted Delta’s request for exemption authority to
display its designator code on flights operated by its then existing
open-skies foreign code-share partners and subsidiaries and affiliates. 
In the same Notice (page 2, Remarks), we also informed Delta that it
would need to apply for exemption authority to permit Delta to display
its code on flights operated by new code-share partners.

 See Order 2006-2-1, issued February 6, 2006, in Docket OST-2004-19214.

 We expect this notification to be received within 10 days of such
non-effectiveness or of such decision.

 This notice covers operations conducted by KLM and/or Cityhopper.  

 The notice referenced in condition (c) above may be used for this
notification.

 Delta will need to have conducted code-share safety audits of its
foreign partners prior to receipt of authority for such code-share
services.

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