Document ID: DOT-OST-2005-23473-0002
Agency: dot
Document Type: Notice
Title: Notice of Action Taken re: American Airlines, Inc.
Posted Date: 2006-04-06T04:00Z

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC

Issued by the Department of Transportation on April 5, 2006

							   	

NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN – DOCKETS: OST-2005-23473 and OST-2005-23471

This document serves as notice to the public of the action described
below, by the Department official indicated (no additional confirming
order will be issued in this matter).

Application of American Airlines, Inc. (American) filed 12/27/05 in
Docket OST-2005-23473 for:

XX Blanket exemption authority pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 40109 to permit
American to provide the following services:

Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail
between: 1) points in the People’s Republic of China; and 2) points in
the People’s Republic of China and any behind, intermediate, and
beyond points in third countries.  American states that it will conduct
these services through a code-share arrangement with China Eastern
Airlines, only on flights operated by China Eastern Airlines.

 

And application of China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited (China
Eastern) filed 12/27/05 in Docket OST-2005-23471 for:  

XX Statement of Authorization under 14 CFR Part 212 to permit China
Eastern to:

Display the American designator code (AA) on flights operated by China
Eastern: 1) between its gateway points of Shanghai and Beijing and a
point or points within the People’s Republic of China; and 2) to any
behind, intermediate, and beyond points in third countries.  China
Eastern requests that the statement of authorization be granted for an
indefinite period. 

Applicant Rep:  Carl B. Nelson (202) 496-5647 for American   

Applicant Rep:  Evelyn D. Sahr (202) 289-0500 for China Eastern  

DOT Analyst:  Robert J. Finamore (202) 366-2375

DISPOSITION

XX  Granted (subject to the conditions described below).

The above action with respect to the exemption authority granted for
American was effective when taken: April 5, 2006, through April 5, 2008.

The above action with respect to the Statement of Authorization granted
for China Eastern was effective when taken:  April 5, 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 People’s Republic of China.  

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

		

XX  American’s certificates of public convenience and necessity

XX  Standard exemption conditions (attached as Appendix A)

XX  Code-Share conditions (attached as Appendix B)

Conditions:  The exemption authority granted to American is limited to
operations conducted only through a code-share arrangement with China
Eastern, only on flights operated by China Eastern.

 _______________________________________________________________________
_______________________

On the basis of data officially noticeable under Rule 24(g) of the
Department’s regulations, we found the applicant 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 application 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://dms.dot.gov/reports_aviation.asp

APPENDIX A

U.S. CARRIER STANDARD 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 B

CODE-SHARE CONDITONS

(a)  The statement of authorization will remain in effect as long as:
(i) American and China Eastern 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 remain in
effect.

(b) American and China Eastern 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-2005-23473 and
OST-2005-23741.

(c) American and/or China Eastern 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-2005-23473 and
OST-2005-23471.

(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 to operate to third countries is subject to the
condition that any service provided under the statement of authorization
shall be consistent with all applicable agreements between the United
States and the foreign countries involved.  Furthermore, (i) nothing in
the award of this blanket statement of authorization should be construed
as conferring upon American and China Eastern rights (including
code-share, fifth freedom intermediate and/or beyond rights) to serve
markets where U.S. carrier rights are limited unless American and China
Eastern notify us of their intent to serve such a 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 American and
China Eastern’s authority by virtue of the blanket statement of
authorization granted here, but that are not being used by American and
China Eastern, the holding of such authority will not be considered as
providing any preference for American and China Eastern in a competitive
carrier selection proceeding to determine which carrier(s) should be
entitled to use the authority at issue; and

(f) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that
neither American nor China Eastern 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. 

 American initially proposes to code share to cities in China by placing
its designator code on China Eastern’s flights connecting to
American’s Chicago-Shanghai service and China Eastern’s Los
Angeles/San Francisco-Beijing/Shanghai services.  (China Eastern is
already authorized to display American’s code on China Eastern’s Los
Angeles/San Francisco-Beijing/Shanghai flights.  See Notice of Action
Taken, Docket OST-1998-3622, and undocketed, May 8, 1998.) 
Specifically, the initial city pairs involved are Shanghai, on the one
hand, and Beijing, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Dalian, Fuzhou,
Guangzhou, Guilin, Harbin, Kunming, Nanchang, Ningbo, Qingdao, Shenzhen,
Shenyang, Wenzhou, Wuhan, Xiamen, and Xian, on the other hand.    

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

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