UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
WASHINGTON, D.C.

Served: November 5, 1996

U.S.-INDIA THIRD-COUNTRY CODE-SHARE OPPORTUNITIES

Under a Memorandum of Consultations (MOC) between the United States and India, signed December 1, 1995, effective April 1, 1997, the United States may designate four U.S. airlines to serve India through cooperative service arrangements with third-country airlines.[1] These services are not subject to any frequency limitations.[2]

By this notice, we invite all U.S. certificated carriers interested in using these third-country code-share opportunities to file applications with the Department. Such applications should be filed by November 19, 1996. Answers to such applications should be filed by November 29, 1996; replies to answers should be filed December 4, 1996.

Carriers without the requisite operating authority should file certificate applications and requests for statements of authorization to serve the affected markets in conjunction with their third-country code-share partners. Carriers with the necessary underlying authority need only file requests for a designation. All applications should specify at a minimum the markets to be served, the proposed startup date, and evidence of the carrier's underlying economic authority, including route integration, if applicable. In addition, carriers must provide as a part of their applications, copies of the relevant cooperative service arrangements. Except for the filing dates, and information required above, certificate applications should be filed pursuant to Subpart Q of Part 302, and requests for statements of authorization should comply with Parts 207 and 212. Applications should be filed with the Department's Docket Section in Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590.[3] Further procedures for acting on the applications filed, if necessary, will be established by future Department order.

By:

(SEAL)

Dated:

[1] Under the revised schedule agreed to in the MOC, U.S. carriers may operate air services over the following route: from the United States via points in Canada, Europe, U.K., Ireland, Africa, and Asia to Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, and one Indian point to be selected by the Government of the United States for services operated through cooperative services arrangements only, and beyond to points in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and beyond to the United States over various routes. Services operated to/from/through Madras in conjunction with service to Singapore are limited to the operation of up to seven weekly flights with local traffic rights between Madras and Singapore. The two delegations noted their respective aeronautical authorities' intentions to permit operations consistent with the revised schedule, pending their entry into force. See U.S.-India Memorandum of Consultations, dated December 1, 1995.

[2] If any U.S. airline operating direct services as of April 1, 1997, chooses to substitute code-share services for direct services, such code-share services shall not count against the four U.S.-carrier limit, noted above, as long as (i) the U.S. does not designate another airline to replace that airline for direct operations; (ii) the substitution does not result in a net increase in frequencies operated by that airline; and (iii) the number of frequencies for which the airline substitutes cooperative services operations were operated for at least one season.

[3] The original submission is to be unbound and without tabs on 8½" x 11" white paper using dark ink (not green) to facilitate use of the Department's docket imaging system.