DOCKET OST-97-2847 & UNDOCKETED

CORRECTED COPY

This serves as interim notice to the public of the action described below, taken orally by the Department official indicated; the confirming order or other decision document will be issued as soon as possible.

Applicant: Air New Zealand (Docket OST-97-2847) Date Filed: August 22, 1997

Relief requested: Exemption from 49 U.S.C. 41301 to conduct scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property and mail from points behind New Zealand, via New Zealand and intermediate points in the South Pacific, to a point or points in the United States, for a period of one year.

Applicant: Air New Zealand (Undocketed) Date Filed: August 22, 1997

Relief requested: Statement of authorization under 14 CFR 212 of the Department’s regulations to permit

it to display the airline designator code of United Air Lines on Air New Zealand flights between (1) Los Angeles and Papeete, French Polynesia; (2) Honolulu and Nadi, Fiji; and (3) Honolulu and Rarotonga, Cook Islands; for a period of two years.

Applicant: United Air Lines, Inc. (Undocketed) Date Filed: August 25, 1997

Relief requested: Statement of authorization under 14 CFR 207 of the Department’s regulations to permit it to display the designator code of Air New Zealand on United flights between (1) any points within the United States, in conjunction with code-share services held out by Air New Zealand between New Zealand and the United States (either nonstop or via intermediate points); and (2) Los Angeles and Vancouver, Canada; for a period of two years.

Applicant representatives: Air New Zealand - Susan Gotbetter 212-318-3121;

United - Joel Stephen Burton 202-637-9130

Responsive pleadings: On September 4 and 17, 1997, American Airlines, Inc., filed consolidated answers to all three applications, urging the Department to require the applicants to discuss and produce all documents that address the potential expansion of the Star Alliance to include Air New Zealand, and urging the Department to review the competitive effects of the Star Alliance before approving any United services that involve current or potential partners of the Star Alliance. In responsive pleadings, the applicants stated that Air New Zealand has not been, and may never be, invited to join the Star Alliance; that the Department has already requested and reviewed information regarding the Star Alliance in Docket OST-96-1434; and there is nothing further to investigate.

DISPOSITION

Action: EXEMPTION APPROVED; Action date: OCTOBER 17, 1997

STATEMENTS OF AUTHORIZATION APPROVED IN PART, REMAINDER DISMISSED

Effective dates of authority granted: OCTOBER 17, 1997, thru OCTOBER 17, 1998

Remarks: Approval here is in keeping with established Department policy and precedent. First, the exemption authority sought by Air New Zealand and the code-share statements of authorization are fully consistent with the 1997 U.S.-Air New Zealand "open skies" Air Transport Agreement. Furthermore, the Department's recent findings relating to the Star Alliance in Order 97-9-21, as applied to the record in this proceeding, are a basis for us to conclude that we could proceed on the present applications without the need to secure further materials or information from the applicants, and that the concerns raised by American did not warrant our undertaking the review it proposed or otherwise delaying approval of the present requests. Against this background, we found that favorable action here was consistent with the public interest.

Conditions: Air New Zealand must adhere to the applicable terms, conditions and limitations of its foreign air carrier permit (Order 90-10-50). The code-sharing operations authorized herein must comply with 14 CFR 399.88 of the Department’s regulations and any amendments to the Department’s regulations concerning code-share arrangements that may be adopted and are 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 reservations systems and elsewhere, that the carrier selling such transportation accept all obligations established in its contract of carriage with the passenger (i.e., the ticket), and that the operator shall not permit the code of its U.S. air carrier 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.

Action taken by:

Paul L. Gretch, Director
Office of International Aviation
under assigned authority (14 CFR 385)

(Petitions for review may be filed from now until 10 days after the service date of the confirming order/letter. Filing of a petition shall not stay the effectiveness of this action.)