 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC

Issued by the Department of Transportation on March 15, 2006

   NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN -- DOCKETS OST-96-1346

				     				          OST-97-2358

________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________

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 UNITED AIR LINES, INC. (UNITED) filed 11/4/05 for:

Docket OST-96-1346

XX  Renewal of exemption for two years under 49 U.S.C. §40109 to
provide the following service:

Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail
between a point or points in the United States, via intermediate points,
and Manaus, Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Recife, Porto Alegre,
Belem, Belo Horizonte, and Salvador, Brazil, and beyond Brazil to
Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile.

Docket OST-97-2358

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

Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail on a
code-share basis only between a point or points in the United States and
a point or points in Brazil limited to the 30 points named by the U.S.
for code-share services under the U.S.-Brazil air services agreement and
to serve these points on a co-terminal basis with the other Brazilian
points United is authorized to serve pursuant to its exemption authority
in Docket OST-1996-1346. 

Applicant rep: Jeffrey A. Manley (202) 663-6670     Analyst:  Thuy H.
Cooper   202-366-5423

D I S P O S I T I O N

XX  Granted (subject to conditions and remarks, see below)

The above action was effective when taken: March 15, 2006, through March
15, 2008, or until 90 days after final Department action on United’s
corresponding application for a certificate of public convenience and
necessity in Docket OST-1995-495, whichever occurs earlier.

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 Brazil, as amended.

  

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

XX  Holder’s certificates of public convenience and necessity

	XX  Standard exemption conditions (attached)

	XX  Statement of authorization conditions (see below) 

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________________________________________

Conditions: The authority granted to serve intermediate points is
limited to countries with which the United States has signed open-skies
agreements and/or countries for which the carrier holds authority to
serve under certificates or exemptions issued by the Department, and for
which it holds route integration authority by virtue of either the
present action or other action of the Department.

The Statement of Authorization granted is subject to the following
conditions:

(a) The statement of authorization will remain in effect only as long as
United and Varig continue to hold the underlying authority to operate
the codeshare services at issue, and the codeshare agreement providing
for the code-share operations remains in effect.

(b) United and/or Varig must promptly notify the Department (Office of
International Aviation) if the codeshare agreement is no longer
effective or if the carriers decide to cease operating all or a portion
of the approved codeshare services. (Such notice should be filed in
Docket OST-1997-2358.)

(c) 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.

(d) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that
United and Varig shall not give any force or effect to any contractual
provisions between themselves that are contrary to these conditions. 

(e) We may amend, modify, or revoke the authority granted at any time
without hearing at our discretion.

Responsive Pleadings:  On November 8, 2005, American Airlines, Inc.
(American) filed an answer stating that it does not oppose United’s
request for an amendment in Docket OST-97-2358, provided that American
receives equal treatment for its application seeking renewal and
amendment of its Brazil authority in Docket OST-1997-2419.  We are
granting, concurrently, both requests. 

Remarks:  Under the U.S.-Brazil aviation transport agreement, the U.S.
Government may name 30 points for U.S. carriers to serve via code-share
service.  At this time, the U.S. has designated the following 22
codes-share points: Bauru, Campo Grande, Cascavel, Cuiaba, Curitiba,
Florianopolis, Fortaleza, Goiania, Joao Pessoa,  Iguacu, Joinville,
Londrina Maceio, Maringa Parin, Natal, Navagantes, Porto Velho, Ribeirao
Preto, Sao Luiz, Teresina, Vilhena, and Vitoria.  The authority granted
here permits United to serve all code-share points currently designated
by the United States and those that may be designated in the future
under the U.S.-Brazil agreement.  This authority shall not be construed
as to grant United authority to serve any point that is not properly
designated, or to serve more than 30 points via code share.  

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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
exemption 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 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 

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

 United's application here for exemption authority also references a
pending United application for certificate authority.  See Docket
OST-1995-495.  We will handle its certificate request separately.

 In the alternative, the application seeks renewal of United’s
existing exemption authority to provide codeshare service between a
point or points in the United States and Campo Grande, Curitiba,
Fortaleza, Florianopolis, Iguacu, Sao Luiz, Joao Pessoa, Natal, Maceio,
and Cuiaba, Brazil, and to serve these Brazilian points on a co-terminal
basis with the other Brazilian points United is authorized to serve on a
code-share basis only.  Pursuant to its exemption authority in Docket
OST-1996-1346, United holds a statement of authorization to code share
with Varig, S.A (see Notice of Action Taken, dated June 11, 1998, in
Docket OST-97-2358).  We note that the broader amended authority that
the applicant seeks, and that we are granting in this Notice, subsumes
current authority.

 The United and Varig statement of authorization conditions were granted
in 1998 (see Notice of Action Taken, dated June 11, 1998, in Docket
OST-97-2358).  We have revised our standard statement of authorization
conditions since then, and we are including the current standard
statement of authorization conditions as part of this Notice.  

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

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