 

			  UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

		        DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

			  OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

			          WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation on May 30, 2003

NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN -- DOCKET OST 2003-15252

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

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 Applicants:  AEROVIAS de MEXICO, S.A. de C.V. and DELTA AIR LINES,
INC.

Date Filed:  May 22, 2003

Relief requested:  Exemption under 49 U.S.C. 40109 to permit AEROMEXICO
to conduct, for a period of one year, scheduled foreign air
transportation of persons, property, and mail, between:  1) Mexico City,
Mexico, and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; and 2) Monterrey, Mexico, and
Orlando, Florida.

Exemption under 49 U.S.C. 40109 to permit DELTA to conduct, for a period
of two years, scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property,
and mail, between:  1) Mexico City, Mexico, and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida;
and 2) Monterrey, Mexico, and Orlando, Florida, and to combine this
exemption authority with all of its existing certificate and exemption
authority, consistent with international agreements.

Statement of Authorization under 14 CFR Part 212 to permit AEROMEXICO to
carry DELTA’s code, for an indefinite duration, on flights operated by
AEROMEXICO between:  1) Mexico City, Mexico, and Ft. Lauderdale,
Florida; and 2) Monterrey, Mexico, and Orlando, Florida.

If renewal, date and citation of last action:  New authority.

Applicants’ representatives:  Robert E. Cohn (Delta/202-663-8060) &
William C. Evans (AeroMexico/202-371-6030)

DOT analyst:  Allen F. Brown, 202-366-2405

Responsive pleadings:  None.

	DISPOSITION

Action:  Approved, subject to conditions (see below).                   
                                       Action date:  May 30, 2003

Effective dates of authority granted:  The exemption authority granted
to AeroMexico is effective May 30, 2003, through May 30, 2004.  The
exemption authority granted to Delta is effective May 30, 2003, through
May 30, 2005.  The Statement of Authorization granted to AeroMexico is
effective May 30, 2003, for an indefinite duration.

Basis for approval:  The authority granted is consistent with the United
States-Mexico Air Transport Services Agreement of August 15, 1960, as
amended and extended.

Conditions:  Except to the extent exempted or waived, the exemption
authority granted to AeroMexico is subject to the terms, conditions, and
limitations of our Foreign Air Carrier Standard Exemption Conditions.

Except to the extent exempted or waived, the exemption authority granted
to Delta is subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations of
Delta’s certificates of public convenience and necessity and of our
U.S. Carrier Standard Exemption Conditions.  Also, this authority is
subject to the dormancy notice requirements set forth in condition 7 of
Appendix A of Order 88-10-2, and is limited to operations conducted on a
code-share basis only.  The root integration authority granted to Delta
is subject to the condition that any service provided under this
exemption shall be consistent with all applicable agreements between the
United States and the foreign countries involved.  Furthermore, a)
nothing in the award of the route integration granted should be
construed as conferring upon Delta rights (including fifth-freedom
intermediate and/or beyond rights) to serve markets where U.S. carrier
entry is limited unless Delta notifies the Department of its 

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 b) should
there be a request by any such carrier to use the limited-entry route
rights that are included in Delta’s authority by virtue of the route
integration authority granted here, but that are not then being used by
Delta, the holding of such authority by route integration will not be
considered as providing any preference for Delta in a competitive
carrier selection proceeding to determine which carrier(s) should be
entitled to use the authority at issue.

The code-share authority that we granted to AeroMexico is subject to the
following conditions:  1) This Statement of Authorization will remain in
effect only as long as AeroMexico and Delta continue to hold the
necessary underlying authority to operate the code-share services at
issue and their code-share agreement providing for these operations
remains in effect.  2) AeroMexico and/or Delta must promptly notify the
Department (Office of International Aviation) if the subject agreement
providing for these operations is no longer effective or the carriers
decide to cease operating any or all of the approved services.  (We
expect this notice to be received within ten days of such
noneffectiveness or of such decision and filed in Docket 2003-15252). 
3) The code-share operations conducted under this authority must comply
with 14 CFR Part 257 and with any amendments to the Department’s
regulations concerning code-share arrangements that may be adopted.  4)
Notwithstanding any provisions in the contract between the subject
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 the service in computer reservation
systems and elsewhere; that the carrier selling such transportation
(that is, 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; and that the passenger
liability of the operating carrier be unaffected.  5) The operating
carrier shall not permit the code of its U.S. code-share 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.  6) The code-share authority granted here
is specifically conditioned so that neither carrier shall give any force
or effect to any contractual provisions between themselves that are
contrary to these conditions.

Action taken by:   Paul L. Gretch, Director	

		      Office of International Aviation	

________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

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 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/deferred/dismissed, 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/reports_aviation愮灳

c

