 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC

Issued by the Department of Transportation on January 31, 2005

   NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN -- DOCKET OST-2004-19346           

________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________

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 Application of   Continental Airlines, Inc. and Czech Airlines    
    filed   10/7/04  for:

XX  Exemption for Continental Airlines under 49 U.S.C. 40109 to provide
the following service:

Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail
between any point or points in the United States and any point or points
in the Czech Republic directly and via intermediate points, and beyond
the Czech Republic to any point or points in third countries Continental
is authorized to serve by certificate or exemption, and to integrate
this authority with its existing certificate and exemption authority. 
Initially the carrier intends to use this authority pursuant to a
code-share arrangement with Czech Airlines but seeks broad authority to
operate its own flights serving the Czech Republic and other points, as
well as offering code-share service.

XX  Statement of authorization for Continental Airlines under 14 CFR
Part 212 to:

Display the “OK” code of Czech Airlines on flights operated by
Continental Airlines between (1) points in the United States; (2) points
in the United States and points in the Czech Republic (either nonstop or
via intermediate points in third countries), (3) points in the United
States and points in third countries, and (4) points in the Czech
Republic and points in third countries.  

 

XX  Statement of authorization for Czech Airlines under 14 CFR Part 212
to:

Display the “CO” code of Continental Airlines on flights operated by
Czech Airlines between (1) points in the Czech Republic; (2) points in
the Czech Republic and points in the United States (either nonstop or
via intermediate points in third countries), (3) points in the Czech
Republic and points in third countries, and (4) points in the United
States and points in third countries.  

Applicant reps: R. Bruce Keiner, Jr. (202) 624-2615  DOT Analyst: Gerald
Caolo (202) 366-2406

                         (Continental)

                         Allan I. Mendelson (202)-462-2508 

                         (Czech Airlines)

D I S P O S I T I O N

XX  Granted  (subject to conditions, see below)

The above action with respect to Continental’s exemption authority was
effective when taken: January 31, 2005, through   January 31, 2007

The statements of authorization granted to Continental and Czech were
effective when taken:  January 31, 2005, and will remain in effect
indefinitely, subject to the conditions listed 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 Czech Republic. 

Except to the extent exempted or waived, this authority is subject to
the terms, conditions, and limitations indicated:  XX Continental’s
certificates of public convenience and necessity 

	   XX  Standard exemption conditions (Attachment B)

   

___________________________________________________

Conditions:  

Conditions: The route integration authority granted 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 authority requested should be construed as
conferring upon Continental rights (including fifth-freedom intermediate
and/or beyond rights) to serve markets where U.S. carrier entry is
limited unless the carrier notifies the Department of its intent to
serve that market and unless and until the Department has completed any
necessary carrier selection procedures to determine which carriers(s)
should be authorized to exercise such rights; and (b) should there be a
request by any carrier to use the limited-entry route rights that are
included in Continental’s authority by virtue of the route integration
exemption granted here, but that are not then being used by Continental,
the holding of such authority by route integration will not be
considered as providing any preference for Continental in a competitive
carrier selection proceeding to determine which carrier(s) should be
entitled to use the authority at issue.

The authority to serve intermediate and beyond 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 statements of authorization granted are subject to the following
conditions:

(a)	The statement of authorization will remain in effect only as long as
(i) Continental Airlines and Czech Airlines 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 remains in effect.

(b)	Continental Airlines and/or Czech Airlines 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-2004-19346. 

 

(c) 	Continental Airlines and/or Czech Airlines 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-2004-19346. 

(d)	The code-sharing conducted under this authority must comply with
Part 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; and 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; and that the passenger liability of the
operating carrier be unaffected.  Further, the operating carrier shall
not permit the code of its U.S. air carrier code-sharing partner to be
carried on any flights that enter, depart, or transit the airspace of
any area for whose airspace the Federal 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 Continental rights (including code-share, fifth
freedom intermediate and/or beyond rights) to serve markets where U.S.
carrier entry is limited unless Continental 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 (ii)
should there be a request by any carrier to use the limited-entry route
rights that are included in Continental’s authority by virtue of the
blanket statement of authorization granted here, but that are not then
being used by Continental, the holding of such authority will not be
considered as providing any preference for Continental in a competitive
carrier selection proceeding to determine which carrier(s) should be
entitled to use the authority at issue.

(f)	The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that
neither Continental Airlines nor Czech Airlines shall give any force or
effect to any contractual provisions between themselves that are
contrary to these conditions.

___________________________________________________

On the basis of data officially noticeable under Rule 24(g) of the
Department's regulations, we found Continental Airlines qualified to
provide the exemption 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 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. 

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.asp



Attachment A

Proposed Initial Routes

“CO” code on flights operated by Czech Airlines

Prague	Amsterdam, Netherlands

	Berlin, Germany

	Bratislava, Slovak Republic

	Brussels, Belgium

	Cologne, Germany

	Dusseldorf, Germany

	Frankfurt, Germany

	Hamburg, Germany

	Hanover, Germany

	Ljubljana, Slovenia

	Karlovy, Czech Republic

	Kosice, Slovak Republic

	Milan, Italy

	Munich, Germany

	New York/Newark

	Ostrava, Czech Republic

	Paris, France

	Sliac, Slovak Republic

	Split, Croatia

	Sofia, Bulgaria

	Stuttgart, Germany

	Zagreb, Croatia

“OK” code on flights operated by Continental Airlines

New York/Newark	Boston

	Chicago

	Cleveland

	Denver

	Houston

	Kansas City

	Las Vegas

	Los Angeles

	Memphis

	Miami

	New Orleans

	Omaha

	Phoenix

	Pittsburgh

	San Diego

	San Francisco

	Seattle

	Washington



Attachment B

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

 Continental states in it application that the Czech code will also be
displayed on flights operated by Continental’s code-share partner,
ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. ExpressJet does not require a statement of
authorization since it only operates small aircraft as defined in
section 298.2 of the Department’s regulations (Section 212.1).  See
Attachment A for the routes Continental and Czech Airlines initially
propose to serve.

 This condition applies only with respect to flights operated under this
exemption by Continental.  It is not applicable to flights operated by
Czech Airlines on which Continental is holding out service on a
code-share basis with Czech Airlines.

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

 The notice in paragraph (c) above can be used for this notification.

 PAGE   

 PAGE   5 

