[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 223 (Tuesday, November 19, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 69804]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-29490]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary


Review Under 49 U.S.C. 41720 of Delta/Northwest/Continental 
Agreements

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Extension of waiting period.

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SUMMARY: Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, and Continental Airlines 
have submitted code-sharing and frequent-flyer program reciprocity 
agreements to the Department for review under 49 U.S.C. 41720. That 
statute requires such agreements between major U.S. passenger airlines 
to be submitted to the Department at least thirty days before the 
agreements' proposed effective date and authorizes the Department to 
extend the waiting period for these agreements at the end of the 
thirty-day period. The Department has determined to extend the waiting 
period for the Delta/Northwest/Continental code-share agreements for an 
additional thirty days, from November 21 to December 21, 2002.
    Any supplemental comments must be submitted by December 4, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be filed with Randall Bennett, Director, 
Office of Aviation Analysis, Room 6401, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 7th St. SW., Washington, DC 20590. Late filed 
comments will be considered to the extent possible. To facilitate 
consideration of comments, each commenter should file three copies of 
its comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Ray, Office of the General 
Counsel, 400 Seventh St. SW., Washington, DC 20590, (202) 366-4731.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Delta, Northwest, and Continental submitted 
code-sharing and frequent-flyer program reciprocity agreements to us 
for review under 49 U.S.C. 41720 on August 23. That statute requires 
such agreements between major U.S. airlines to be submitted to us more 
than thirty days before their planned implementation, and it authorizes 
us to extend the waiting period by up to 150 days for code-sharing 
agreements and by up to sixty days for other types of agreements. We 
have already extended the waiting period for these agreements twice by 
thirty days. 67 FR 59328 (September 20, 2002); 67 FR 64960 (October 22, 
2002). We have determined to extend the waiting period for the code-
share agreement for an additional thirty days to give us time to 
consider the supplemental comments being submitted by other parties 
interested in the agreement. While we cannot extend the waiting period 
for the frequent flyer reciprocity agreement again, we are continuing 
to examine the competitive issues raised by the frequent flyer 
reciprocity agreement, and we request that parties address those issues 
in their comments as well.
    We have been informally reviewing the agreements submitted by 
Delta, Continental, and Northwest and discussing the competitive issues 
with the Justice Department. Our review of the agreements is focusing 
on whether they may reduce competition. To bar the parties from 
implementing the agreements, we would need to determine that they were 
unlawful under 49 U.S.C. 41712 as an unfair method of competition, that 
is, that the agreements violate the antitrust laws or antitrust 
principles. See United Air Lines v. CAB, 766 F.2d 1101 (7th Cir. 1985). 
Our review is analogous to the review of major mergers and acquisitions 
conducted by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission 
under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, 15 U.S.C. 18a, since we are 
considering whether we should institute a formal proceeding for 
determining whether an agreement would violate section 41712.
    To assist us in our review, we have given interested parties the 
opportunity to submit comments on the agreements, initially on the 
basis of redacted copies of the agreements and more recently on the 
basis of unredacted copies, subject to restrictions designed to ensure 
that the confidential business information in the agreements does not 
become public. We made the unredacted copies of the agreements 
available to the parties on November 12 after giving Delta, 
Continental, and Northwest some advance notice of our decision to make 
the copies available. 67 FR 69297 (November 15, 2002).
    Any supplemental comments must be submitted no later than December 
4. That deadline will give the parties adequate time to submit any 
additional analysis based on their review of the unredacted material. 
We will then consider all of the comments and the information provided 
by Delta, Continental, and Northwest and further consult with the 
Justice Department. We hope to make a final decision by December 21 on 
whether more formal action should be taken on the agreements.

    Issued in Washington, DC on November 15, 2002.
Read C. Van de Water,
Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 02-29490 Filed 11-15-02; 2:06 pm]
BILLING CODE 4910-62-P