[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 178 (Thursday, September 14, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54325-54326]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-7645]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

[Docket OST-2006-25612]


Notice of Extension for Filing Comments; Request by Hawaiian 
Airlines for Declaratory Order Concerning Hawaiian's American Samoa 
Service

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation.

SUMMARY: The Department is changing the due dates for comments and 
reply comments on the legal and policy questions presented by a 
petition submitted by Hawaiian Airlines for a declaratory order 
regarding an Executive Order issued by the Honorable Togiola T.A. 
Tulafono, the Governor of American Samoa. The Governor's order proposes 
to block Hawaiian from continuing to serve American Samoa if another 
airline replaces Hawaiian's service between Honolulu and Pago Pago. 
Comments will now be due October 31, and reply comments will be due 
November 21, 2006.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before October 31, 2006. 
Replies must be filed by November 21, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Objections and answers to objections must be filed in Docket 
number OST-2006-25612 by one of the following means:
    (1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 
20590-0001.
    (2) By hand delivery to Room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the 
Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The 
telephone number is 202-366-9329.
    (3) Electronically through the Web site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov. Comments must be filed in Docket OST-
2006-25612.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Ray, Office of the General 
Counsel (C-30, Room 4102), U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 
Seventh St., SW., Washington, DC 20590, (202) 366-4731, or Nancy 
Kessler, Office of the General Counsel (C-10, Room 10102), U.S. 
Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh St., SW., Washington, DC 
20590, (202) 366-9301.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 10, 2006, Hawaiian Airlines, the 
only airline currently providing scheduled passenger service between 
American Samoa and another U.S. State or territory, filed a petition 
asking for a

[[Page 54326]]

declaratory order regarding an Executive Order issued by the Honorable 
Togiola T.A. Tulafono, the Governor of American Samoa, that proposed to 
block Hawaiian from continuing to serve American Samoa. Governor 
Tulafono has been dissatisfied with the quality and price of Hawaiian's 
service. His executive order, issued July 26, 2006, stated that 
American Samoa intends to find another airline to replace Hawaiian's 
service and that he will issue a second executive order barring 
Hawaiian from continuing to operate to American Samoa when another 
airline is ready to replace Hawaiian's service between Pago Pago and 
Honolulu. Hawaiian's petition, filed in Docket OST-2006-25612, contends 
that the Governor may not lawfully block Hawaiian from serving the 
Honolulu-Pago Pago market. Hawaiian's petition thus presents the 
question of whether Federal law will allow the Governor to take the 
action proposed by his Executive Order, or will prohibit him from doing 
so.
    Because we were unwilling to rule on Hawaiian's petition without 
making sure that American Samoa had a full opportunity to respond to 
the petition, and because no one submitted comments in response to 
Hawaiian's petition, we published a notice inviting American Samoa and 
all other interested persons to submit comments on the petition. 
Comments were due September 15, and reply comments were due September 
22, 2006. 71 FR 52205 (September 1, 2006).
    On August 30, the Governor of American Samoa sent a letter to Susan 
McDermott, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation and 
International Affairs, requesting that at least sixty days, and 
preferably ninety days, be allowed for submitting comments on 
Hawaiian's petition. The Governor stated that the issues presented by 
Hawaiian's petition could not be adequately addressed within a 
fourteen-day comment period. He suggested that the comment period in 
this proceeding should reflect the procedures used in rulemaking 
proceedings, where sixty-day comment periods are common. We have placed 
a copy of the Governor's letter in the docket for this proceeding and 
sent a copy to Hawaiian. Hawaiian states that it does not object to a 
sixty-day comment period.
    We will establish a comment period of sixty days, as the Governor 
has requested. Comments therefore will be due sixty days after the 
September 1 publication of our initial Federal Register notice. This 
will give the parties ample time for preparing their responses to 
Hawaiian's petition. We will also give parties two additional weeks for 
filing reply comments.
    The parties' submissions thus far suggest that we should provide 
some guidance on the procedural requirements for this proceeding. 
Because Hawaiian is requesting a declaratory order regarding its 
individual dispute with the Governor, this proceeding is an 
adjudication, not a rulemaking. As such, it is subject to our rules for 
adjudicatory proceedings where no oral evidentiary hearing is held, 14 
CFR 302.1 through 302.15. In adjudications, fundamental principles of 
fairness require that each party must serve the other parties whenever 
it submits its views to us on substantive or procedural issues. As a 
result, Hawaiian, the Governor, and the other parties must send all of 
their future filings directly to the docket for this proceeding and 
must simultaneously serve the other parties (at this time, the parties 
consist of Hawaiian and the Governor). While we sent a copy of 
Hawaiian's petition to the Governor and then forwarded the Governor's 
request for more time to Hawaiian, in the future each party is 
responsible for ensuring that it has sent a copy of any written request 
or pleading to the other parties.

    Dated: September 8, 2006.
Michael W. Reynolds,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 06-7645 Filed 9-13-06; 8:45 am]
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