Icelandair Wins DOT Authorization For 170 Round-Trip Charter Flights From Miami, Orlando, And Houston To Havana. Despite Objections From Three Airlines And Airline Pilots Association.
/United States Department of Transportation
Washington DC
13 January 2022
XX Allocation of charters from the 2021/2022 U.S.-Havana public charter pool established in Order 2020-5-7, as follows:
Icelandair requests allocation of 170 round-trip charter flights to be operated between Miami (136 flights), Orlando (17 flights), and Houston (17 flights), on the one hand, and Havana, on the other hand, on behalf of the public charter operator Anmart Superior Travel, LLC, d/b/a Anmart Air, LLC (Anmart Air). Icelandair proposes to operate during the period of February 1, 2022, through May 31, 2022.
XX Statements of authorization under 14 C.F.R. Part 212 to provide the round-trip charters described above (undocketed applications # 2021-2779, 2021-2780, and 2021-2781).
D I S P O S I T I O N
XX Granted, application of Icelandair for allocation of 170 round-trip charter flights from the 2021/2022 U.S.-Havana public charter pool (see Discussion below)
XX Granted, applications of Icelandair for statements of authorization under 14 C.F.R. Part 212 (see attachments).
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Stansstad, Switzerland
17 January 2022
The US Department of Transportation has granted Icelandair (FI, Reykjavik Keflavik) all of its requested charter rights for services between the US and Havana Int'l despite considerable opposition from American carriers active in the same market.
The regulator allocated 170 round-trip charter rights to the Icelandic carrier, comprising 136 flights from Miami Int'l and 17 each from Orlando Int'l and Houston Intc'l, between February 1 and May 31, 2022. In a separate decision, the DOT also authorised Icelandair to operate four round-trip flights from Orlando to Havana between January 11-31, 2022. All flights will be operated on behalf of tour operator Anmart Air.
iAero Airways, GLOBALX, and World Atlantic Airlines, joined by the US Air Line Pilots' Association (ALPA), collectively objected to Icelandair's application in late 2021. However, the DOT found no basis for their arguments, roundly rejecting all of them and siding fully with the Icelandic carrier.
In particular, the DOT agreed with Icelandair in rejecting allegations of the lack of reciprocity. The regulator underlined that it was not aware of any seventh-freedom request by US operators that had been denied by the Icelandic authorities. It also dismissed claims of Icelandair's alleged "undue reliance" on the proposed seventh-freedom operations. The DOT also noted that while the number of flights seemed high based on 2020 traffic figures, it was solely because Icelandair - like most other carriers - operated a skeleton network to the US that year. Finally, the DOT pointed out that even though the US-Havana market is capped at 3,600 round-trip flights per year, there are still unallocated frequencies left that US carriers are free to apply for if they can secure charter clients.
