CARES Act Air Service Exemptions for American Airlines, Corporate Flight Management d/b/a Contour Airlines, Advanced Air, LLC., Southern Airways Express, LLC, and Tradewind Aviation, LLC.
Corporate Flight Management d/b/a Contour Airlines Exemption
Southern Airways Express LLC Exemption
Tradewind Aviation LLC Exemption
Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation is acting on five requests for exemption from the CARES Act airline service obligations announced in Order 2020-4-2. The Department has granted certain requests by American Airlines, Corporate Flight Management d/b/a Contour Airlines, Advanced Air, LLC., Southern Airways Express, LLC, and Tradewind Aviation, LLC. American, Southern, and Tradewind will be able to postpone the start of seasonal services until their typical start-dates and remove certain points from their service obligations where service had already ceased before the issuance of Order 2020-4-2. Contour and Advanced Air will not be obligated to provide service at points identified in Order 2020-4-2 since the carriers provide only charter service (not scheduled air service) at those points. The Department’s actions require the airlines to continue operating a minimum number of flights to meet critical transportation needs during the COVID-19 public health emergency, but at the same time provide relief from financial and operational burdens, responding to the needs of public officials at the state, territorial, and local levels. The requests and the Notices of Action Taken can be found on www.regulations.gov by searching “Docket-DOT-OST-2020-0037.” The Department continues to review additional requests for exemption as well as the comments being submitted in the docket. Media inquiries should be directed to pressoffice@dot.gov.