Order 01-05-4

Order 01-5-4

U.S.- Turkey Combination Service Third-Country Code-Share Opportunities

Order 01-5-4 OST-01-8781	Issued May 7, 2001 Served May 7, 2001	Order To Show Cause	U.S.- Turkey
		Attachment: Codeshare Application

Order 2001-5-4 tentatively selects Northwest Airlines, Inc., and United Air Lines, Inc., to serve Turkey under code-share arrangements with third-country carriers, and the order tentatively awards each carrier seven weekly frequencies to perform these services. Objections/Comments due May 17, 2001. Answers due May 22, 2001.

Based on our review of the proposals, we tentatively find that the selection of Northwest and United would provide the greatest overall benefits in this case. Northwest and United currently offer seven weekly frequencies in the U.S.-Istanbul market via intermediate points in Europe in conjunction with their third-country code-share partners, KLM and Lufthansa, respectively. We also tentatively conclude that, given the current structure of the market, an award of all the frequencies to United would not best advance our goal to promote competition and afford the public the widest range of competitive services from all of the carriers serving the market. American and Delta operate at least twice-daily service between the United States and Istanbul. Additional awards to Northwest and United, therefore, would afford the public more competitive service options from all of the carriers serving the market. Moreover, an additional award to Northwest would enable the carrier to improve on-line services in the market. Northwest offers on-line connecting service to 14 U.S. cities, throughout the United States, but not all of the cities now receive same-day round-trip connecting services, since they can connect to only one flight between Amsterdam and Istanbul. For example, four U.S. cities (Los Angeles, Miami, Memphis and San Francisco) receive same-day service in only one direction. An additional award to Northwest would enable the carrier to provide same-day round-trip service to all 14 U.S. cities, as there would be two KLM flights with which Northwest's flights between the United States and Amsterdam could connect.

By: Susan McDermott