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PUBLIC LAW 95-504—OCT. 24, 1978
92 STAT. 1727
holding a valid certificate issued by the Board under section 401(d) of this section to engage in interstate or overseas air transportation, a Ante, p. 1712. foreign air carrier, or a person controlling, controlled by, or under common control with, such an air carrier or a foreign air carrier, the person seeking approval of such transaction shall present an application to the Board, and, at the same time, a copy to the Attorney General and the Secretary of Transportation, and thereupon the Board shall notify the persons involved in the transaction and other persons known to have a substantial interest in the proceeding, of the manner in which the Board will proceed in disposing of such application. Unless, after a hearing, the Board finds that th^ transaction Avill not be consistent with the public interest or that the conditions of this section will not be fulfilled, it shall, by order, approve such transaction, upon such terms and conditions as it shall find to be just and reasonable and with such modifications as it may prescribe, except the Board shall not approve such transaction— " (A) if it would result in a monopoly or would be in furtherance Monopolization, of any combination or conspiracy to monopolize or to attempt to monopolize the business of air transportation in any region of the United States; or "(B) the effect of which in any region of the United States may Competition, be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly, or which in any other manner would be in restraint of trade, unless the Board finds that the anticompetitive effects of the proposed transaction are outweighed in the public interest by the probable effect of the transaction in meeting significant transportation conveniences and needs of the public, and unless it finds that such significant transportation conveniences and needs may not be satisfied by a reasonably available alternative having, materially less anticompetitive effects. The party challenging the transaction shall bear the burden of provin/^r the anticompetitive effects of such transaction, and the proponents of the transaction shall bear the burden of proving that it meets the significant transportation conveniences and needs of the public and that such conveniences and needs may not be satisfied by a less anticompetitive alternative. " (2) In any case in which the Board determines that the transaction Notice. which is the subject of the application does not affect the control of an Publication air carrier directly engaged in the operation of aircraft in air trans- in Federal portation, and determines that neither the Attorney General, nor the Register. Secretary, nor any other person disclosing a substantial interest in the transaction then currently is requesting a hearing, the Board, no sooner than 30 days after publication in the Federal Register of notice of the Board's intention to dispose of such application without a hearing (a copy of which notice shall be furnished by the Board to the Attorney General and the Secretary not later than the day following the date of such publication), may determine that the public interest does not require a hearing and, in accordance with the standards set forth in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1) of this subsection, by order, approve or disapprove such transaction. "(3)(A) In any case in which none of the parties to a consolidation, merger, purchase, lease, operating contract, or acquisition of control, specified in subsection (a) of this section, is an air carrier holding a valid certificate issued by the Board under section 401(d) of this title to engage in interstate or overseas air transportation, a foreign air carrier, or a person controlling, controlled by, or under common control with, such an air carrier or a foreign air carrier, any person seeking
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