PUBLIC LAW 95-504—OCT. 24, 1978
92 STAT. 1729
AGREEMENTS
SEC. 28. (a) Section 412(a) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. 1382(a)) is amended— (1) by inserting in the subsection center heading "AFFECTING FOREIGN AIR TRANSPORTATION" immediately after "AGREEMENTS"; and (2) by inserting "foreign" immediately after "affecting". (b) Section 412(b) of such Act is amended by inserting "affecting foreign air transportation" immediately after "agreement" each place it appears in such section. (c) Section 412 of such Act is further amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsections: "FILING
AND
APPROVAL
OF
AGREEMENTS
AFFECTING
INTERSTATE OR
OVERSEAS AIR TRANSPORTATION
"(c)(1) Any air carrier may file with the Board a true copy, or, if oral, a true and complete memorandum, of any contract or agreement (whether enforceable by provisions for liquidated damages, penalties, bonds, or otherwise), or a request for authority to discuss possible cooperative working arrangements, affecting interstate or overseas air transportation and in force on the effective date of this subsection, or thereafter entered into, or any modification or cancellation thereof, between such air carrier and any other air carrier, foreign air carrier, or other carrier. "(2)(A) The Board shall by order disapprove any contract, agreement, or request filed pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, whether or not previously approved by it, that it finds to be adverse to the public interest or in violation of this Act, and shall by order approve any contract, agreement, or request, or any modification or cancellation thereof, that it does not find to be adverse to the public interest, or in violation of this Act, except that.— "(i) the Board may not approve or, after periodic review, continue its approval of any such contract, agreement, or request, or any modification or cancellation thereof, which substantially reduces or eliminates competition, unless it finds that the contract, agreement, or request is necessary to meet a serious transportation need or to secure important public benefits and it does not find that such need can be met or such benefits can be secured by reasonably available alternative means having materially less anticompetitive effects; "(ii) the Board may not approve any contract or agreement between an air carrier not directly engaged in the operation of aircraft in air transportation and a common carrier subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, governing the compensation to be received by such common carrier for transportation services performed by it; and "(iii) the Board may not approve any such contract or agreement, or any modification or cancellation thereof, that limits the level of capacity among air carriers in markets in which they compete, that fixes rates, fares, or charges between or among air carriers (except for joint rates, fares, or charges). "(B) I n any proceeding before the Board involving the application of the standards set forth in subparagraph (A)(i) of this paragraph, the party opposing the proposed contract, agreement, or request shall have the burden of proving the reduction or elimination of competition, and the availability of alternative means having less anticompeti-
39-194 O—80—pt. 2—-29: QL3
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