UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION WASHINGTON, DC 20591 In the matter of the petition of VIEQUES AIR LINK, INC. Exemption No. 18138 Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2018-0207 For an exemption from § 135.243(a)(1) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations DENIAL OF EXEMPTION By letter dated March 8, 2018, Mr. Carlos M. Rodriguez, President, Vieques Air Link, Inc. (VAL), 1225 Ponce de Leon Avenue, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00907 petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of VAL for an exemption from § 135.243(a)(1) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). The proposed exemption, if granted, would allow a pilot in command (PIC), for scheduled flights of 30 minutes or less and covering a distance of less than 50 nautical miles, to operate as PIC with a commercial pilot certificate with multiengine airplane and instrument ratings, in lieu of the requirement for an airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate. The proposed exemption would require the PIC to have at least 750 hours of flight time as a pilot that includes at least 100 hours of cross-country flight time, of which at least 25 hours constitute night flight time. The petitioner requests relief from the following regulation: Section 135.243(a)(1) prescribes that no certificate holder may use a person, nor may any person serve, as pilot in command in passenger-carrying operations of a turbojet airplane, of an airplane having a passenger-seat configuration, excluding each crewmember seat, of 10 seats or more, or of a multiengine airplane in a commuter operation as defined in part 119 of this chapter, unless that person holds an airline transport pilot certificate with appropriate category and class ratings and, if required, an appropriate type rating for that airplane. The petitioner supports its request with the following information: The petitioner stated that it is seeking relief, because there is an existing shortage of ATP certificated pilots, due to the 1500 hours of flight time and the age 65 compulsory AFS-18-120443-E 2 retirement requirements applicable to the ATP certification. The petitioner finds it is extremely difficult to hire and retain ATP certificated pilots to support its scheduled commuter operations. The petitioner asserted that large airline carriers, operating larger aircraft and having significantly greater revenues generating capacity and, therefore, greater capacity to recruit captains, are fast depleting the short supply of ATP certificated pilots in the region. The petitioner stated the ultimate beneficiary of the relief sought will be the impoverished and geographically isolated island municipalities of Vieques and Culebra, which the petitioner services. According to the petitioner, during the last few years, approximately 50% of its customers have consisted of frequent flyers who are residents of either Vieques and Culebra, who travel to the main island of Puerto Rico on a regular basis to work or obtain medical or other critical services, emergency clinic doctors, traveling judges, lawyers, and other professionals who travel to Vieques and Culebra on a regular basis to provide their much needed services to the populations of those small islands. There is a ferry service operated by the Puerto Rican government agency known as Autoridad de Transporte Maritimo that runs between the town of Fajardo, Puerto Rico, and the islands of Vieques and Culebra, but the petitioner asserted the ferry service is undependable, and at times even hazardous. The petitioner alleged that for most individuals, the only feasible means of commute to and from Vieques and Culebra is air transport. The petitioner stated that prior to Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017, the rest of its clientele were tourists. The petitioner contended that those clientele have declined significantly, because of its ATP certificated pilot turnover rates and resulting vacancies. In the last 24-month period, the petitioner stated it had hired four ATP certificated pilots, and during that period, eight ATP certificated pilots had left in pursuit of career-advancing opportunities with major airlines. The petitioner affirmed it is the contracted provider to the Puerto Rico health department for 24/7 air ambulance services from Vieques to the main land of Puerto Rico. The petitioner affirmed a similar agreement exists with the municipal government of Culebra. On a monthly basis, the petitioner asserted it averages 40 emergency transfers from Vieques and 8 transfers from Culebra. Additionally, the petitioner claimed that when Vieques’ renal dialysis center is not working, it is responsible for the transfer of patients to other clinics located in Puerto Rico’s east coast. Since October 2017, the petitioner stated it has been transporting an average of 16 dialysis patients on a weekly basis, and this situation is expected to continue until the operations of Vieques’ dialysis center are restored. Further, the petitioner affirmed that it also has an agreement in place with the municipal government of Vieques for the air transportation on scheduled flights of cancer patients requiring medical treatment on the main island of Puerto Rico. The petitioner also stated it transports American veterans on its scheduled flights on their 3 way to keeping their medical appointments at Puerto Rico’s Veteran’s Affairs hospital, located in San Juan. The petitioner proclaimed an exemption would benefit the public because the means of transportation between the main island of Puerto Rico and the islands of Vieques and Culebra are very scarce and the commuter services that it provides daily to the secluded populations of those offshore islands are undeniably vital. The petitioner asserted that the issuance of the requested exemption would support its efforts to continue providing air service to those islands without the significant increase in airfares that would be required as the result of needing to match the compensation that ATP certificated pilots expect to receive from major air carriers. Moreover, the petitioner claimed that maximizing its number of flights to Vieques and Culebra which, in the petitioner’s view can occur only if its PICs are allowed to have less than 1500 flight hours, but at least 750 flight hours, should help to promote tourism and economic development for those islands. The petitioner contended that with the following conditions and limitations, the requested exemption would not adversely affect safety. 1. All pilots operating under the proposed exemption would be required to: a. Successfully complete the existing VAL training curriculum approved by the FAA, which is equally applicable to all ATP and commercial pilots flying for VAL; and meets: (i) the crewmember training requirements of § 135.329; (ii) the crewmember emergency training requirements of § 135.331; (iii) the crewmember initial and recurrent training requirements of § 135.343 and 135.351; (iv) the pilot initial and transition ground training requirements of § 135.345; and (v) the pilot initial, transition, and differences flight training requirements of § 135.347 (all of which already apply to all VAL pilots); b. Meet the flightcrew member duties set forth in §§ 135.100 and 135.123; c. Meet the flight time limitations and rest requirements for all certificate holders set forth in § 135.263; d. Meet the flight time limitations and rest requirements for scheduled operations set forth in § 135.265; e. Successfully pass an airman competency/proficiency check that meets all requirements set forth in §§ 135.293(a) and (b) and 135.299, in accordance with the Airline Transport Pilot standards, with instrument competency demonstrated; and f. Successfully complete Initial Operating Experience with a minimum of 15 hours and without any reduction as set forth in § 135.244(b)(4). 4 2. The commercial pilots that VAL would allow to operate as PIC in its commuter scheduled operations would be required to: (i) have not less than 750 flight hours that includes at least 100 hours of cross-country flight time, of which at least 25 hours constitute night flight time; (ii) hold an instrument rating; and (iii) hold a First Class medical certificate. 3. The commercial pilots would be employed only for flights covering less than fifty nautical miles, with a maximum distance of twelve and one-half nautical miles from any point along the route to a suitable landing airport and with no over-water flight segments entailing more than five nautical miles to the nearest shore. 4. Each flight would be conducted under day visual flight rules (VFR), with a ceiling of not less than 1,000 feet and visibility of not less than 3 miles. A summary of the petition was published in the Federal Register on April 10, 2018 (83 FR 15447). Five comments were received from the following pilot associations: the Air Line Pilots Association International (ALPA), the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA), the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP), and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA). All five comments opposed the petition and contended that there would be a degradation in safety if VAL pilots were allowed to operate scheduled commuter flights with a commercial pilot certificate in lieu of an ATP certificate. APA, CAPA, and NJASAP noted that the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 resulted in new regulations to strengthen pilot training and qualification requirements for an ATP certificate. SWAPA stated that substituting an ATP PIC with a pilot with 50% fewer hours and experience cannot provide the same level of safety. ALPA contended that all passengers, including those being transported by VAL for medical and other needs, deserve the same high level of safety and that it would be inappropriate to put VAL passengers at higher risk by lowering the certification, qualification, education, flight training and experience required of pilots in its operations.