THE U.S. Department of Transportation has dismissed Star Marianas Air Inc.’s complaint against the Commonwealth Ports Authority.
In her order of dismissal on Nov. 22, U.S. DOT Aviation and International Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary Carol A. Petsonk said the complaint “does not present a significant dispute within the meaning of Section 4712949.”
U.S.C. Section 47129 provides an expedited procedure for the department to determine whether airport fees are reasonable when there is a significant dispute between an airport and airlines.
Star Marianas has argued that the fees imposed by CPA “are unreasonable and inconsistent with department policy.”
For its part, CPA said the complaint should be dismissed because Star Marianas’ claims “do not raise a significant dispute.”
CPA also states that the charges imposed at its airports are reasonable and lawful. No other airline serving the airports of the CNMI has filed a follow-on complaint or other pleading supporting Star Marianas’ complaint, CPA added.
In its dismissal order, DOT stated that Star Marianas “does not present any other factors that would counterbalance the factors discussed above and persuade the Department that its complaint presents a significant dispute.” The airline “does not, for example, demonstrate that there is a need for the sort of expedited resolution that Section 47129 was designed to provide. Indeed, as discussed above, it appears that the amounts that SMA will owe in fiscal year 2022 will be relatively low, and that SMA in any event has not paid terminal or landing fees in several years,” DOT stated.
“In the absence of persuasive countervailing factors, the Department concludes that the dispute between SMA and the Authority — which involves a single airline challenging fees at three small airports, does not involve very large sums of money, and does not present important policy issues of nationwide significance — is not the type of dispute that warrants invocation of the expedited and resource-intensive complaint process created by Section 47129. This determination does not represent an adjudication of the merits of SMA’s claims. Nor should this dismissal be understood as suggesting that the legal requirements for airport fees do not apply with respect to SMA or the Authority,” DOT also stated.
“The dismissal is without prejudice to SMA’s ability to challenge the Authority’s fees through a Part 16 complaint filed with the [Federal Aviation Administration] or in any other appropriate forum. The Department thus concludes that the complaint does not present a ‘significant dispute’ and must therefore be dismissed pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 47129(c)(2) and 14 C.F.R. § 302.606(d)(1).6,” DOT stated.
