Airline industry unions have formally asked the District of
Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals to review the Dec. 2 DOT decision to grant a
foreign air carrier permit for Norwegian Air’s Ireland-based subsidiary.
The Air Line Pilots Association, Association of Flight
Attendants-CWA, Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO and Southwest
Airlines’ Pilots Association were among the six unions that submitted the
petition Thursday.
The unions -- along with airlines American, Delta and United
-- accuse Norwegian Air of setting up the Ireland subsidiary in order to take
advantage of that country’s labor laws, which are more lax than those of
Norway.
The DOT, the unions say, failed to uphold labor provisions
in the EU-U.S. open skies agreement when it approved the permit.
Norwegian, however, says that it sought the permit to ease
network planning. Ireland, unlike Norway, is a member of the EU. As a result,
says Norwegian, flights scheduled under the permit can more easily take
advantage of EU trade agreements than those scheduled under its Norway-based
air certificate.