On Friday 20, the Department of Transportation issued an order -effective immediately- which grants operators of foreign civil aircraft a blank permit to conduct “certain commercial air operations” to the United States in support of the evacuation of certain passenger traffic from Afghanistan.
DOT-OST-2021-0097-0001_attachment_1The DOT decision, coordinated with the Department of State and the Department of Defense, aims to ease restrictions and facilitate the airlift of US citizens, foreign personnel included in the Afghan Special Interest Visa program and other passengers, as long as they have undergone biometric screening.
The DOT states that many foreign air carriers already hold economic authority to conduct operations of this nature to the United States, some of these evacuation operations may need to involve foreign airlines that do not hold DOT authority.
The US Government has contracted Gulf Air, a foreign civil aircraft operator of Bahrain, to conduct a series of flights transporting Afghanistan evacuees from Bahrain to the United States over the course of the next 30 days. By this order, Gulf Air is reaffirmed on its right to operate, as the oral permit it received got formalized.
As a consequence, the DOT has decided to grant the request made by both DOS and DoD. Specifically, the Department of Transportation will grant those foreign airlines that do not already hold the requisite Department authority, a blanket foreign aircraft permit under 14 CFR §375.40 regulations.
The conditions for this extended permit will include that flights are to be sponsored by the US Government and that there will be no domestic connections within the US made by any of the carriers using this exception.
The order is expected to be in full force at least for the next 30 days but could be revoked, amended or modified at DOT’s discretion.
