Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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818. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the current position for the application by a company (details supplied) to commence a transatlantic service from Cork Airport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23842/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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On the 15th of April 2016 the US Department of Transportation published a tentative decision to grant Norwegian Air International (NAI) the foreign air carrier permit required by the airline to operate the proposed Cork to Boston route.  A public consultation on this tentative decision was completed on the 23rd of May. It is now a matter for the US Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx, to decide whether to confirm that tentative decision or not. I and my Department continue to liaise with the European Commission regarding the matter. The Commission agrees that the 2½ year delay by the US authorities in making a decision on NAI's permit application is not acceptable. The next step in resolving the issue would be for the Commission to initiate a formal arbitration under Article 19 of the EU-US Open Skies Agreement. It is hoped that by granting the permit there will be no need to take this step. However, I am confident that the Commission, if necessary, will take the appropriate action under the Agreement to help resolve this dispute. I look forward to a decision being confirmed by the US Department of Transportation as soon as possible so that NAI can start operating the new route from Cork to Boston and other new transatlantic routes.