(a) Applicability. This policy shall apply to proceedings under sections 408, 409, and 412 of the Act in which the Board is required to make any determination as to the public interest or consistency with the Act of any agreement or relationship sought to be entered into by an air carrier, or officer or director thereof, with a foreign airline in connection with the performance of some activity pursuant to a technical assistance contract financed by an agency of the U.S. Government.

(b) Policy. It is the policy of the Board that all U.S. air carriers interested in performing contracts for aviation technical assistance to foreign airlines should have equal access to information necessary to bid on such contracts, and should be given equal consideration thereafter in the award of such contracts based upon customary contracting criteria and subject to the considerations set forth below:

(1) The air carrier selected should possess the necessary technical and managerial skills and economic strength to perform the assigned task in the recipient country to the credit of the United States. Where familiarity with the particular language and culture of the recipient country are important to the success of the project, weight should be given to the capabilities of all interested carriers in this regard, including particularly those which a route carrier may have acquired through service to the country or area.

(2) Where a single U.S. route carrier is serving or is certificated to serve the recipient country or the region in which it is located, and where initiation or continued operation of the route by such carrier is an important national interest objective of the United States, weight should be given to any evidence that an award of the contract to the route carrier as opposed to any other U.S. carrier would be held to achieve this objective.

(3) An air carrier performing a technical assistance contract will necessarily occupy a close special relationship with the airline and government of the recipient country. Over and above the terms of any specific contract, there is latent in such relationship the possibility of a relative preference for such carrier over a competing U.S. air carrier in matters of interline traffic, governmental restrictions, etc. Accordingly, where more than one U.S. route carrier is certificated to serve the recipient country and more than one such carrier wishes to perform the technical assistance, none of such carriers should be awarded the contract over the objection of any other except under very unusual circumstances.

(4) Technical assistance contracts should contain realistic objectives and require competent performance at reasonable cost and within a reasonable period of time consistent with the ability of the foreign airline to become self-sufficient.

(5) Technical assistance contracts should not be awarded to a U.S. route carrier with major economic interests hostile to those of the U.S. route carrier serving the country.

(6) Technical assistance contracts should not be awarded to subsidized carriers except under special circumstances. Such circumstances should include at least a showing (i) that the subsidized carrier has special qualifications, the utilization of which is required in the national interest by the circumstances of a particular program, and (ii) that performance of the contract will not interfere with the primary business of the subsidized carrier which is to provide air transportation in the United States. In the latter connection, it is to be recognized that participation with maximum effectiveness in a technical assistance program would not only divert the attention of top management from certificated services but might also involve the assignment of the most competent senior operational and technical personnel, the diversion of funds at least on a short-term basis, and the possible transfer from certificated services of aircraft and related equipment. Normally, therefore, unless substantial evidence and arguments are produced to the contrary, participation by subsidized carriers in technical assistance programs will be considered inconsistent with the public interest.