Waltzing Matilda Aviation, LLC (WMA), d/b/a Connect Airlines (Bedford, MA), is asking the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to reconsider its decision to revoke the airline's scheduled passenger operator certification. In a November 29, 2023, letter to the department, WMA says DOT made a number of errors when it pulled the certification and unnecessarily raised barriers to entry for startup airlines.

WMA is a longtime Part 135 certified private jet operator but is wanting to start scheduled flights under the Connect Airlines brand between Toronto Billy Bishop City Centre and regional airports just south of the US-Canada border. The DOT issued WMA with the required fit and proper entity certification to do so in July 2022, but that permit came with the condition that services start within 12 months, which WMA/Connect Airlines failed to do. The DOT revoked the certificate earlier this month. The DOT did not respond to a request for comment .

However, WMA also needed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to transfer its Part 135 certification to a Part 121 certificate, which it failed to secure for various reasons. While the DOT invoked the dormancy clause to cancel the certification it issued, its cancellation advisory referred to multiple issues, including the FAA's September 2023 termination of its certification procedures as a contributing factor and a reason to deny WMA's earlier application for a dormancy waiver. This week's letter from WMA takes issue with the DOT's characterisation of the FAA's termination.

"Reconsideration is warranted because the Order was based on an incorrect assessment of WMA’s FAA certification process and inconsistent with the Department’s Order originally awarding WMA its certificate authority," reads the letter. "Based upon these errors, the Department again has raised the barriers to entry for startup airlines and specifically for a startup airline with firm plans to become the first emission-free airline in North America. That decision is not in the public interest and should be reconsidered and ultimately reversed."

WMA's letter says, according to the FAA's own actions, the Part 121 certificate should have been issued in March 2023, which would have allowed it to commence scheduled passenger services within 12 months of the DOT issuing its certification. "Despite the delays with the FAA, WMA believes it will meet all the Department's requirements to make the authority effective upon issuance of the air carrier certificate. The result of the order is that WMA is being penalised for the FAA's failure to follow their own regulations and procedures."

The letter asks that the DOT reconsider the revocation and grant a dormancy waiver through March 31, 2024