cancellation of such contract, and such holder or his or its surety or sureties thereon shall not be released or discharged prior to disposition of any such matter: Provided further, That nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect any right which may have accrued to any air carrier prior to the date of the cancellation, pursuant to the provisions of this Act, of any contract for the transportation of mail by aircraft.

Rules and Regulations

(d) The Postmaster General is authorized to make such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, or any order, rule, or regulation made by the Authority thereunder, as may be necessary for the safe and expeditious carriage of mail by aircraft.

Mail Schedules

(e) Each air carrier shall, from time to time, file with the Authority and the Postmaster General a statement showing the points between which such air carrier is authorized to engage in air transportation, and all schedules, and all changes therein, of aircraft regularly operated by the carrier between such points, setting forth in respect of each such schedule the points served thereby and the time of arrival and departure at each such point. The Postmaster General may designate any such schedule for the transportation of mail between the points between which the air carrier is authorized by its certificate to transport mail, and may, by order, require the air carrier to establish additional schedules for the transportation of mail between such points. No change shall be made in any schedules designated or ordered to be established by the Postmaster General except upon ten days' notice thereof filed as herein provided. The Postmaster General may by order disapprove any such change or alter, amend, or modify any such schedule or change. No order of the Postmaster General under this subsection shall become effective until ten days after its issuance. Any person who would be aggrieved by any such order of the Postmaster General under this subsection may, before the expiration of such tenday period, apply to the Authority, under such regulations as it may prescribe, for a review of such order. The Authority may review, and, if the public convenience and necessity so require, amend, revise, suspend, or cancel such order; and, pending such review and the determination thereof, may postpone the effective date of such order. The Authority shall give preference to proceedings under this subsection over all proceedings pending before it. No air carrier shall transport mail in accordance with any schedule other than a schedule designated or ordered to be established under this subsection for the transportation of mail.

Maximum Mail Load

(f) The Authority may fix the maximum mail load for any schedule or for any aircraft or any type of aircraft; but, in the event that mail in excess of the maximum load is tendered by the Postmaster General for transportation by any air carrier in accordance with any schedule designated or ordered to be established by the Postmaster General under subsection (e) of this section for the transportation of mail, such air carrier shall, to the extent such air carrier is reasonably

able as determined by the Authority, furnish facilities sufficient to transport, and shall transport, such mail as nearly in accordance with such schedule as the Authority shall determine to be possible.

Tender of Mail

(g) From and after the issuance of any certificate authorizing the transportation of mail by aircraft, the Postmaster General shall tender mail to the holder thereof, to the extent required by the Postal Service, for transportation between the points named in such certificate for the transportation of mail, and such mail shall be transported by the air carrier holding such certificate in accordance with such rules, regulations, and requirements as may be promulgated by the Postmaster General under this section.

Foreign Postal Arrangements

(h) (1) Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to abrogate or affect any arrangement made by the United States with the postal administration of any foreign country with respect to transportation of mail by aircraft, or to impair the authority of the Postmaster General to enter into any such arrangement with the postal administration of any foreign country.

(2) The Postmaster General may, in any case where service may be necessary by a person not a citizen of the United States who may not be obligated to transport the mail for a foreign country, make arrangements, without advertising, with such person for transporting mail by aircraft to or within any foreign country.

Transportation of Foreign Mail

(i) (1) Any air carrier holding a certificate to engage in foreign air transportation and transporting mails of foreign countries shall transport such mails subject to control and regulation by the United States. The Postmaster General shall from time to time fix the rates of compensation that shall be charged the respective foreign countries for the transportation of their mails by such air carriers, and such rates shall be put into effect by the Postmaster General in accordance with the provisions of the postal convention regulating the postal relations between the United States and the respective foreign countries, or as provided hereinafter in this subsection. In any case where the Postmaster General deems such action to be in the public interest, he may approve rates provided in arrangements between any such air carrier and any foreign country covering the transportation of mails of such country, under which mails of such country have been carried on scheduled operations prior to January 1, 1938, or in extensions or modifications of such arrangements, and may permit any such air carrier to enter into arrangements with any foreign country for the transportation of its mails at rates fixed by the Postmaster General in advance of the making of any such arrangement. The Postmaster General may authorize any such air carrier, under such limitations as the Postmaster General may prescribe, to change the rates to be charged any foreign country for the transportation of its mails by such air carrier within that country or between that country and another foreign country.

(2) In any case where such air carrier has an arrangement with any foreign country for transporting its mails, made or approved in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, it shall collect its compensation from the foreign country under its arrangement, and in case of the absence of any arrangement between the air carrier and the foreign country consistent with this subsection, the collections made from the foreign country by the United States shall be for the account of such air carrier: Provided, That no such air carrier shall be entitled to receive compensation both from such foreign country and from the United States in respect of the transportation of the same mail or the same mails of foreign countries.

(3) In the case of any air carrier holding a contract under the provisions of the Act of March 8, 1928, as amended (45 Stat. 248), providing for the carriage of mails of foreign countries for the account of the United States, this subsection shall apply only upon the cancellation of such contract as provided in this section.

Evidence of Performance of Mail Service

(j) Air carriers transporting or handling United States mail shall submit, under oath, when and in such form as may be required by the Postmaster General, evidence of the performance of mail service; and air carriers transporting or handling mails of foreign countries shall submit, under oath, when and in such form as may be required by the Postmaster General, evidence of the amount of such mails transported or handled, and the compensation payable and received therefor.

Emergency Mail Service

(k) In the event of emergency caused by flood, fire, or other calamitous visitation, the Postmaster General is authorized to contract, without advertising, for the transportation by aircraft of any or all classes of mail to or from localities affected by such calamity, where available facilities of persons authorized to transport mail to or from such localities are inadequate to meet the requirements of the Postal Service during such emergency. Such contracts may be only for such periods as may be necessitated, for the maintenance of mail service, by the inadequacy of such other facilities. No operation pursuant to any such contract, for such period, shall be air transportation within the purview of this Act. Payment of compensation for service performed under such contracts shall be made, at rates provided in such contracts, from appropriations for the transportation of mail by the means normally used for transporting the mail transported under such contracts.

Experimental Air-Mail Service

(1) Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to repeal in whole or in part the provisions of section 6 of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for experimental air-mail service, to further develop safety, efficiency, economy, and for other purposes", approved April 15, 1938. The transportation of mail under contracts entered into under such section shall not, except for sections 401 (1) and 416 (b), be deemed to be "air transportation" as used in this Act, and the rates of compensation for such transportation of mail shall not

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be fixed under this Act. (As amended by Act of July 2, 1940, 54 Stat. 735.)

Free Travel for Postal Employees

(m) Every air carrier carrying the mails shall carry on any plane that it operates and without charge therefor, the persons in charge of the mails when on duty, and such duly accredited agents and officers of the Post Office Department, and post office inspectors, while traveling on official business relating to the transportation of mail by aircraft, as the Authority may by regulation prescribe, upon the exhibition of their credentials.

RATES FOR TRANSPORTATION OF MAIL

Authority to Fix Rates

SEC. 406 [52 Stat. 998, 49 U. S. C. 486] (a) The Authority is empowered and directed, upon its own initiative or upon petition of the Postmaster General or an air carrier, (1) to fix and determine from time to time, after notice and hearing, the fair and reasonable rates of compensation for the transportation of mail by aircraft, the facilities used and useful therefor, and the services connected therewith (including the transportation of mail by an air carrier by other means than aircraft whenever such transportation is incidental to the transportation of mail by aircraft or is made necessary by conditions of emergency arising from aircraft operation), by each holder of a certificate authorizing the transportation of mail by aircraft, and to make such rates effective from such date as it shall determine to be proper; (2) to prescribe the method or methods, by aircraft-mile, pound-mile, weight, space, or any combination thereof, or otherwise, for ascertaining such rates of compensation for each air carrier or class of air carriers; and (3) to publish the same; and the rates so fixed and determined shall be paid by the Postmaster General from appropriations for the transportation of mail by aircraft.

Rate-Making Elements

(b) In fixing and determining fair and reasonable rates of compensation under this section, the Authority, considering the conditions peculiar to transportation by aircraft and to the particular air carrier or class of air carriers, may fix different rates for different air carriers or classes of air carriers, and different classes of service. In determining the rate in each case, the Authority shall take into consideration, among other factors, the condition that such air carriers may hold and operate under certificates authorizing the carriage of mail only by providing necessary and adequate facilities and service for the transportation of mail; such standards respecting the character and quality of service to be rendered by air carriers as may be prescribed by or pursuant to law; and the need of each such air carrier for compensation for the transportation of mail sufficient to insure the performance of such service, and, together with all other revenue

So in original.

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of the air carrier, to enable such air carrier under honest, economical, and efficient management, to maintain and continue the development of air transportation to the extent and of the character and quality required for the commerce of the United States, the Postal Service, and the national defense.

Statement of Postmaster General and Carrier

(c) Any petition for the fixing of fair and reasonable rates of compensation under this section shall include a statement of the rate the petitioner believes to be fair and reasonable. The Postmaster General shall introduce as part of the record in all proceedings under this section a comprehensive statement of all service to be required of the air carrier and such other information in his possession as may be deemed by the Authority to be material to the inquiry.

Weighing of Mail

(d) The Postmaster General may weigh the mail transported by aircraft and make such computations for statistical and administrative purposes as may be required in the interest of the mail service. The Postmaster General is authorized to employ such clerical and other assistance as may be required in connection with proceedings under this Act. If the Authority shall determine that it is necessary or advisable, in order to carry out the provisions of this Act, to have additional and more frequent weighing of the mails, the Postmaster General, upon request of the authority, shall provide therefor in like manner, but such weighing need not be for continuous periods of more than thirty days.

Availability of Appropriations

(e) Except as otherwise provided in section 405 (k), the unexpended balances of all appropriations for the transportation of mail by aircraft pursuant to contracts entered into under the Air Mail Act of 1934, as amended, and the unexpended balances of all appropriations available for the transportation of mail by aircraft in Alaska, shall be available, in addition to the purposes stated in such appropriations, for the payment of compensation by the Postmaster General, as provided in this Act, for the transportation of mail by aircraft, the facilities used and useful therefor, and the services connected therewith, between points in the continental United States or between points in Hawaii or in Alaska or between points in the continental United States and points in Canada within one hundred and fifty miles of the international boundary line. Except as otherwise provided in section 405 (k), the unexpended balances of all appropriations for the transportation of mail by aircraft pursuant to contracts entered into under the Act of March 8, 1928, as amended, shall be available, in addition to the purposes stated in such appropriations, for payment to be made by the Postmaster General, as provided by this Act, in respect of the transportation of mail by aircraft, the facilities used and useful therefor, and the services connected therewith, between points in the United States and points outside thereof, or between points in the continental United States and Territories or possessions of the United States, or between Territories or possessions of the United States.