banned from Kennedy pending a six-month study of operating experience at Dulles in the United States, and Charles DeGaulle and Heathrow Airports in Europe.  The Concorde began commercial flights to Washington in May, 1976, over 13 months ago.  The Authority has not concluded its inquiry and, accordingly, has not considered what noise regulation would be appropriate for the special characteristics of the Concorde assuming that the existing and well-established 112 PNdB rule were found inadequate.


22
Air France and British Airways commenced this action to enjoin the Port Authority ban on March 17, 1976.  The airlines urge that the Authority's action violates U.S. treaty commitments, interferes with the foreign affairs power of the federal government, and is preempted by Secretary Coleman's authorization of Concorde landings at JFKrequest, the United States filed an amicus brief in which it urged that Secretary Coleman's order was never intended to deprive the Port Authority of the right to condition utilization of the facilities at JFK on the Concorde's compliance with reasonable noise regulations.  The Government, indeed, went further, and denied that existing legislation authorized the Executive under any circumstances to preempt airport proprietors from promulgating their own noise regulations.


25
This conclusive statement of the United States position confirms our independent assessment of the public record.  Secretary Coleman's decision explicitly indicated that the Concorde's right to land at Kennedy depended upon the voluntary cooperation of the Port Authority, though, of course, the Secretary did not hesitate to direct Dulles, a federally operated facility, to afford landing rights to