[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 177 (Monday, September 14, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49150-49151]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-24592]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary
[Docket No. OST-98-3713]


Enforcement Policy Regarding Unfair Exclusionary Conduct in the 
Air Transportation Industry

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT.

ACTION: Notice extending comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Department (or DOT) published a proposed Statement of the 
Department of Transportation's Enforcement Policy Regarding Unfair 
Exclusionary Conduct in the Air Transportation Industry on April 10, 
1998, and requested public comment (63 FR 17919). Subsequently, on May 
21, 1998, the Department extended the due date for comments to July 24, 
1998, from June 9, 1998, and the due date for reply comments to 
September 8, 1998, from July 9, 1998. By this notice, the Department is 
now further extending the due date for reply comments from September 8, 
1998, to September 25, 1998.

DATES: Reply comments must be submitted on or before September 25, 
1998.

ADDRESSES: To facilitate the consideration of comments, each commenter 
should file eight copies of each set of comments. Comments must be 
filed in Room PL-401, Docket OST-98-3713, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590. Late-
filed comments will be considered to the extent possible.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Craun, Director (202-366-1032) or 
Randy Bennett, Deputy Director (202-366-1053), Office of Aviation and 
International Economics, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Aviation 
and International Affairs, or Betsy Wolf (202-366-9349), Senior Trial 
Attorney, Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Aviation 
Enforcement and Proceedings, U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 
Seventh St. SW, Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: DOT published a proposed Statement of the 
Department of Transportation's Enforcement Policy Regarding Unfair 
Exclusionary Conduct in the Air Transportation Industry and requested 
comments on the proposed statement (63 FR 7919, April 10, 1998). The 
proposed policy statement was developed by the Department of 
Transportation in consultation with the Department of Justice and sets 
forth tentative findings and guidelines for use by DOT in evaluating 
whether major air carriers' competitive responses to new entry warrant 
enforcement action under 49 U.S.C. 41712. The due dates for comments 
and reply comments were June 9, 1998 and July 9, 1998, respectively.
    Subsequently, in answer to an emergency petition from the Air 
Transport Association of America (ATA) to extend the comment period, 
the Department determined that it would be reasonable and in the public 
interest to give commenters more time for preparing their responses to 
the proposed statement. On May 21, 1998, we published a notice in the 
Federal Register (63 FR 28021) extending the due date for comments to 
July 24, 1998, from June 9, 1998, and the due date for reply comments 
to September 8, 1998, from July 9, 1998.
    The Department has now decided, on its own initiative, to extend 
the period for reply comments from September 8, 1998 to September 25, 
1998. In an effort to encourage a meaningful dialogue on the issues 
involved in the policy statement, the Department has conducted meetings 
with various air carrier parties and several additional meetings are 
scheduled for the near future. Since our regulations require that a 
written summary of the meetings be placed in the docket, we have 
decided to extend the due date for reply comments to more easily 
accommodate the submission of the written summaries and to give 
commenters an opportunity to file comments after reviewing the 
documents.
    At the same time, the Department is co-sponsoring with the 
publishers of Aviation Week and Space Technology the ``Deregulation 20 
Summit'' on September 23 and 24. Because the agenda for this meeting 
provides for the discussion of issues relevant to our proposed policy, 
and the panelists for that meeting have expertise on those issues, we 
anticipate that the summit will produce additional insights that should 
be included in the docket.


[[Page 49151]]


    Issued in Washington, DC on September 8, 1998, under authority 
delegated by 49 CFR 1.56(a).
Charles A. Hunnicutt,
Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 98-24592 Filed 9-11-98; 8:45 am]
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