[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 20, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10933-10934]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-4149]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

[Docket No. FAA-2000-8278]


High Density Airports; Disposition of Comments From Lottery of 
Slot Exemptions at LaGuardia Airport

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Disposition of comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice disposes of comments filed in the docket 
concerning the lottery of slot exemptions at LaGuardia Airport.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David L. Bennett, Office of Airport 
Safety and Standards, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence 
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Background

    On December 4, 2000, the FAA conducted a lottery to reallocate slot 
exemptions at LaGuardia Airport that were authorized under the 
``Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st 
Century'' (``AIR-21''). At the lottery, participants were invited to 
comment on the lottery procedures by submitting written comments to the 
docket. The FAA advised that all comments received would be addressed 
via a notice in the Federal Register.

Disposition of Comments

    Comments were submitted from Midwest Express Airlines (``Midwest 
Express''), the Air Carrier Association of America (``ACAA''), Delta 
Air Lines, Inc. (``Delta'') and US Airways, Inc. (``US Airways'').
    US Airways commented that if Legend Airlines does not commence 
operations and Legend's slots are allocated in accordance with the 
contingency round, then US Airways should be next in line to select an 
additional slot, should one become available for whatever reason. (US 
Airways bases this comment on the fact that it received only one 
exemption time, while the other three participating carriers received 
two exemptions each.) US Airways also requests that should additional 
slots become available before September 15, 2001, it should be given 
the opportunity to trade the 2100-hour slot exemption that it received 
during the Legend contingency round for another slot. The 2100-hour 
slot exemption was not the slot time selected by Legend, but rather was 
a replacement for an 1800-hour exemption. US Airways obtained the 2100-
hour slot time only because the real slot time selected by Legend was 
over subscribed.
    Delta commented that the FAA should reject US Airways second 
request to trade the 2100-hour slot exemption should additional 
exemptions become available. Delta argues that US Airways' situation is 
solely the product of the lottery procedure established by the FAA and 
there is no legitimate basis to give US Airways priority over Delta who 
was forced to eliminate more flights at LaGuardia than any other 
carrier.
    ACAA does not support US Airways comments and further proposes that 
any carrier that does not utilize a slot selected at the lottery by 
February 1, 2001, should be prohibited from exchanging that slot for 
another slot.

[[Page 10934]]

ACAA also comments that in the event that Legend does not resume 
operations, the slots selected by Legend should be made available to 
new entrant and limited incumbent carriers and not be allocated to the 
commuter carriers. In addition, ACAA requests that the FAA suspend the 
extra section authority, suspend the buy-sell rule for LaGuardia until 
October 1, 2001, and provide new entrants/limited incumbents with four 
daily ``delay-free'' arrivals. These last comments are beyond the 
purpose of this disposition of comments concerning the lottery and will 
not be addressed in this document.
    Midwest Express urges the FAA to reconsider its statement during 
the lottery that only the four commuter participants are permitted to 
participate in the Legend contingency round and that should there be 
future slot turnbacks or use/lose violations, those four commuter 
participants would remain eligible for the slots.
    The FAA agrees with US Airways' comments with respect to the 
limited issue that in the event that the contingency round is allocated 
among the other four participating carriers, US Airways would be next 
in line to select an available slot, since it only selected one slot 
during the contingency round. The FAA does not agree that in the event 
that the contingency round is allocated that US Airways should be 
entitled to the second available slot in order to swap that slot with 
the 2100 slot that it had to select.
    The FAA does not agree with ACAA and Midwest Express that any 
future slot turnbacks should be reserved for new entrant/limited 
incumbent. In developing the lottery procedures, the agency strived to 
strike a balance between the policies set forth in AIR-21 and to 
provide a fair and equitable distribution between the two categories of 
operations, consistent with the provisions of AIR-21. Since the purpose 
of the lottery was to cap operations at a level that was more 
acceptable than the current level of operations, the FAA did not 
structure lottery procedures so that any carrier could grow its 
operations. Not including the commuter carriers, all new entrant and 
limited incumbent carriers retained the same number of slots that they 
operated prior to the lottery. Consequently, while new entrant and 
limited incumbent carriers are limited in their ability to grow, as is 
the same for the commuter carriers, they have not been forced to reduce 
operations.
    If AIR-21 exemption slots are returned for the long-term, under 
current lottery procedures, all new entrants have received their full 
allocations and thus would not be eligible for additional allocations. 
The FAA does not support changing the lottery procedures during this 
allocation period. The procedures set forth in the December 4, 2000, 
Federal Register notice will remain in effect until September 15, 2001.

    Issued in Washington, DC on February 13, 2001.
James W. Whitlow,
Deputy Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 01-4149 Filed 2-16-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-M