[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 15, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7792-7793]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-2927]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

[Docket No. FAA-2004-16944]


Operating Limitations at Chicago O'Hare International Airport

ACTION: Notice of order to show cause and request for information.

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SUMMARY: The FAA has issued an order to show cause, which solicits the 
views of interested persons on the FAA's tentative determination to 
extend until October 31 an August 18, 2004, order limiting the number 
of scheduled aircraft arrivals at O'Hare International Airport during 
peak operating hours. The order to show cause also invites written 
views on whether the FAA should allocate any unused capacity while the 
extended order is in effect and, if so, how the FAA should allocate any 
such unused capacity. The text of the order to show cause is set forth 
in this notice.

DATES: Any written information that responds to the FAA's order to show 
cause must be submitted by February 24, 2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written information, identified by docket 
number FAA-2004-16944, by any of the following methods:
     Web site: http://dms.dot.gov. Follow the instructions for 
submitting information on the DOT electronic docket site.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management System, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, Room PL-401, 
Washington, DC 20590-0001. If sent by mail, information is to be 
submitted in two copies. Persons wishing to receive confirmation of 
receipt of their written submission should include a self-addressed 
stamped postcard.
     Hand Delivery: Docket Management System, Room PL-401, on 
the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., 
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays.
    Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket number 
FAA-2004-16944 for this notice at the beginning of the information that 
you submit. Note that the information received will be posted without 
change to http://dms.dot.gov, including any personal information 
provided. Submissions to the docket that include trade secrets, 
confidential, commercial, or financial information, or sensitive 
security information will not be posted in the public docket. Such 
information will be placed in a separate file to which the public does 
not have access, and a note will be placed in the public docket to 
state that the agency has received such materials from the submitter.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerry Shakley, System Operations, Air 
Traffic Organization: telephone (202) 267-9424; facsimile (202) 267-
7277; e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Order To Show Cause

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has tentatively 
determined that it will extend through October 31, 2005, the FAA's 
August 18, 2004, order limiting scheduled operations at O'Hare 
International Airport (O'Hare). This order to show cause invites air 
carriers and other interested persons to submit comments in Docket No. 
FAA-2004-16944 on this proposal to extend the duration of the August 18 
order.
    In the absence of the FAA's extension of the August 18 order, the 
FAA anticipates a return of the congestion-related delays that 
precipitated the voluntary schedule reductions and adjustments 
reflected in the August 18 order. In a separate docket, the FAA intends 
to soon solicit public comment on a proposed rule that would limit the 
number of scheduled operations at O'Hare. The FAA expects that the 
extension of the August 18 order would coincide with the effective date 
of any final rule adopted after the FAA's consideration of the public 
comments filed in that docket.
    The FAA's authority to extend the August 18 order is the same as 
the authority cited in that order. In part, the FAA proposes to extend 
the August 18 order under the agency's broad authority in 49 U.S.C. 
40103(b) to regulate the use of the navigable airspace of the United 
States. This provision authorizes the FAA to

[[Page 7793]]

develop plans and policy for the use of navigable airspace and, by 
order or rule, to regulate the use of the airspace as necessary to 
ensure its efficient use.

Background

    On August 18, 2004, the FAA issued an order limiting the number of 
scheduled arrivals that air carriers conduct at O'Hare during peak 
hours. The August 18 order followed a period during which O'Hare 
operated without any regulatory constraint on the number of aircraft 
operations, and O'Hare experienced significant congestion-related 
delay. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 
November 2003, O'Hare ranked last among the nation's thirty-one major 
airports for on-time arrival performance, with on-time arrivals 57.26% 
of the time. O'Hare also ranked last in on-time departures in November 
2003, yielding on-time departures 66.94% of the time. The data for 
December 2003 reflected a similar performance by O'Hare--ranking last 
with 60.06% of arrivals on time and 67.23% of departures on time. 
Despite the high proportion of delayed flights, however, when the air 
carriers published their January and February 2004 schedules in the 
Official Airline Guide, the schedules revealed that the air carriers 
intended to add still more flight operations to O'Hare's schedule.
    In January 2004, the two air carriers conducting most of the 
scheduled operations at O'Hare--together accounting for about 88% of 
O'Hare's scheduled flights--agreed to a temporary 5% reduction of their 
proposed peak-hour schedules at the airport. When the voluntarily 
reduced schedules failed to reduce sufficiently O'Hare's congestion-
related flight delays, the two air carriers agreed to a further 2.5% 
reduction of their scheduled peak-hour operations at O'Hare. The FAA 
captured the voluntary schedule reductions in FAA orders, and the 
orders were effective through October 30, 2004.
    By the summer of 2004, it was apparent that the schedule reductions 
agreed to in the first half of the year, which were made by only two of 
the many air carriers conducting scheduled operations at O'Hare, were 
unlikely to be renewed after the orders expired on October 30. In the 
absence of a voluntary constraint, the industry's proposed schedules 
for November, as reported in the preliminary Official Airline Guide in 
July, reflected that the number of scheduled arrivals during several 
hours would approach or exceed O'Hare's highest possible arrival 
capacity. During one hour, the number of scheduled arrivals would have 
exceeded by 32% O'Hare's capacity under ideal conditions.
    Therefore, the FAA invited all scheduled air carriers to an August 
2004 scheduling reduction meeting to discuss overscheduling at O'Hare, 
voluntary schedule reductions, and retiming flights to less congested 
periods. The August meeting and subsequent negotiations led the FAA to 
issue the August 18 order, which limited the number of scheduled 
arrivals conducted by U.S. and Canadian air carriers at O'Hare during 
peak operating hours. The order also defined opportunities for new 
entry and for growth by limited incumbent air carriers at O'Hare. The 
order took effect November 1, 2004, and in the absence of an extension, 
it will expire on April 30, 2005.
    The flight limits implemented by the August 18 order have been 
effective. Preliminary data reflect that the voluntary schedule 
reductions and adjustments that the order implements have in the first 
three months yielded a 21% reduction in average arrival delay minutes 
at O'Hare when compared to the published August 2004 schedules. 
Comparing the operational data for O'Hare from November 2003 with that 
from November 2004, the voluntary schedule adjustments over that period 
have cumulatively resulted in an approximate 42% reduction in average 
arrival delay minutes.

Order To Show Cause

    The FAA is planning to issue soon a notice of proposed rulemaking 
to address, for a specified duration, scheduled operations at O'Hare. 
The notice would solicit public comment on a proposed regulation in a 
separate public docket associated with that rulemaking. After 
considering the comments received on the proposed rule, the FAA expects 
to issue a final rule that will address congestion-related delay at 
O'Hare. The rulemaking process would enable the FAA to adopt more 
refined measures for managing air traffic at O'Hare, but the FAA could 
not complete such a process before the August 18 order's current 
expiration date.
    To prevent a recurrence of overscheduling at O'Hare during the 
interim between the expiration of the August 18, 2004, order on April 
30 and, if adopted, the effective date of a rule, the FAA tentatively 
intends to extend the August 18 order. The limits on arrivals and 
allocation of arrival rights embodied in the August 18 order reflect 
the FAA's agreements with U.S. and Canadian air carriers. As a result, 
maintaining the order for an additional six months constitutes a 
reasonable approach for preventing unacceptable congestion and delays 
at O'Hare. The August 18 order, as extended, would expire on October 
31, 2005.
    The August 18 order does not include a mechanism to allocate any 
capacity that is unused by the air carrier to which it was assigned in 
the August 18 order. The FAA is specifically soliciting views on 
whether the FAA should allocate unused capacity under an extended order 
and, if so, how the FAA should allocate any such unused capacity.
    Accordingly, the FAA directs all interested persons to show cause 
why the FAA should not make final its tentative findings and tentative 
decision to extend the August 18 order through October 31, 2005, by 
filing their written views in Docket No. FAA-2004-16944 on or before 
February 24, 2005. The FAA does not intend this request for the views 
of interested persons to address the longer-term issues that will be 
considered in any forthcoming proposed rulemaking. Therefore, any 
submissions to the current docket should be limited to the issues 
specified in this order.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on February 10, 2005.
Rebecca MacPherson,
Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulation.
[FR Doc. 05-2927 Filed 2-10-05; 3:46 pm]
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