[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 165 (Monday, August 30, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48466-48468]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-18768]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

[Docket No. FAA-2021-0067]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Requests for Comments; 
Clearance of Renewed Approval of Information Collection: High Density 
Traffic Airports; Slot Allocation and Transfer Methods.

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FAA 
invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) approval to renew an information 
collection. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period 
soliciting comments on the following collection of information was 
published on March 16, 2021. The FAA collects information from U.S. and 
foreign air carriers holding or requesting a slot at Ronald Reagan 
Washington National Airport (DCA), John F. Kennedy International 
Airport (JFK), and LaGuardia Airport (LGA); operating or requesting 
scheduled flights at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Los 
Angeles International Airport (LAX), O'Hare International Airport 
(ORD), and San Francisco International Airport (SFO); and conducting 
unscheduled operations at DCA and LGA. The information collected is 
necessary to support the advance management of air traffic demand by 
the FAA Slot Administration in an effort to reduce potential delays. 
The FAA proposes renaming this information collection to ``FAA Runway 
Slot Administration and Schedule Analysis'' to more accurately reflect 
the collection of information related to multiple airports subject to 
different FAA regulatory and voluntary processes under this program.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted by September 29, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Gonabe, FAA Slot 
Administration, by email at: [email protected]; phone: (609) 485-
9554.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for FAA's performance; (b) the 
accuracy of the estimated burden; (c) ways for FAA to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information collection; and (d) 
ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of 
the collected information.
    OMB Control Number: 2120-0524.
    Title: High Density Traffic Airports; Slot Allocation and Transfer 
Methods.
    Form Numbers: There are no FAA forms associated with this 
collection.
    Type of Review: Renewal of an information collection.
    Background: The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment 
period soliciting comments on the following collection of information 
was published on March 16, 2021 (86 FR 14515). The FAA has implemented 
several initiatives to address air traffic congestion and delay at 
certain airports within the National Airspace System (NAS). DCA slot 
rules are established under 14 CFR part 93, subparts K and S. The FAA 
has issued Orders limiting operations at JFK and LGA.\1\ These Orders 
resulted from increasing congestion and delays at the airports 
requiring the FAA to allocate arrival and departure slots at JFK and 
LGA. In addition, the FAA has designated EWR, LAX, ORD, and SFO as 
Level 2 schedule-facilitated airports under the IATA Worldwide Slot 
Guidelines (WSG) now known as the Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines 
(WASG).\2\ At Level 2 airports, the FAA seeks the cooperation of all 
carriers planning operations, on a voluntary basis, to maintain close 
communications on runway schedules and facilitate adjustments, as 
needed.
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    \1\ Operating Limitations at John F. Kennedy International 
Airport, 73 FR 3510 (Jan. 18, 2008), as most recently amended 85 FR 
58258 (Sep. 18, 2020); Operating Limitations at New York LaGuardia 
Airport, 71 FR 77854 (Dec. 27, 2006), as most recently amended 85 FR 
58255 (Sep. 18, 2020).
    \2\ Notice of Submission Deadline for Schedule Information for 
O'Hare International, John F. Kennedy International, and Newark 
Liberty International Airports for the Summer 2009 Scheduling 
Season, 73 FR 54659 (Sept. 22, 2008); Notice of Submission Deadline 
for Schedule Information for San Francisco International Airport for 
the Summer 2012 Scheduling Season, 76 FR 64163 (Oct. 17, 2011); 
Notice of Submission Deadline for Schedule Information for Los 
Angeles International Airport for the Summer 2015 Scheduling Season 
80 FR 12253 (Mar. 6, 2015); Notice of Change of Newark Liberty 
International Airport Designation, 81 FR 19861 (Apr. 6, 2016). The 
FAA most recently reaffirmed the Level 2 designations by 86 FR 24428 
(May 6, 2021). These designations remain effective until the FAA 
announces a change in the Federal Register.
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    At DCA, U.S. and foreign air carriers, including commuter 
operators, must notify the FAA of: (1) Written consent and requests for 
confirmation of slot transfers; (2) slots required to be returned and 
slots voluntarily returned; (3) requests to be included in a lottery 
for the permanent allocation of available slots; (4) reports on usage 
of slots on a bi-monthly basis; and (5) requests for slots in low-
demand hours or other temporary allocations. Operators must obtain a 
reservation from the FAA prior to conducting an unscheduled operation. 
At LGA, U.S. and foreign air carriers must notify the FAA of: (1) 
Written consent and requests for confirmation of slot transfers; (2) 
slots required to be returned and slots voluntarily returned; (3) 
requests to be included in a lottery for the permanent allocation of 
available slots; and (4) reports usage of slots on a bi-monthly basis. 
Carriers must also request and obtain a reservation from the FAA prior 
to conducting an unscheduled operation. At JFK, U.S. and foreign air 
carriers must notify the FAA of: (1) Written consent and requests for 
confirmation of slot transfers; (2) requests for seasonal allocation of 
historic and additional available slots; (3) reports on usage of slots 
on a seasonal basis; (4) the return of slots; and (5) changes to 
allocated slots. At EWR, LAX, ORD, and SFO, all carriers are asked to 
notify the FAA of their intended operating schedules during

[[Page 48467]]

designated hours on a semiannual basis (for each winter and summer 
scheduling season) based on the IATA WASG Calendar of Coordination 
Activities and provide updates throughout the year when there are 
significant schedule changes.
    The FAA estimates that all information from carriers is submitted 
electronically from data stored in carrier scheduling and operational 
databases. Requests for unscheduled flight reservations are submitted 
electronically via the internet. The FAA also proposes to re-name the 
collection to ``FAA Runway Slot Administration and Schedule Analysis'' 
to more accurately reflect the collection of information related to 
multiple airports subject to different FAA regulatory and voluntary 
processes.
    Summary of Comments: On April 5, 2021, the FAA received an email 
from Airlines for America (A4A) requesting further supporting 
information for the FAA's March 16, 2021, 60-day notice. Specifically 
A4A requested the estimates used to derive the total annual burden of 
5602.6 hours expressed in the March 16, 2021, notice. In response, the 
FAA placed a summary of communication and draft detailed annual hourly 
burden tables to the docket.\3\
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    \3\ See FAA-2021-0067-0002.
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    The FAA received three comments during the 60-day comment period 
from Exhaustless Inc., Eastern Airlines, LLC (Eastern), and A4A. 
Exhaustless, Inc. objects to this information collection and questions 
the FAA's legal authority to manage slots and schedules at constrained 
airports in the United States. Comments submitted by Exhaustless, Inc. 
are outside the scope of this Paperwork Reduction Act proceeding. The 
purpose of this proceeding is to update the Agency's estimates of the 
information collection burden associated with established FAA rules, 
regulations, orders, policy and processes associated with the FAA's 
administration of runway slots and schedule review at affected airports 
in the United States. However, the FAA nevertheless reiterates that the 
FAA Administrator is required to ``develop plans and policy for the use 
of the navigable airspace and assign by regulation or order the use of 
the airspace necessary to ensure the safety of aircraft and the 
efficient use of airspace,'' and to issue regulations for ``using the 
navigable airspace efficiently.'' 49 U.S.C. 40103(b). The FAA's 
administration of the runway slot program, including the establishment 
of runway schedule limits and facilitation of schedules at Level 2 
airports, is adopted under the Administrator's mandate to efficiently 
manage the NAS.
    Eastern supports the information collection and ``provides its 
recommendations to maximize the public benefit including: (1) 
Collecting information about the size of aircraft used in each slot; 
(2) collecting additional information on slot trades and transfers 
including consideration provided; (3) publishing slot administration 
reports in a machine-readable format; and (4) harmonizing slot 
administration data collection and reporting on a bi-monthly basis.''
    Eastern's recommendations for collecting the size of the aircraft 
used in each slot, collecting additional information on slot trades and 
transfers including consideration provided, and harmonizing slot 
administration data collection and reporting among all the FAA slot 
controlled airports on a bi-monthly basis are suggestions that are also 
outside the scope of this Paperwork Reduction Act proceeding. These 
recommendations do not relate to the burden associated with existing 
rules and policy in effect and instead, would require changes to the 
existing rules, orders and policies currently in effect. Eastern's 
recommendation that FAA should publish slot administration reports in a 
machine-readable format is valuable feedback, though unrelated to the 
collection of information. The FAA currently publishes slot holder and 
operator reports, and uneven transfer reports in a PDF file format at 
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/systemops/perf_analysis/slot_administration/data/ and 
intends to review options for publishing additional data in a more 
accessible format for data analysis by interested stakeholders.
    A4A's comment ``requests a different and simplified information 
collection process for managing the slot holdings of carriers with 
combined inventory and marketing control to drastically reduce 
information collection burdens.'' Essentially, A4A proposes 
programmatic changes to allow mainline and regional carriers to 
transfer slots among one another without requiring notification of each 
individual transfer to the FAA. A4A also asserts that FAA has 
underestimated the burden associated with transfers and provided data 
that they believe more accurately reflects the volume of transfers and 
associated burden. A4A indicates it ``conducted a survey of members to 
determine the actual number of slot transfers between operating and 
marketing carriers at DCA, LGA, and JFK for the month of July 2019, and 
found there were 36,180 such slot transfers. There were 14,125 slot 
transfers at DCA, 14,897 slot transfers at LGA, and 7,158 slot 
transfers at JFK, this is aggregated data, not estimates.'' Using the 
FAA's estimate of 6 minutes per slot transfer, A4A comments ``this 
results in 3,618 hours for the month of July 2019 or an annual burden 
of 43,416 hours or more than 770% of FAA's burden estimate.'' A4A 
asserts that this data further supports a change in the process for how 
transfers are managed because both FAA and carriers could benefit from 
reduced burden.
    The FAA has reviewed the data presented by A4A as aggregated from 
information on actual transfers provided by its members. For July 2019, 
the data is generally consistent with the number of FAA slot transfers 
in effect during that month between carriers with combined inventory 
and marketing control. The A4A data is also generally consistent with 
published flight schedules when looking at the breakdown between the 
marketing and operating carriers. The large disparity between the FAA 
and A4A estimates appears to be a result of A4A using a different 
methodology for determining the volume of transfer requests submitted 
to the FAA.
    The A4A calculations appear to consider each day that a slot 
transfer is in effect as a unique transfer that creates a unique 
burden-producing event with associated costs. Under the methodology 
used by A4A, the transfer of a daily slot for the entire month of July 
2019 at a single airport would create 31 unique burdens. The transfer 
of the daily slot extrapolated on an annual basis would have created 
365 unique burdens in 2019. The FAA does not agree with the methodology 
or burden estimates as proposed by A4A as it does not reflect how slot 
transfers between carriers under combined inventory and marketing 
control or those between other carriers are typically submitted to the 
FAA. Most slot transfers are not submitted by carriers to the FAA for 
single effective dates but rather for longer periods. The most common 
effective dates are for several weeks, months, or for all or most of a 
scheduling season. The FAA considers each slot transfer request from 
carriers, as well as the FAA reply, as a burden-producing event rather 
than the number of days in which a transfer is effective.
    A4A's requested change for a different and simplified information 
collection process for managing the slot holdings of carriers with 
combined inventory and marketing control is outside the scope of

[[Page 48468]]

this Paperwork Reduction Act proceeding. Rather, as the FAA has 
previously stated, implementing such a change would require rulemaking 
at DCA and a substantive change to the Orders Limiting Operations, in 
effect at JFK and LGA.\4\
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    \4\ See FAA's January 29, 2018 Response to Delta Air Lines 
Request for Transfer Process Change, a copy has been included in the 
docket for this proceeding.
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    Respondents: 119 unique carriers; unknown number of operators 
conducting unscheduled operations at LGA and DCA.
    Frequency: Information is collected as needed; some reporting on 
bimonthly or semiannual basis.
    Estimated Average Burden per Response: 6 minutes per slot 
transaction per respondent (i.e. transferor and transferee); 6 minutes 
per slot return; 6 minutes per schedule update; 6 minutes per request 
for inclusion in a lottery; 2 minutes per unscheduled slot request; 1.5 
hours per schedule submission; and 1 hour per slot usage report.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 5,602.6 hours.

    Issued in Washington, DC on August 26, 2021.
Matthew S. Gonabe,
Program Specialist, FAA Slot Administration.
[FR Doc. 2021-18768 Filed 8-26-21; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P