[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 29 (Monday, February 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9906-9908]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-02472]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
[OST Docket No. 2012-0028]
Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, as
amended, this notice announces the Department of Transportation's (DOT)
Office of Aviation Consumer Protection's (OACP) intention to request
the reinstatement of an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control
number for the collection of emergency contingency plans for tarmac
delays from U.S. carriers and U.S. airports as required by the FAA
Modernization and Reform Act. On February 23, 2017, OMB issued a DOT
control number 2105-0566 authorizing these collections of information
related to the submission by U.S. carriers and U.S. airports of tarmac
delay contingency plans for review and approval by the DOT, as well as
the public posting of those plans. The control number expired on
February 29, 2020.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by April 12, 2024.
Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding this
proposal.
ADDRESSES: To ensure that you do not duplicate your docket submissions,
please submit them by only one of the following means:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building Ground Floor
Room W-12/140, Washington, DC 20590-0001;
Hand Delivery: West Building Ground Floor, Room W-12/140,
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone number is 202-366-9329.
Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket
number DOT-OST-2010-0211 at the beginning of your comment. All comments
received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov,
including any personal information provided.
Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of all
comments received in any of our dockets by the
[[Page 9907]]
name of the individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment,
if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.).
You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act statement in the Federal
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78), or you may visit
www.dot.gov/privacy.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background
documents or comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and
follow the online instructions for accessing the docket.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daeleen Chesley, Office of the
Secretary, Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (C-70), U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC
20590, at [email protected] (Email) or (202) 366-6792.
Arrangements to receive this document in an alternative format may be
made by contacting the above-named individual.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FAA Modernization and Reform Act (Act),
which was signed into law on February 14, 2012, requires U.S. carriers
that operate scheduled passenger service or public charter service
using any aircraft with a design capacity of 30 or more seats, and
operators of large hub, medium hub, small hub, or non-hub U.S.
airports, to submit emergency contingency plans for lengthy tarmac
delays to the Secretary of Transportation for review and approval. In
addition to requiring the initial submission of emergency contingency
plans, the Act requires U.S. air carriers to submit an updated plan
every 3 years and U.S. airport operators to submit an updated plan
every 5 years. The Act further requires each covered carrier and
airport to ensure public access to its plan after DOT approval by
posting the plan on its website.
DOT has an online system allowing covered U.S. air carriers and
U.S. airports to submit plans online.\1\ On June 2, 2015, DOT published
a 60-day FR Notice to renew/reinstate the OMB control number (80 FR
31455) and on June 17, 2016, a 30-day FR notice was published (81 FR
39750). On February 23, 2017, OMB reinstated the OMB control number,
which expired on February 29, 2020. DOT is issuing this 60-day notice
to reinstate the OMB control number.\2\
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\1\ OACP is modernizing its consumer complaints database to
provide a more efficient means for air carriers and airports to
submit their plans. Should the submission process change prior to
the date plans are due, OACP will give covered entities advance
notice of the revised procedure for plan submission.
\2\ We note that the information collection requirements are
specifically required by statute and are not imposed as an exercise
of the DOT's discretion.
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The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and its implementing
regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, require Federal agencies to issue two
notices, a 60-day notice followed by a 30-day notice, seeking public
comment on information collection activities before OMB may approve
paperwork packages. A Federal agency generally cannot conduct or
sponsor a collection of information, and the public is generally not
required to respond to an information collection, unless it is approved
by the OMB under the PRA and displays a currently valid OMB Control
Number. In addition, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no
person shall generally be subject to monetary penalty for failing to
comply with a collection of information if the collection of
information does not display a valid OMB Control Number. See 5 CFR
1320.5(a) and 1320.6.
For each of these information collections, the title, a description
of the respondents, and an estimate of the annual recordkeeping and
periodic reporting burden are set forth below:
1. Requirement to submit tarmac delay contingency plan to DOT for
review and approval.
Title: Filing of Tarmac Delay Contingency Plan to DOT.
Respondents: Each large, medium, small and non-hub airport in the
U.S.; U.S. carriers that operate scheduled passenger service or public
charter service using any aircraft with a design capacity of 30 or more
seats.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 391 U.S. airports \3\ and 76 U.S.
airlines.\4\
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\3\ Based on FAA CY22 information, there are 31 large, 33
medium, 73 small, and 254 non-hub covered airports. See, https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2023-09/cy22-commercial-service-enplanements.pdf.
\4\ The number of covered airlines was calculated using current
data provided to OACP by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics
(BTS).
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Frequency: Every 5 years for covered U.S. airports; every 3 years
for covered U.S. airlines.
Estimated Total Burden on Respondents:
For U.S. airports--195.5 hours (391 existing airports x .5 hours =
195.5 hours). This estimate is based on the following facts/
assumptions: Tarmac delay plans for submission are general in nature
and do not consist of extensive airport-specific customization. Airport
associations prepared templates for use by U.S. airports which require
very little additional information to be customized for individual
airports and have been the templates for most of the airport plans
submitted. For U.S. airports that have already prepared and submitted a
plan and will continue to be subject to this requirement, they will
need to review and update the plan through the DOT's electronic
submission system. We estimate .5 hour for these 391 airports to
review, update, and submit the plan through the DOT's electronic
submission system.\5\
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\5\ The total number of airports required to submit plans has
decreased from 401 to 391 (-10 airports). The burden is calculated
with the assumption that no new airports need to submit a plan.
However, if there are any new airports that are required to submit a
plan, the burden estimate for such an airport would be two hours.
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For U.S. airlines--54.5 hours [(65 existing carriers x .5 hours =
32.5 hours) + (11 new carrier x 2 hours = 22 hours) = 54.5 hours].
Although airlines often choose to prepare more detailed plans for
internal use, airline plans for submission generally are not very
detailed and provide only the level of information required to meet the
statutory requirement. In addition, currently operating U.S. carriers
are already required to have such plans in place as this is a
continuing requirement and the statute has been in place since 2012.
Therefore, we estimate that the 65 covered U.S. carriers will spend .5
hour to review, update, and submit the plan through the DOT's
electronic submission system. For the 11 carriers that had not prepared
and submitted a plan to meet the requirement in 2017, we estimate 2
hours to review and prepare the templates, and to submit the plan
through the DOT's electronic submission system.\6\
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\6\ Based on CY 2022 information provided by the Bureau of
Transportation Statistics (BTS), the number of covered carriers that
must submit plans increased from 65 to 76 (+11 carriers). As such,
the estimated burden for U.S. carriers has slightly increased.
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2. Requirement to ensure public access to tarmac delay plan after
DOT approval (as required by the Act).
Title: Posting of Tarmac Delay Contingency Plan on websites.
Respondents: Each large, medium, small and non-hub airport in the
U.S.; U.S. carriers that operate scheduled passenger service or public
charter service operating to or from the United States, using any
aircraft with a design capacity of 30 or more seats.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 391 U.S. airports and 76 U.S.
airlines.
Estimated Total Frequency: Every 5 years for covered U.S. airports;
every 3 years for covered U.S. airlines (if not already posted or if
there are updates).
Burden on Respondents: 116.75 hours [(391 airports x .25 hours =
97.75 hours) + (76 airlines x .25 hours = 19 hours) =
[[Page 9908]]
116.75 hours]. We estimate that the time to upload a plan to a website
is 15 minutes as covered U.S. carriers and airports are already
required to have such plans in place and plans are generally short and
do not take long to upload.
We invite comments on (a) whether the collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the DOT,
including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the
accuracy of the DOT's estimate of the burden of the proposed
information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and
clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize
the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including
the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of
information technology. All responses to this notice will be summarized
and included in the request for OMB approval. All comments will also
become a matter of public record on the docket.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter
35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.26, 1.27, 1.48 and 1.49; DOT Order
1351.29.
Signed in Washington, DC, on this 1st day of February 2024,
under authority delegated at 49 U.S.C. 1.27(n).
Livaughn Chapman Jr.,
Deputy Assistant General Counsel for the Office of Aviation Consumer
Protection.
[FR Doc. 2024-02472 Filed 2-9-24; 8:45 am]
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