[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 97 (Friday, May 17, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 43309-43311]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-10319]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 93


Runway Closure-Related Scheduling Relief Concerning Operations at 
San Francisco International Airport, Newark Liberty International 
Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Los Angeles 
International Airport, and John F. Kennedy International Airport, 
January 15, 2024, Through July 15, 2024

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of 
Transportation.

ACTION: Notification of limited waiver of slot usage requirement and 
limited scheduling relief.

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SUMMARY: This notification announces a limited, conditional policy for 
prioritizing returned operations at San Francisco International Airport 
(SFO) due to a construction-related runway closure at SFO for purposes 
of establishing a carrier's operational baseline in the next 
corresponding scheduling seasons. In addition, the FAA will provide 
similar limited, conditional relief at Newark Liberty International 
Airport (EWR), Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), and Los 
Angeles International Airport (LAX) under the FAA's Level 2 schedule 
facilitation process as well as a limited, conditional waiver of 
minimum usage requirements at John F. Kennedy International Airport 
(JFK) for impacted flights between SFO and the listed airports.

DATES: The limited waiver of slot usage requirement and limited 
scheduling relief in this notification are effective May 17, 2024, and 
applicable from January 15, 2024, through July 15, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Requests may be submitted by mail to the Slot Administration 
Office, System Operations Services, AJR-0, Room 300W, 800 Independence 
Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20591, or by email to: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions concerning this 
notification contact: Al Meilus, Capacity and Slot Analysis, FAA ATO 
System Operations Services, AJR-G5, Federal Aviation Administration, 
800 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20591; telephone 202-267-
2822; email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The relief provided enables carriers to 
return operations at SFO during the construction periods of the Winter 
2023/2024 and Summer 2024 scheduling seasons without unduly impacting 
schedules in subsequent seasons.\1\ Reducing operations will help 
prevent delays, optimize the efficient use of the airport's available 
resources, and deliver passengers to their destinations more reliably 
and on time.
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    \1\ For the purposes of this notification, a ``returned 
operation'' is any planned operation included in the initially 
approved schedules that a carrier moved or will not operate due to 
the effort to reach the targeted reduced schedule throughout the 
construction period at SFO. If a carrier elected to move an 
operation, the operation was rescheduled outside of peak demand 
hours or hours adjacent to peak demand as detailed in this 
notification.
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Background

    SFO is rehabilitating one of its four runways, Runway 10R/28L, to 
maintain runway operability; to construct a new taxiway to improve 
operational efficiency; and to realign an existing taxiway to rectify 
deficiencies with current SFO geometry. Runway 10R/28L is one of two 
parallel runways oriented in the east-west direction and is used as a 
primary arrival runway and a secondary departure runway. The 
construction will cause the continuous closure of Runway 10R/28L from 
January 15, 2024, through June 30, 2024.
    On October 26, 2023, the FAA held an initial meeting with all the 
carriers that have scheduled operations at SFO. The FAA gave a 
presentation on the expected impact of the construction project on 
operations at SFO and recommended a reduction in operations to 
alleviate potential delays and cancellations. SFO initially planned for 
the project to occur in two phases: Phase 1 planned for January 16, 
2024, through May 28, 2024; and Phase 2 planned for September 3, 2024, 
through October 25, 2024.
    On December 14, 2023, the FAA and SFO held a joint meeting with all 
the carriers that have scheduled operations at SFO. SFO announced that 
Phase 2 had been rescheduled to begin on May 29, 2024, and end on June 
30, 2024. This change allows the construction to be condensed into one 
continuous block of time from January 15, 2024, through June 30, 2024.
    At both meetings, the FAA requested that carriers voluntarily 
return operations. Carriers were asked to make initial returns by 
November 2, 2023, for the affected portion of the winter scheduling 
season; and by January 11, 2024, for the affected portion of the summer 
2024 scheduling season. The FAA subsequently determined that relief 
granted for the construction period should extend beyond the 
construction period by an additional 15 days to accommodate carriers 
resuming normal scheduled operations.
    The FAA has designated SFO, EWR, ORD, and LAX as Level 2 airports 
under the Worldwide Slot Guidelines (WSG).\2\ The FAA does not allocate 
slots, apply historic precedence, or impose minimum usage requirements 
at SFO. Level 2 schedule facilitation depends upon close and continuous 
discussions and voluntary agreement between airlines and the FAA to 
reduce congestion. At Level 2 airports, the FAA generally provides 
priority consideration for flights approved by the FAA and operated by 
the carrier in those approved times in the prior scheduling season when 
the FAA reviews proposed flights for facilitation in the next 
corresponding scheduling season. Only those flights that were actually 
operated as approved in the prior scheduling season would generally 
receive priority for the next corresponding scheduling season. However, 
the FAA notes that the usual Level 2 processes include flexibility for 
the facilitator to prioritize planned flights, which are canceled in 
advance or on the day of the scheduled operation due to operational 
impacts that are beyond the control of the carrier.
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    \2\ The FAA generally applies the WSG to the extent there is no 
conflict with U.S. law or regulation. The FAA recognizes the WSG has 
been replaced by the Worldwide Airports Slot Guidelines (WASG) 
edition 1, effective June 1, 2020, and subsequently WASG edition 2, 
effective July 1, 2022. The WASG is published jointly by Airports 
Council International-World, IATA, and the Worldwide Airport 
Coordinators Group (WWACG). While the FAA is considering whether to 
implement certain changes to the Guidelines in the United States, it 
will continue to apply WSG edition 9.
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    At JFK, each slot must be used a minimum of 80 percent of the 
time.\3\ Slot usage at JFK is calculated seasonally. Slots not meeting 
the minimum usage requirement will not receive historic status for the 
following equivalent scheduling season.\4\ The FAA may waive the 80 
percent minimum usage requirement if a highly unusual and unpredictable 
condition beyond the control of the slot-holding air carrier affects 
carrier operations for

[[Page 43310]]

a period of five consecutive days or more at JFK.\5\
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    \3\ Operating Limitations at John F. Kennedy International 
Airport, 87 FR 65161 at 65162 (Oct. 28, 2022); Operating Limitations 
at New York LaGuardia Airport, 87 FR 65159 at 65160 (Oct. 28, 2022); 
14 CFR 93.227(a).
    \4\ Operating Limitations at John F. Kennedy International 
Airport, 87 FR 65161 at 65162 (Oct. 28, 2022).
    \5\ Operating Limitations at John F. Kennedy International 
Airport, 87 FR 65161 at 65163 (Oct. 28, 2022); Operating Limitations 
at New York LaGuardia Airport, 87 FR 65159 at 65160 (Oct. 28, 2022); 
14 CFR 93.227(j).
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FAA Analysis

    Due to the daily volume of flights arriving and departing SFO, the 
closure of Runway 10R/28L is expected to significantly affect carriers' 
ability to operate reliably and on time. Absent increased scheduling 
flexibility during the construction period, the FAA anticipates a high 
likelihood of congestion, delays, and cancellations at SFO, with 
related impact at EWR, ORD, LAX, and JFK. The runway closure is 
expected to impact carrier operations at SFO especially in the the peak 
demand hours of 0900, 1200, 1500, 1700, 1800, 2000, and 2100 hours.
    The FAA modeled two scenarios of the expected delays at SFO for 
Phase 1 and Phase 2 respectively: one scenario without any mitigation 
measures, and one scenario with arrival limit mitigation measures in 
place. The mitigation measures incorporate Air Traffic Control (ATC) 
data used to assess capacity at SFO throughout the construction period. 
These mitigation measures align with the number of operations that ATC 
finds to be sustainable during the runway closure, while accounting for 
the differing arrival demand profiles in Phase 1 and Phase 2.
    Phase 1 of the construction requires a total closure of Runway 10R/
28L, with Taxiways D and T partially affected. As such, for the 
scenario without any mitigation measures, the FAA estimates 
approximately 78% of total arrivals would be delayed by an average of 
49 minutes per arrival. These arrival delays would be unrecoverable 
throughout the day.
    The FAA then modeled a scenario that limited the arrivals to no 
more than 30 per hour throughout the day, except for the 0900, 1200, 
1500, 1700, 1800, 2000, and 2100 hours where the arrival limit is 
increased to no more than 35 per hour. This is because Phase 1 arrival 
demand varies by hour, with peak arrival demand exceeding 35 per hour, 
and off-peak arrival demand decreasing in some hours to under 25 
arrivals per hour. Given that the capacity of the airport is limited to 
30 arrivals per hour on average, the target arrival limits are set by 
hour to accommodate variable hourly arrival demand, with an ability to 
recover in adjacent hours. With this mitigation measure in place, the 
FAA estimates that approximately 52% of total arrivals will experience 
an average delay of about 21 minutes per arrival.
    Phase 2 of the construction requires the total closure of Runway 
10R/28L and Taxiways D and T. As such, for the scenario without any 
mitigation measures, the FAA estimates approximately 90% of total 
arrivals would be delayed by an average of 87.6 minutes per arrival. 
The consequences of arrival delays of over two hours would result in 89 
arrival cancellations per day.\6\ These arrival delays are expected to 
be unrecoverable throughout the day.
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    \6\ The FAA's delay model assumes that when estimated delay 
becomes greater than 2 hours, an airline will cancel the operation.
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    The FAA also modeled a scenario that limited the arrivals to no 
more than 27 per hour throughout the day. This is because for Phase 2 
the hourly arrival demand exceeds the airport's arrival capacity in 
every hour; therefore, the target scheduling limit is set to the 
airport's arrival capacity for every hour throughout the day. With this 
mitigation measure in place, the FAA estimates that approximately 24% 
of total arrivals will experience an average delay of approximately 
10.4 minutes per arrival.
    After assessing these scenarios, the FAA determined that the 
mitigation measures for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 will balance efficient 
and timely operations at SFO during the construction period and limit 
the impact on carrier's scheduled operations for the convenience of the 
flying public. Although the potential for significant delays may still 
occur on late evenings during high-traffic days, the majority of 
operating hours will be manageable throughout the day during the 
construction period.

Decision

    The FAA has determined that the construction and resulting runway 
closure at SFO warrants limited, conditional schedule relief because 
the impacts to operations are beyond the carriers' control and will 
persist for several months during 2024.
    For Phase 1, the FAA requests that carriers reduce operations in 
the 0900, 1200, 1500, 1700, 1800, 2000, and 2100 hours to no more than 
35 arrivals in each of these hours, without moving operations into the 
adjacent hours. The adjacent hours are heavily subscribed with 
departures, limiting the ability to move arrivals from peak hours into 
the adjacent hours. Because the current scheduled arrival demand at SFO 
for each of those hours is well above 35 arrivals,\7\ doing so would 
result in a reduction of about 55 to 60 operations on peak days during 
the construction period, depending on the day/week/month.
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    \7\ 0900 hour has an arrival demand of 52. 1500 hour has an 
arrival demand of 39. 2100 hour has an arrival demand of 42.
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    For Phase 2, the FAA requests that carriers reduce operations to no 
more than 27 arrivals per hour, without moving operations into the 
adjacent hours. Because the current scheduled arrival demand at SFO for 
each of those hours is well above 27 arrivals, doing so would result in 
a reduction of about 140 operations on peak days during the 
construction period, depending on the day or week or month.
    The FAA is not limiting the relief to specific hours in order to 
provide some degree of flexibility to carriers to allow them to balance 
schedules and slot pairs. The FAA will continue to work with carriers 
on retiming and schedule adjustment options throughout the construction 
period as needed.
    This relief is effective from January 15, 2024, through July 15, 
2024. This provides some time before and after the currently planned 
runway closure dates to accommodate potential changes to the 
construction schedule, and provide carriers that may need some relief 
on either side of the current anticipated construction dates to phase 
in or phase out current operations.
    In addition, the FAA is extending a limited, conditional waiver 
from minimum usage requirements at JFK for departure slots for nonstop 
service to SFO, and providing similar relief at EWR, LAX, and ORD under 
the Level 2 process for approved schedules associated with a SFO 
departures for nonstop service to these U.S. airports. Carriers may 
also choose to use those slots at JFK and or the approved runway times 
at EWR, LAX, and ORD for operations to airports other than SFO.
    For the duration of the construction period, the FAA will recognize 
priority of approved schedules or the historical precedence of related 
slots, subject to the following conditions.
    1. Slots or approved schedules for initial use in the Winter 2023/
2024 scheduling season are not eligible for relief. Slots or schedules 
approved for initial use in the Summer 2024 scheduling season are not 
eligible for relief.
    2. Slots granted historic precedence for subsequent seasons based 
on this relief are not eligible for transfer if the slot holder ceases 
all operations at the airport.


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    Issued in Washington, DC, on May 2, 2024.
Alyce Hood-Fleming,
Vice President, System Operations Services.
[FR Doc. 2024-10319 Filed 5-16-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P