[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 235 (Wednesday, December 10, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 57138-57139]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-22415]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
14 CFR Part 259
[Docket No. DOT-OST-2025-2349]
RIN 2105-ZA50
Airline Customer Service Commitments for Controllable Flight
Disruptions: Unscheduled Maintenance in Response to FAA Airworthiness
Directives
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST), U.S.
Department of Transportation (Department or DOT).
ACTION: Notification of enforcement discretion.
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SUMMARY: On November 28, 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) issued Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) 2025-24-51
requiring airlines to replace or modify affected elevator aileron
computers (ELAC) used in certain Airbus aircraft. Due to the
significant impact of the EAD on the fleets of some U.S. airlines,
clarity was requested from the Department's Office of Aviation Consumer
Protection (OACP) regarding airlines' responsibility to provide
amenities such as meals and hotels for consumers affected by
cancellations or significant delays due to unscheduled maintenance
required to comply with the EAD. The largest U.S. airlines have
generally committed to provide free rebooking, hotel, and meals to
mitigate passenger inconveniences when the cause of a cancellation or
significant delay was due to circumstances within the airline's
control. This notice announces that as a matter of enforcement
discretion, OACP will not treat cancellations or lengthy delays
resulting from unscheduled maintenance in response to an airworthiness
directive that cannot be deferred or must be addressed before a flight
to be due to circumstances within airline control for the purposes of
these types of airlines customer service commitments.
DATES: This enforcement policy is effective December 10, 2025 and
remains in effect until further notice or conclusion of the
Department's rulemaking titled Revisions to Cause of Airline Delay
Categories (RIN 2105-AF29), whichever occurs first.
ADDRESSES: This notification of enforcement discretion may be viewed
online at www.regulations.gov using the docket number listed above.
Electronic retrieval help and guidelines are available on the website.
It is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. An electronic
copy of this document may also be downloaded from the Office of the
Federal Register' website at www.federalregister.gov and the Government
Publishing Office's website at www.GovInfo.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Wood or Blane Workie, Office of
Aviation Consumer Protection, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, 202-366-9342 (phone), 202-
366-7152 (fax), [email protected] (email).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department's regulations require the
largest U.S. airlines (Reporting Carriers) \1\ to collect and report to
the Department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) the causes
of airline delays in five broad categories--Air Carrier, National
Aviation System (NAS), Extreme Weather, Late-arriving Aircraft, and
Security.\2\ The categories for the causes of cancellation are the
same, except there is no Late-arriving Aircraft category.\3\ BTS has
published a Reporting Directive with a list of examples of causes for
delays and cancellations that it believes are within the control of the
air carrier.\4\ According to the BTS Reporting Directive, Reporting
Carriers must report maintenance issues using the Air Carrier causal
category.\5\ The regulations also provide that maintenance is a
circumstance within the control of the airline.\6\
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\1\ Reporting Carriers for calendar year 2025 are as follows:
Alaska Airlines, Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines,
Envoy Air, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways,
PSA Airlines, Republic Airways, SkyWest Airlines, Southwest
Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines. See 14 CFR 234.2;
BTS Technical Reporting Directive #39--Reporting Air Carriers for
Calendar Year 2025, Bureau of Transportation Statistics (Dec. 3,
2024), https://www.bts.gov/sites/bts.dot.gov/files/2024-12/Technical%20Directive%20No%20%2039%20On-Time%202025.pdf.
\2\ 14 CFR 234.4(a)(17) to (a)(21); 14 CFR 234.4(i).
\3\ 14 CFR 234.4(a)(16); 14 CFR 234.4(h).
\4\ See id, supra note 2, pages 27-28.
\5\ See id.
\6\ 14 CFR 234.4(h)(1) (``Air carrier cancellations are due to
circumstances that were within the control of the air carrier (e.g.,
lack of flight crew, maintenance, etc.).'').
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Airlines are also obligated to abide by their customer service
commitments, including the commitments the largest U.S. airlines have
made in their customer service plans that apply when cancellations or
lengthy delays are due to circumstances within the control of the
airline. The largest U.S. airlines that sell tickets have generally
committed to provide free rebooking, complimentary hotel
accommodations, and meals or meal vouchers to affected passengers in
these circumstances. The Department displays airline commitments
regarding services and compensation to mitigate passenger inconvenience
caused by a delay or cancellation due to circumstances within the
control of an airline on its online Airline Cancellation and Delay
Dashboard.\7\ The Department has aligned the ``controllable'' standard
for its dashboard with the Air Carrier causal category that airlines
use when reporting cancellations and delays to BTS. The FAA
Reauthorization Act of 2024 (2024 FAA Act) codified this approach in
statute.\8\
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\7\ Airline Cancellation and Delay Dashboard, https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/airline-cancellation-delay-dashboard.
\8\ FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, Public Law 118-63 (May 16,
2024). Section 506 of the Act added 49 U.S.C. 42308, which reads as
follows: ``The website on which such dashboard is displayed shall
explain the circumstances under which a delay or cancellation is not
due to circumstances in the control of the large air carrier . . .
consistent with section 234.4 of title 14, Code of Federal
Regulations.'' (emphasis added). 49 U.S.C. 42308(a)(2).
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BTS is currently engaged in rulemaking to update the causal
categories for reportable delays and cancellations, including removing
certain actions from the Air Carrier category, as required by section
511 of the 2024 FAA Act.\9\ One such circumstance that must be excluded
from the Air Carrier category is unscheduled maintenance.\10\ The
rulemaking will also address the creation of a new category for
tracking delays and cancellations due to instructions from the FAA air
traffic control system.\11\
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\9\ Revision to Cause of Airline Delay Categories (RIN: 2105-
AF29), https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202504&RIN=2105-AF29.
\10\ 2024 FAA Act, section 511(b)(7).
\11\ See id. at section 511(a).
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The Department is issuing this notice to address the question of
whether cancellations and delays due to an airline's compliance with
EAD 2025-24-51 \12\ should be considered within the control of an
airline given the congressional mandate to exclude unscheduled
maintenance from the air carrier category. Section 511(b) of the 2024
FAA Act states that ``[u]nscheduled maintenance, including in response
to an airworthiness
[[Page 57139]]
directive, manifesting outside a scheduled maintenance program that
cannot be deferred or must be addressed before flight'' is a cause that
``shall not'' be included in the Air Carrier reporting category.
Cancellations and delays due to compliance with EAD 2025-24-51 fall
within the carve-out from the Air Carrier category described in section
511(b) because the EAD required unscheduled maintenance that could not
be deferred. Therefore, as a matter of enforcement policy, OACP will
not take action against airlines that do not provide services,
amenities, or compensation promised in their customer service plans to
mitigate passenger inconvenience from controllable flight disruptions
in instances when flights are delayed or cancelled due to unscheduled
maintenance in response to an airworthiness directive that cannot be
deferred or must be addressed before flight such as was the case with
EAD 2025-24-51.
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\12\ See Federal Aviation Administration EAD No. 2025-24-51
(Nov. 28, 2025), https://drs.faa.gov/browse/excelExternalWindow/DRSDOCID170146585920251129034243.0001.
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Regardless of this statement of enforcement discretion, the
Department recognizes that airlines will often go beyond what is
required by law to care for customers and may still choose to provide
meals, hotels, free rebooking, and other amenities to passengers
affected by flight disruptions voluntarily as a matter of good customer
relations. To determine whether a flight disruption was due to
unscheduled maintenance to comply with an airworthiness directive that
cannot be deferred or must be addressed before flight like EAD 2025-24-
51, OACP would consider whether the delay or cancellation would have
occurred but for the actions taken to comply with the EAD. We note
that, consistent with current DOT regulations and the BTS Reporting
Directive, the Department expects airlines to report cancellations and
delays due to compliance with EAD 2025-24-51 in the Air Carrier
category.
This notice represents guidance and is not meant to bind the
airlines in any way. It also does not prejudge the outcome of the
Department's rulemaking titled Revisions to Airline Cause of Delay
Categories (RIN 2105-AF29). The notice is intended to address the
operational difficulties resulting from airline compliance with a
departmental safety rule of immediate applicability and effect, and to
clarify existing legal requirements and the Department's enforcement
priorities. It will not be relied upon by the Department as a separate
basis for affirmative enforcement action or other administrative
penalty.
Issued on December 5, 2025, in Washington, DC, under authority
delegated in 49 CFR 1.27(n):
Gregory Zerzan,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2025-22415 Filed 12-9-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P