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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 41714. Availability of slots
(a) Making Slots Available for Essential Air Service. -
(1) Operational authority. - If basic essential air service
under subchapter II of this chapter is to be provided from an
eligible point to a high density airport (other than Ronald
Reagan Washington National Airport), the Secretary of
Transportation shall ensure that the air carrier providing or
selected to provide such service has sufficient operational
authority at the high density airport to provide such service.
The operational authority shall allow flights at reasonable times
taking into account the needs of passengers with connecting
flights.
(2) Exemptions. - If necessary to carry out the objectives of
paragraph (1), the Secretary shall by order grant exemptions from
the requirements of subparts K and S of part 93 of title 14, Code
of Federal Regulations (pertaining to slots at high density
airports), to air carriers using Stage 3 aircraft or to commuter
air carriers, unless such an exemption would significantly
increase operational delays.
(3) Assurance of access. - If the Secretary finds that an
exemption under paragraph (2) would significantly increase
operational delays, the Secretary shall take such action as may
be necessary to ensure that an air carrier providing or selected
to provide basic essential air service is able to obtain access
to a high density airport.
(4) Action by the secretary. - The Secretary shall issue a
final order under this subsection on or before the 60th day after
receiving a request from an air carrier for operational authority
under this subsection.
(b) Slots for Foreign Air Transportation. -
(1) Exemptions. - If the Secretary finds it to be in the public
interest at a high density airport (other than Ronald Reagan
Washington National Airport), the Secretary may grant by order
exemptions from the requirements of subparts K and S of part 93
of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (pertaining to slots at
high density airports), to enable air carriers and foreign air
carriers to provide foreign air transportation using Stage 3
aircraft.
(2) Slot withdrawals. - The Secretary may not withdraw a slot
at Chicago O'Hare International Airport from an air carrier in
order to allocate that slot to a carrier to provide foreign air
transportation.
(3) Equivalent rights of access. - The Secretary shall not take
a slot at a high density airport from an air carrier and award
such slot to a foreign air carrier if the Secretary determines
that air carriers are not provided equivalent rights of access to
airports in the country of which such foreign air carrier is a
citizen.
(4) Conversions of slots. - Effective May 1, 2000, slots at
Chicago O'Hare International Airport allocated to an air carrier
as of November 1, 1999, to provide foreign air transportation
shall be made available to such carrier to provide interstate or
intrastate air transportation.
(c) Slots for New Entrants. - If the Secretary finds it to be in
the public interest, the Secretary may by order grant exemptions
from the requirements under subparts K and S of part 93 of title
14, Code of Federal Regulations (pertaining to slots at high
density airports), to enable new entrant air carriers to provide
air transportation at high density airports (other than Ronald
Reagan Washington National Airport).
(d) Special Rules for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
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(1) In general. - Notwithstanding sections 49104(a)(5) and
49111(e) of this title, or any provision of this section, the
Secretary may, only under circumstances determined by the
Secretary to be exceptional, grant by order to an air carrier
currently holding or operating a slot at Ronald Reagan Washington
National Airport an exemption from requirements under subparts K
and S of part 93 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations
(pertaining to slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National
Airport), to enable that carrier to provide air transportation
with Stage 3 aircraft at Ronald Reagan Washington National
Airport; except that such exemption shall not -
(A) result in an increase in the total number of slots per
day at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport;
(B) result in an increase in the total number of slots at
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport from 7:00 ante
meridiem to 9:59 post meridiem;
(C) increase the number of operations at Ronald Reagan
Washington National Airport in any 1-hour period by more than 2
operations;
(D) result in the withdrawal or reduction of slots operated
by an air carrier;
(E) result in a net increase in noise impact on surrounding
communities resulting from changes in timing of operations
permitted under this subsection; and
(F) continue in effect on or after the date on which the
final rules issued under subsection (f) become effective.
(2) Limitation on applicability. - Nothing in this subsection
shall adversely affect Exemption No. 5133, as from time-to-time
amended and extended.
(e) Study. -
(1) Matters to be considered. - The Secretary shall continue
the Secretary's current examination of slot regulations and shall
ensure that the examination includes consideration of -
(A) whether improvements in technology and procedures of the
air traffic control system and the use of quieter aircraft make
it possible to eliminate the limitations on hourly operations
imposed by the high density rule contained in part 93 of title
14 of the Code of Federal Regulations or to increase the number
of operations permitted under such rule;
(B) the effects of the elimination of limitations or an
increase in the number of operations allowed on each of the
following:
(i) congestion and delay in any part of the national
aviation system;
(ii) the impact of noise on persons living near the
airport;
(iii) competition in the air transportation system;
(iv) the profitability of operations of airlines serving
the airport; and
(v) aviation safety;
(C) the impact of the current slot allocation process upon
the ability of air carriers to provide essential air service
under subchapter II of this chapter;
(D) the impact of such allocation process upon the ability of
new entrant air carriers to obtain slots in time periods that
enable them to provide service;
(E) the impact of such allocation process on the ability of
foreign air carriers to obtain slots;
(F) the fairness of such process to air carriers and the
extent to which air carriers are provided equivalent rights of
access to the air transportation market in the countries of
which foreign air carriers holding slots are citizens;
(G) the impact, on the ability of air carriers to provide
domestic and international air service, of the withdrawal of
slots from air carriers in order to provide slots for foreign
air carriers; and
(H) the impact of the prohibition on slot withdrawals in
subsections (b)(2) and (b)(3) of this section on the aviation
relationship between the United States Government and foreign
governments, including whether the prohibition in such
subsections will require the withdrawal of slots from general
and military aviation in order to meet the needs of air
carriers and foreign air carriers providing foreign air
transportation (and the impact of such withdrawal on general
aviation and military aviation) and whether slots will become
available to meet the needs of air carriers and foreign air
carriers to provide foreign air transportation as a result of
the planned relocation of Air Force Reserve units and the Air
National Guard at O'Hare International Airport.
(2) Report. - Not later than January 31, 1995, the Secretary
shall complete the current examination of slot regulations and
shall transmit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report
containing the results of such examination.
(f) Rulemaking. - The Secretary shall conduct a rulemaking
proceeding based on the results of the study described in
subsection (e). In the course of such proceeding, the Secretary
shall issue a notice of proposed rulemaking not later than August
1, 1995, and shall issue a final rule not later than 90 days after
public comments are due on the notice of proposed rulemaking.
(g) Weekend Operations. - The Secretary shall consider the
advisability of revising section 93.227 of title 14, Code of
Federal Regulations, so as to eliminate weekend schedules from the
determination of whether the 80 percent standard of subsection
(a)(1) of that section has been met.
(h) Definitions. - In this section and sections 41715-41718 and
41734(h), the following definitions apply:
(1) Commuter air carrier. - The term "commuter air carrier"
means a commuter operator as defined or applied in subpart K or S
of part 93 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations.
(2) High density airport. - The term "high density airport"
means an airport at which the Administrator limits the number of
instrument flight rule takeoffs and landings of aircraft.
(3) New entrant air carrier. - The term "new entrant air
carrier" means an air carrier that does not hold a slot at the
airport concerned and has never sold or given up a slot at that
airport after December 16, 1985, and a limited incumbent carrier.
(4) Slot. - The term "slot" means a reservation for an
instrument flight rule takeoff or landing by an air carrier of an
aircraft in air transportation.
(5) Limited incumbent air carrier. - The term "limited
incumbent air carrier" has the meaning given that term in subpart
S of part 93 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations; except
that -
(A) "20" shall be substituted for "12" in sections
93.213(a)(5), 93.223(c)(3), and 93.225(h);
(B) for purposes of such sections, the term "slot" shall
include "slot exemptions"; and
(C) for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the
Administrator shall not count, for the purposes of section
93.213(a)(5), slots currently held by an air carrier but leased
out on a long-term basis by that carrier for use in foreign air
transportation and renounced by the carrier for return to the
Department of Transportation or the Federal Aviation
Administration.
(6) Regional jet. - The term "regional jet" means a passenger,
turbofan-powered aircraft with a certificated maximum passenger
seating capacity of less than 71.
(7) Nonhub airport. - The term "nonhub airport" means an
airport that had less than .05 percent of the total annual
boardings in the United States as determined under the Federal
Aviation Administration's Primary Airport Enplanement Activity
Summary for Calendar Year 1997.
(8) Small hub airport. - The term "small hub airport" means an
airport that had at least .05 percent, but less than .25 percent,
of the total annual boardings in the United States as determined
under the summary referred to in paragraph (7).
(9) Medium hub airport. - The term "medium hub airport" means
an airport that each year has at least .25 percent, but less than
1.0 percent, of the total annual boardings in the United States
as determined under the summary referred to in paragraph (7).
(i) 60-Day Application Process. -
(1) Request for slot exemptions. - Any slot exemption request
filed with the Secretary under this section or section 41716 or
41717 (other than subsection (c)) shall include -
(A) the names of the airports to be served;
(B) the times requested; and
(C) such additional information as the Secretary may require.
(2) Action on request; failure to act. - Within 60 days after a
slot exemption request under this section or section 41716 or
41717 (other than subsection (c)) is received by the Secretary,
the Secretary shall -
(A) approve the request if the Secretary determines that the
requirements of the section under which the request is made are
met;
(B) return the request to the applicant for additional
information relating to the request to provide air
transportation; or
(C) deny the request and state the reasons for its denial.
(3) 60-day period tolled for timely request for more
information. - If the Secretary returns under paragraph (2)(B)
the request for additional information during the first 20 days
after the request is filed, then the 60-day period under
paragraph (2) shall be tolled until the date on which the
additional information is filed with the Secretary.
(4) Failure to determine deemed approval. - If the Secretary
neither approves the request under paragraph (2)(A) nor denies
the request under paragraph (2)(C) within the 60-day period
beginning on the date the request is received, excepting any days
during which the 60-day period is tolled under paragraph (3),
then the request is deemed to have been approved on the 61st day,
after the request was filed with the Secretary.
(j) Exemptions May Not Be Transferred. - No exemption from the
requirements of subparts K and S of part 93 of title 14, Code of
Federal Regulations, granted under this section or section 41716,
41717, or 41718 may be bought, sold, leased, or otherwise
transferred by the carrier to which it is granted.
(k) Affiliated Carriers. - For purposes of this section and
sections 41716, 41717, and 41718, an air carrier that operates
under the same designator code, or has or enters into a code-share
agreement, with any other air carrier shall not qualify for a new
slot or slot exemption as a new entrant or limited incumbent air
carrier at an airport if the total number of slots and slot
exemptions held by the two carriers at the airport exceed 20 slots
and slot exemptions.
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