Request for Public Comment on Competitive Issues Affecting the Domestic Airline Industry

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

Federal Aviation Administration

[Docket No. OST 98-4025]

Request for Public Comment on Competitive Issues Affecting the

Domestic Airline Industry

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Federal Aviation Administration,

United States Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice extending comment period.

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SUMMARY: On July 13, 1998, the Department of Transportation opened a

public docket to receive information from interested parties on airport

practices and their implications for competition among air carriers.

Parties wishing to file comments with the Department were given until

September 1, 1998. By this notice, the Department is extending the time

period for public comment from September 1, 1998, until December 30,

1998.

DATES: Comments should be received by December 30, 1998. Comments that

are received after that date will be considered only to the extent

possible.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information on the

scope of the Department's study or the name of the individual in DOT

who is in the best position to answer your questions, please contact

either James New (202-366-4868) or Larry Phillips (202-366-4382). A

copy of this Notice can be obtained via the World Wide Web at: http://

www.dot.gov/ost/aviation/. Comments placed in the docket will be

available for viewing on the Internet.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department recently published a request

for public comment on competitive issues affecting the domestic airline

industry (63 FR 37612, July 13, 1998). In that request, we asked

parties to provide us with detailed information on 14 specific issues

that focus on airport practices and their impact on airline

competition. Based on an August 6 petition of the Air Transport

Association of America (ATA) to extend the comment period, as well as

correspondence from the Airports

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Council International, N.A. (ACI), we are now convinced that our

original schedule for submission of this material was unrealistic.

The ATA petitioned pursuant to the Department's Rulemaking

Procedures (49 CFR 5.25(a)) to extend the comment period by at least

120 days, to December 30, 1998 on the grounds that it needs time to

prepare and conduct an extensive survey of airlines and airports,

organize and analyze the data collected, and draft comments for

approval by its members in response to the complex issues we raised.

Stating that it does not wish to unduly delay this proceeding, ATA

nevertheless argued that we have no regulatory deadline to meet and

that it could be more helpful if it had more time to collect and

analyze information. In further support of its petition, the ATA

claimed it will need time to review our expected responses to its

August 6 Freedom of Information Act requests for records pertinent to

our Federal Register notice in this docket. Finally, the ATA requests a

supplemental notice and comment period for our intended methodology for

analyzing the information and data relevant to the competitive issues

affecting the airline industry. ATA requested that we act within ten

business days of its filing. The ATA stated that, since its member

airlines serve, either directly or through code-share relationships,

about 95 percent of the more than 400 domestic commercial service

airports, it has a substantive interest in this proceeding.

In a July 16 letter to us, the ACI said that our September 1

deadline would not allow it adequate time to compile, verify and

analyze pertinent information from airport operators and then prepare

well-reasoned responses to the complex legal, economic, and policy

questions identified.

Under our rules (49 CFR 5.25(b)), we may grant a petition for

extension of time when a petitioner shows that it is in the public

interest and the petitioner has good cause for the extension and a

substantive interest in the proposed action. We have determined that it

would be reasonable and in the public interest to give parties more

time to prepare their submissions. While we are interested in a prompt

study of the competitive issues affecting the domestic airline

industry, we realize that the industry needs additional time to

formulate its comments, to issue surveys, and to process the survey

results.

Accordingly:

1. We grant the request of the Air Transport Association to extend

the date by which comments to Docket No. OST-98-4025 are due to

December 30, 1998; and

2. We deny all other requests.

Rosalind A. Knapp,

Deputy General Counsel, Department of Transportation.

Susan L. Kurland,

Associate Administrator for Airports, Federal Aviation Administration.

[FR Doc. 98-23080 Filed 8-26-98; 8:45 am]

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