# Request for Public Comment on Competitive Issues Affecting the Domestic Airline Industry > Briefs, arguments, decisions, and more. URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3A98-23080 ## Record - **Collection:** Federal Register - **Document type:** Notice - **Published:** August 27, 1998 - **Citation:** 63 FR 45894 ## Text 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 [[Page 45895]] 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] BILLING CODE 4910-62-P --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3A98-23080. Public record. Not legal advice.