UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.  





ESTABLISHMENT OF SLOT EXEMPTION PROCEEDING 

PURSUANT TO 49 U.S.C. § 41718(b) 

Docket OST-2000-7182

NOTICE  

On August 9, 2004, pursuant to the provisions of the Wendell H. Ford
Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR-21), the
Department issued Order 2004-8-3, which awarded two slot exemptions at
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) for service inside the
1,250-mile perimeter to Spirit Airlines to serve the Myrtle Beach-DCA
market.  

By letter dated October 7, 2005, Spirit informed the Department that,
due to unsustainable losses in the market caused primarily by high fuel
prices, it planned to discontinue nonstop service between Myrtle Beach
and DCA on November 10, 2005.

 

Proceeding

Given this development, the Department will now consider applications
from air carriers using Stage 3 aircraft for the two slot exemptions
granted to Spirit.  Applicants must propose to provide service to DCA
from airports that were designated as small hub or nonhub airports in
19971 within the 1,250-mile perimeter established for civil operations
at DCA under 49 U.S.C. § 49109.  Applications should be filed in Docket
OST 2000-7182.2  

Section 41718(b) of Title 49 U.S.C. establishes certain requirements for
award of these exemptions.  As concerns the small hub or nonhub category
for within-perimeter exemptions, it directs the Secretary to distribute
them in a manner that promotes air transportation: (1) to communities
without existing nonstop air transportation to DCA; (2) to small
communities; (3) that will provide competitive nonstop air
transportation on a monopoly nonstop route to DCA; or (4) that will
produce the maximum competitive benefits, including low fares.3

Completed applications must be submitted by March 17, 2006, and comments
with respect to any timely filed request for slot exemptions must be
filed by March 27.  

As a final matter, we note that Spirit’s currently allocated slot
times for its nonstop DCA-Myrtle Beach service are in the 1000 and 1700
hour periods.  Section 41718(c)(2) does not allow us to assign more
than three slot exemptions per one hour period.  Almost all time periods
were fully subscribed by the Department’s Notice dated May 3, 2004,
and, thus, we may not be able to accommodate carrier requests for
alternative slot exemption times.  

We shall serve a copy of this notice on all certificated air carriers,
the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, and the Federal Aviation
Administration’s Slot Administration office.  

By:

 Michael W. Reynolds

 				       Acting Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs

Dated:  February 24, 2006

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document will be available on the World
Wide Web at:

  HYPERLINK "http://dms.dot.gov/"  http://dms.dot.gov/ 

1 Definitions of nonhub, small hub, and medium hub airports are provided
under 49 U.S.C. § 41714 (h)(7), (8), and (9).

2 Title 49, U.S.C. § 41718(c)(3), incorporating amendments made by P.L.
108-176 (the Vision 100 – Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act,
“Vision 100”), authorizes the Department to award a total of 20
within-perimeter slot exemptions.  Of these, at least six must be for
air transportation to small hub and nonhub airports. (See section
41718(c)(3)(a)).  Two of these six were awarded to Spirit in Order
2004-8-3. The only available category within which Spirit’s Myrtle
Beach exemptions may be re-awarded is that for small hub or nonhub
service.

3 Prior to the amendments made by Vision 100, section 41718(b) had also
included as a criterion for all awards the promotion of air
transportation by new entrant air carriers and limited incumbent air
carriers.  Vision 100 struck that as a criterion for only the small hub
and nonhub service category.  Therefore, the Department will evaluate
applications for these two available slot exemptions without regard to
the new entrant/limited incumbent status of the applicants.

