UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.  





ESSENTIAL AIR SERVICE FOR TABLISHMENT OF SLOT EXEMPTION PROCEEDING 

CLARKSBURG AND MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA

PURSUANT TO 49 U.S.C. § 41718(b) UNDER SECTION 419 OF 

THE FEDERAL AVIATION ACT OF 1958, AS AMENDED

Docket 42531OST-2000-7182

Docket OST-2003-158862000-7187

Docket OST-2000-7155

NOTICE  

By Order 2003-8-9, issued On August 7, July 5, 20003, the Department
requested proposals to serve the communities of Clarksburg, Morgantown,
and/or Lewisburg, West Virginia, using six slots at Ronald Reagan
Washington National Airport (DCA) made available under the terms of
Civil Aeronautics Board Order 84-12-86.  Among other things, the order
required that carriers should submit service proposals within 30 days of
service of the order, or by September 11.

By letter dated September 8, Corporate Airlines, Inc., has requested an
extension of the filing deadline for service proposals as described in
Order 2003-8-9.  Corporate states that it needs more time to assess
potential community support for DCA service.  pursuant to the provisions
of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st
Century (AIR-21), the Department issued Order 2000-7-2, which granted a
total of 12 slot exemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
(DCA) for services inside the 1,250-mile perimeter to the following
carriers: American Trans Air, Inc., Midwest Express Airlines, Inc.,
Spirit Airlines, Inc., and Midway Airlines Corporation.  

In light of this request, and in consideration that this extension may
provide a greater range of DCA service options for the West Virginia
communities, the deadline established for submitting proposals as
described in Department Order 2003-8-9 will be extended until September
25, 2003.

Under the provisions of that order, Midway was granted two DCA slot
exemptions to provide nonstop service to Raleigh/Durham International
Airport, North Carolina, and Spirit was granted two slot exemptions to
serve either Melbourne, Florida, or Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and
two other slot exemptions to serve any of the airports in Florida or
South Carolina that Spirit had proposed.  Those included Fort
Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport (FLL); Southwest Florida
International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers; Melbourne Regional Airport
(MLB); Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) in West Palm Beach; and
Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR).  

Midway Airlines

By Order 2002-10-33, issued October 25, 2002, the Department withdrew
the two DCA slot exemptions granted to Midway, after finding that the
terms of a Regional Jet Service Agreement between Midway and US Airways
would transfer effective control of those two DCA slot exemptions to US
Airways, an action prohibited by 49 U.S.C. 41714(j).  

Spirit Airlines

In order to optimize utilization of valuable slots and slot exemptions,
under  Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, slots or slot
exemptions not used at least 80% of the time over a two-month period are
subject to recall by the FAA for non-use.  In the aftermath of
September 11, the FAA suspended the minimum slot usage requirement to
give airlines an opportunity to adjust to changes in the aviation
operating environment and passenger demand  without airlines losing
slots or slot exemptions during this period.  On February XX, 2002, the
FAA extended the suspension of the use-or-lose requirement until 
October 27.  

On October 17, 2002, by letter to the Department, Spirit requested a
three-and-a-half month extension of the FAA suspension of the
use-it-or-lose-it requirement at DCA.  By letter dated October 24, the
FAA denied Spirit’s request and restated that the usage requirement
would become effective October 27.  In a November 4 response, Spirit
failed to assure the Department, as requested, that it would institute
DCA service in a timely fashion.  Rather, Spirit said that it would like
either to retain the four DCA slot exemptions it holds or to reapply for
these slot exemptions that it has been holding until the FAA had denied
its request for an extension of the use-or-lose requirement.  We
interpret this response to mean that Spirit could not ensure that it
would reinstitute its DCA slot exemptions so as to comply with the
use-or lose requirement and would not object to a withdrawal of the
exemptions so long as it is given the opportunity to reapply for them. 
These letters have been placed in Docket OST-2000-7182.  

Proceeding  

Given these developments, the Department will now consider, using the
criteria set forth in 49 U.S.C. § 41718(b), applications from air
carriers using Stage 3 aircraft for the six slot exemptions formerly
granted to Midway and Spirit, to provide nonstop service to DCA from
airports that were designated as medium or smaller airports 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. 


Section 41718(c)(3) requires that all 12 inside-perimeter slot
exemptions be for air transportation to medium hub airports and smaller
and that at least four of the 12 slot exemptions be for air
transportation to small hub airports and nonhub airports.  Since
American Trans Air currently uses four slot exemptions for service to
Chicago’s Midway Airport, a medium hub airport, and Midwest Express
uses two slot exemptions for service to Des Moines, a small hub airport,
at least two of the slot exemptions to be distributed here must be for
service to a small hub or nonhub airport.  The other two may be to a
medium hub, a small hub, or a nonhub airport.  

Section 41718(b) directs the Secretary to distribute the 12 inside
perimeter slot exemptions in a manner that promotes air transportation:
(1) by new entrant air carriers and limited incumbent air carriers; (2)
to communities without existing nonstop air transportation to DCA; (3)
to small communities; (4) that will provide competitive nonstop air
transportation on a monopoly nonstop route to DCA; or (5) that will
produce the maximum competitive benefits, including low fares.  A new
entrant air carrier or limited incumbent air carrier is defined as an
air carrier or commuter operator that holds or operates (or held or
operated, since December 16, 1985) fewer than 20 slots and slot
exemptions at DCA.  

Completed applications must be submitted by November 27, and comments
with respect to any timely filed request for slot exemptions must be
filed by December 11.  

As a final matter, we note that Midway’s currently allocated slot
times for its nonstop DCA-Raleigh/Durham service are in the 1800 and
1900 hour periods.  Spirit’s currently allocated slot times for its
DCA service are in the 0900, 1000, 1400, and 1500 hour periods.  Since
49 U.S.C. § 41718(c)(2) does not allow us to assign more than two
slot exemptions per one hour period, and most one hour periods were
fully subscribed by the Department’s Notice dated August 2, 2000, we
may not be able to accommodate carrier requests for alternative slot
exemption times.  

We shallwill serve a copy of this notice on all certificated air
carriers, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the mayors and
airport managers of Clarksburg, Morgantown, and Lewisburg, West Virginia
and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Slot Administration office. 


By:

READ C. VAN de WATERMICHAEL W. REYNOLDS

Acting Assistant Secretary for Aviation

and International Affairs

Dated:  September 10, 2003

(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/ 



 In any event, in order to meet FAA’s useage requirement, Spirit would
need to have initiated full service with these exemptions by November
14, 2002.  Spirit has not yet instituted this service.  

 Hub or airport definitions are provided under 49 U.S.C. § 41714(h)(7),
(8), and (9).

 49 U.S.C. § 41714(h).  In addition, under 49 U.S.C. § 41714(k)
“…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 2 carriers at the airport exceed 20
slots and slot exemptions.”

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Posted:  9/10/03		Served:  September 15, 2003

               4:30 p.m.

