[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 96 (Wednesday, May 18, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30325-30327]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-10740]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Notice of Submission Deadline for Schedule Information for 
Chicago O'Hare International Airport, John F. Kennedy International 
Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Newark Liberty 
International Airport, and San Francisco International Airport for the 
Winter 2022/2023 Scheduling Season

AGENCY: Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration 
(FAA).

ACTION: Notice of submission deadline.

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SUMMARY: Under this notice, the FAA announces the submission deadline 
of May 19, 2022, for Winter 2022/2023 flight schedules at Chicago 
O'Hare International Airport (ORD), John F. Kennedy International 
Airport (JFK), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Newark Liberty 
International Airport (EWR), and San Francisco International Airport 
(SFO).

DATES: Schedules should be submitted by May 19, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Schedules may be submitted to the Slot Administration Office 
by email to: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Al Meilus, Manager, Slot 
Administration, AJR-G, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 
Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20591; telephone (202) 267-2822; 
email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides routine notice to 
carriers serving capacity-constrained airports in the United States, 
including Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), John F. Kennedy 
International Airport (JFK), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), 
Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), and San Francisco 
International Airport (SFO). In particular, this notice announces the 
deadline for carriers to submit schedules for the Winter 2022/2023 
scheduling season. The FAA deadline coincides with the schedule 
submission deadline established in the International Air Transport 
Association (IATA) Calendar of Coordination Activities.

General Information for All Airports

    The FAA has designated EWR, LAX, ORD, and SFO as IATA Level 2 
airports \1\ subject to a schedule review process premised upon 
voluntary cooperation. The FAA has designated JFK as an IATA Level 3 
airport consistent with the Worldwide Slot Guidelines (WSG), now 
generally known as the Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines (WASG).\2\ The 
FAA currently limits scheduled operations at JFK by order that expires 
on October 29, 2022.\3\ The Winter 2022/2023 scheduling season is from 
October 30, 2022, through March 25, 2023, in recognition of the IATA 
Northern Winter scheduling period. Notwithstanding that carriers may 
presently face uncertainty about their international operations in 
light of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), carriers should continue 
preparations for schedule facilitation at Level 2 airports and an 
extension of slot controls at JFK during the Winter 2022/2023 
scheduling season and submit their schedule under the assumption that 
no relief will be granted at Level 2 and Level 3 airports during the 
Winter 2022/2023 scheduling season.\4\ The FAA and the Office of the 
Secretary will continue to monitor industry developments closely and 
will announce any possible COVID-19-related relief, if it is deemed 
necessary, in a separate notice. Any potential relief for the Winter 
2022/2023 scheduling season and any potential action to alter the 
established rules and policies for slot management and schedule 
facilitation in the United States are not within the scope of this 
notice.
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    \1\ These designations remain effective until the FAA announces 
a change in the Federal Register.
    \2\ The FAA generally applies the WSG edition 9 to the extent 
there is no conflict with U.S. law or regulation.
    \3\ Operating Limitations at John F. Kennedy International 
Airport, 73 FR 3510 (Jan. 18, 2008), as most recently extended 85 FR 
58258 (Sep. 18, 2020). The slot coordination parameters for JFK are 
set forth in this Order.
    \4\ For additional information on COVID-19 impacts at designated 
IATA Level 2 and 3 airports in the United States and actions taken 
by the FAA to preserve stability through the Winter 2021/2022 
scheduling season, see FAA Notice of Limited, Conditional Extension 
of COVID-19 Related Relief for International Operations only for the 
Winter 2021/2022 Scheduling Season, 86 FR 58134 (Oct. 20, 2021).
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    The FAA is concerned primarily about scheduled and other regularly 
conducted commercial operations during designated hours, but carriers 
may submit schedule plans for the entire day. The designated hours for 
the Winter 2022/2023 scheduling season are: At EWR and JFK from 0600 to 
2300 Eastern Time (1100 to 0400 UTC), at LAX and SFO from 0600 to 2300 
Pacific Time (1400 to 0700 UTC), and at ORD from 0600 to 2100 Central 
Time (1200 to 0300 UTC). These hours are unchanged from previous 
scheduling seasons. The FAA understands there may be differences in 
schedule times due to U.S. daylight saving time dates and will 
accommodate these differences to the extent possible.
    Carriers should submit schedule information in sufficient detail 
including, at minimum, the marketing or operating carrier, flight 
number, scheduled time of operation, frequency, aircraft equipment, and 
effective dates. IATA standard schedule information format and data 
elements for communications at Level 2 and Level 3 airports in the IATA 
Standard Schedules Information Manual (SSIM) Chapter 6 may be used. The 
WSG provides additional information on schedule submissions at Level 2 
and Level 3 airports. Some carriers at JFK manage and track slots 
through FAA-

[[Page 30326]]

assigned Slot ID numbers corresponding to an arrival or departure slot 
in a particular half-hour on a particular day of week and date. The FAA 
has a similar voluntary process for tracking schedules at EWR with 
Reference IDs, and certain carriers are managing their schedules 
accordingly. These are primarily U.S. and Canadian carriers that have 
the highest frequencies and considerable schedule changes throughout 
the season and can benefit from a simplified exchange of information 
not dependent on full flight details. Carriers are encouraged to submit 
schedule requests at those airports using Slot or Reference IDs.
    As stated in the WSG, schedule facilitation at a Level 2 airport is 
based on the following: (1) Schedule adjustments are mutually agreed 
upon between the carriers and the facilitator; (2) the intent is to 
avoid exceeding the airport's coordination parameters; (3) the concepts 
of historic precedence and series of slots do not apply at Level 2 
airports; although WSG recommends giving priority to approved services 
that plan to operate unchanged from the previous equivalent season at 
Level 2 airports, and (4) the facilitator should adjust the smallest 
number of flights by the least amount of time necessary to avoid 
exceeding the airport's coordination parameters. Consistent with the 
WSG, the success of Level 2 in the United States depends on the 
voluntary cooperation of carriers.
    The FAA considers several factors and priorities as it reviews 
schedule and slot requests at Level 2 and Level 3 airports, which are 
consistent with the WSG, including--historic slots or services from the 
previous equivalent season over new demand for the same timings, 
services that are unchanged over services that plan to change time or 
other capacity relevant parameters, introduction of year-round 
services, effective period of operation, regularly planned operations 
over ad hoc operations, and other operational factors that may limit a 
carrier's timing flexibility. In addition to applying these priorities 
from the WSG, the U.S. Government has adopted a number of measures and 
procedures to promote competition and new entry at U.S. slot-controlled 
and schedule-facilitated airports.
    Consistent with the limited, conditional extension of COVID-19 
related relief for the Winter 2021/2022 scheduling season \5\, slots or 
schedules operated as approved on a non-historic or an ad hoc basis in 
Winter 2021/2022 will be given priority over new requests for the same 
timings in Winter 2022/2023, subject to capacity availability and 
consistent with established rules and policies in effect in the United 
States. This priority applies to slot or schedule requests for Winter 
2022/2023, which are comparable in timing, frequency, and duration to 
the ad hoc approvals made by the FAA for Winter 2021/2022. This 
priority does not affect the historic precedence or priority of slot 
holders and carriers with schedule approvals, respectively, which met 
the conditions of the waiver during Winter 2021/2022 and which seek to 
resume operating in Winter 2022/2023. The FAA may consider this 
priority in the event that slots with historic precedence become 
available for permanent allocation by the FAA. Foreign air carriers 
seeking priority under this provision will be required to represent 
that their home jurisdiction will provide reciprocal priority to U.S. 
carrier requests of this nature. Slot management in the United States 
differs in some respect from procedures in other countries. In the 
United States, the FAA is responsible for facilitation and coordination 
of runway access for takeoffs and landings at Level 2 and Level 3 
airports; however, the airport authority or its designee is responsible 
for facilitation and coordination of terminal/gate/airport facility 
access. The process with the individual airports for terminal access 
and other airport services is separate from, and in addition to, the 
FAA schedule review based on runway capacity.
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    \5\ See FAA Notice of Limited, Conditional Extension of COVID-19 
Related Relief for International Operations only for the Winter 
2021/2022 Scheduling Season, 86 FR 58134 (Oct. 20, 2021).
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    Generally, the FAA uses average hourly runway capacity throughput 
for airports and performance metrics in conducting its schedule review 
at Level 2 airports and determining the scheduling limits at Level 3 
airports included in FAA rules or orders.\6\ The FAA also considers 
other factors that can affect operations, such as capacity changes due 
to runway, taxiway, or other airport construction, air traffic control 
procedural changes, airport surface operations, and historical or 
projected flight delays and congestion.
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    \6\ The FAA typically determines an airport's average adjusted 
runway capacity or typical throughput for Level 2 airports by 
reviewing hourly data on the arrival and departure rates that air 
traffic control indicates could be accepted for that hour, commonly 
known as ``called'' rates. The FAA also reviews the actual number of 
arrivals and departures that operated in the same hour. Generally, 
the FAA uses the higher of the two numbers, called or actual, for 
identifying trends and schedule review purposes. Some dates are 
excluded from analysis, such as during periods when extended airport 
closures or construction could affect capacity.
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    Finally, the FAA notes that the schedule information submitted by 
carriers to the FAA may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA). The WSG also provides for release of 
information at certain stages of slot coordination and schedule 
facilitation. In general, once it acts on a schedule submission or slot 
request, the FAA may release information on slot allocation or similar 
slot transactions or schedule information reviewed as part of the 
schedule facilitation process. The FAA does not expect that practice to 
change and most slot and schedule information would not be exempt from 
release under FOIA. The FAA recognizes that some carriers may submit 
information on schedule plans that is both customarily and actually 
treated as private. Carriers that submit such confidential schedule 
information should clearly mark the information, or any relevant 
portions thereof, as proprietary information (``PROPIN''). The FAA will 
take the necessary steps to protect properly designated information to 
the extent allowable by law.

EWR General Information

    Consistent with the WSG, carriers are asked for their voluntary 
cooperation to adjust schedules to meet the targeted scheduling limits 
in order to minimize potential congestion and delay. For the Winter 
2022/2023 season, the voluntary, targeted hourly scheduling limit 
remains at 79 operations and 43 operations per half-hour.\7\ To help 
with a balance between arrivals and departures, the targeted maximum 
number of scheduled arrivals or departures, respectively, is 43 in an 
hour and 24 in a half-hour. These targets are expected to allow some 
higher levels of operations in certain periods (not to exceed the 
hourly limits) and some recovery from lower demand in adjacent periods. 
Consistent with general established practice at EWR, the FAA will 
accept flights above the limits if the flights were operated as 
approved, or treated as operated, by the same carrier on a regular 
basis in the previous corresponding season (i.e., Winter 2021/2022).
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    \7\ 83 FR 21335 (May 9, 2018).
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    Notwithstanding the targeted limits at EWR previously described, 
OST and the FAA have decided to reintroduce and reassign 16 peak 
afternoon and evening runway timings, which were historically approved 
for operation by Southwest Airlines, Inc. at EWR prior to the carrier's 
exit from the airport in

[[Page 30327]]

November 2019. \8\ This proposed reassignment of schedule timings at 
EWR is an independent process outside of the FAA's routine schedule 
review process. Once the reassignment proceeding is complete, the FAA 
will seek to work in coordination with the awarded carrier to adjust 
schedules within the peak afternoon and evening period, including minor 
changes between adjacent half hours, in the interest of optimizing 
efficiency and accommodating the carrier's schedule plans, consistent 
with the usual Level 2 process.
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    \8\ Reassignment of Schedules at Newark-Liberty International 
Airport, 86 FR 52285 (Sept. 20, 2021). See also Reassignment of 
schedules at Newark-Liberty International Airport, Docket DOT-OST-
2021-0103 (Feb. 25, 2022).

    Issued in Washington, DC, on May 13, 2022.
Virginia T. Boyle,
Vice President, System Operations Services.
[FR Doc. 2022-10740 Filed 5-16-22; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P


