[Federal Register: March 23, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 56)]
[Notices]
[Page 13616-13619]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23mr04-134]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
[Docket No. FAA-2004-17349]
Collaborative Decisionmaking Pilot Program
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of proposed guidelines for Collaborative Decisionmaking
pilot program.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces proposed guidelines that would establish
and implement a Collaborative Decisionmaking (CDM) pilot program to
facilitate authorized communications among participating carriers at
selected airports during a period of reduced capacity.
DATES: Comments must be received by April 22, 2004.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments, identified by Docket Number FAA-2004-
17349, using any of the following methods:
DOT Docket Web site: Go to http://dms.dot.gov and
follow the instructions for sending your comments electronically.
Government-wide rulemaking web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov
and follow the instructions for sending your
comments electronically.
Mail: Docket Management Facility; US Department of
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, Room PL-401,
Washington, DC 20590-001.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Hand Delivery: Room PL-401 on the plaza level of the
Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
For more information on this process, see the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section of this document.
Privacy: We will post all comments we receive, without change, to
http://dms.dot.gov, including any personal information you provide. For
more information, see the Privacy Act discussion in the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section of this document.
Docket: To read this document and other pertinent documents or
comments received, go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time or to Room PL-
401 on the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW.,
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
[[Page 13617]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lorraine Vomacka, Manager, Procedures
Branch, Air Traffic Tactical Operations Program, Air Traffic Control
System Command Center, telephone number: 703 925-3112.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Comments Invited
The FAA invites interested persons to comment by submitting written
comments, data, or views. We ask that you send us two copies of written
comments.
We will file in the docket all comments we receive, as well as a
report summarizing each substantive public contact with FAA personnel
concerning this document. The docket is available for public inspection
before and after the comment closing date. If you wish to review the
docket in person, go to the address in the ADDRESSES section of this
Notice between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays. You may also review the docket using the Internet at the web
address in the ADDRESSES section.
Privacy Act: Using the search function of our docket web site,
anyone can find and read the comments received into any of our dockets,
including the name of the individual sending the comment (or signing
the comment on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.).
You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit
http://dms.dot.gov.
Before adopting the guidelines, we will consider all comments we
receive on or before the closing date for comments. We will consider
comments filed late if it is possible to do so without incurring
expense or delay.
If you want the FAA to acknowledge receipt of your comments,
include with your comments a pre-addressed, stamped postcard on which
the docket number appears. We will stamp the date on the postcard and
mail it to you.
Background
Public Law 108-176
Public Law 108-176 was enacted on December 12, 2003. Section 423 of
this law, codified at title 49 of the United States Code (U.S.C.)
section 40129, requires the FAA to establish a collaborative decision
making (CDM) pilot program within 90 days of enactment.\1\ This pilot
program would facilitate certain communications among participating
carriers at a designated airport over their flight schedules during a
time period for which the airport experiences or is expected to
experience reduced capacity. Under the law, subject to concurrence by
the Department of Justice, the FAA is directed to issue guidelines
governing the pilot program.
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\1\ The FAA acknowledges that this Notice is being published
beyond the 90 day period. This delay was the result of the need to
consult with air carriers and their trade associations, the military
and other users, the Departments of Transportation and Justice, and
the time needed by the ATCSCC and the users to prepare and test
various computer simulations.
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Section 40129 further directs that the guidelines, at a minimum,
shall: (1) Define a capacity reduction event; (2) establish the
criteria and process for determining when a capacity reduction event
exists that warrants the use of CDM among carriers at airports
participating in the pilot program; and (3) prescribe the methods of
communication among carriers during such an event.
The FAA is to select two airports to participate in the pilot
program from the most capacity constrained airports identified in the
FAA's Capacity Benchmark Report 2001, or based on more recent data
available to the FAA. The statute also specifies that, in selecting the
two airports for participation in the two-year pilot program, the FAA
must determine that the use of CDM among the carriers would reduce
delays at the airport and have beneficial effects on reducing delays in
the national airspace system as a whole.
Upon a determination that a capacity reduction event exists, the
FAA may authorize carriers operating at a participating airport to
communicate for a period of time not to exceed 24 hours with each other
concerning changes in their respective flight schedules in order to use
air traffic capacity most effectively. The FAA is to facilitate and
monitor these communications, and the Department of Justice may monitor
such communications as well.
Any U.S. or foreign air carrier operating at the selected airports
is eligible to participate in the pilot program upon determination by
the FAA that the carrier possesses the operational and communications
capabilities necessary for participation. Any carrier may be banned
from participation in the pilot program if the FAA determines that the
airport or the carrier does not further the purpose of the program. A
carrier may also be banned from participation upon a finding by the
Secretary of Transportation (the Secretary), and concurred with, by the
Department of Justice, that the carrier's participation has had, or is
having, an adverse effect upon competition.
The Secretary may exempt a carrier's activities that are necessary
to participate in the program from the antitrust laws for the purpose
of participating in the pilot program, but such exemption shall not
apply to any discussions, agreements, or activities beyond the scope of
the pilot program.
Lastly, the statute provides for an evaluation of the pilot
program and a determination as to whether the program has facilitated
more effective use of air traffic capacity and whether the program has
had an adverse effect on airline competition or the availability of air
service to communities. The program may be extended for an additional
two years with up to seven airports added to the program. The program
also may be terminated prior to its expiration upon determination by
the FAA and Department of Justice that it is unlikely to achieve its
stated purposes.
Proposed Guidelines
Existing procedures followed by the Air Traffic Organization (ATO)
allow for limited collaboration between the FAA and members of industry
to reduce delays. Under these procedures, officials in the FAA's Air
Traffic Tactical Operations Program located at the agency's David J.
Hurley Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATSCC) in Herndon,
Virginia, convene frequent daily telephone conferences with air carrier
representative and others. During these conference calls, also known as
Strategic Planning Tellcons, the FAA reviews the status of air traffic
operations so as to inform the air carriers about possible delays
within the National Airspace system as well as ground delay programs or
other traffic management decisions that may affect the carriers'
operations. The carriers, in turn, update the FAA about their planned
operations. Based on the information exchanged during these calls,
carriers may then unilaterally choose to adjust their flight schedules
(including canceling or substituting flights) in order to minimize the
impact of delays on their passengers. This program has sometimes been
referred to within the FAA as ``collaborative decision-making'' because
the agency and industry together discuss solutions to projected delays.
See http://www.atcscc.faa.gov/Information/CDM/cdm.html
The proposed CDM pilot program would expand the concept of the
Strategic Planning Telcons by adding additional telecons for
coordinating capacity reduction events. Although the
[[Page 13618]]
Strategic Planning Telcons have widely been viewed as successful in
mitigating the impact of traffic management measures (such as ground
delay programs and ground stops) on air carrier operations, they do not
typically, avoid the need for such measures in the first instance.
Thus, a primary objective of the CDM pilot program authorized under
section 423 of Vision 100 is to determine whether additional, carefully
monitored communications among air carriers serving the demonstration
airports over schedule adjustments (including cancellations,
substitutions and rerouting of flights) could reduce the total number
of delays that are attributable to capacity-reducing events at those
airports. Such an effect would likely be discernible in a reduction of
delay minutes at each of the airports in question and, assuming other
factors remain constant, in the number of passengers who do not reach
their destinations on time.
Significant delays at certain hub airports almost inevitably
result in delays throughout the National Airspace System (NAS). Such
delays translate into higher costs for the carriers serving the
airport, in terms of increased fuel consumption, additional crew flight
time, missed connections, lost gate access, re-positioning of aircraft,
and compensation to passengers for overbooking. Delays also pose a
burden on the FAA, adding to the complexity of airspace management and
increasing staffing requirements. Therefore, a secondary purpose of the
pilot program is to examine the impact of CDM at the demonstration
airports on the overall efficiency of the NAS, as measured by the
greater utilization of the available capacity at the demonstrations
airport(s).
When ground delay programs are imposed, affected carriers are
required by ATO procedures to obtain specific reservation times for
arrivals--known as ``arrival slots''\2\--at the destination airports of
their flights. These arrival slots are rationed by ATO based on filed
schedules. However, even during such programs, not all such slots are
used; carriers may choose not to relinquish their reservations until it
is too late for other carriers to take advantage of them. Thus, a third
purpose of the pilot CDM program is to determine whether communication
among carriers concerning arrival slots available during ground delay
programs could result in greater, or full, utilization of such arrival
slots, thereby increasing the throughput of traffic at the
demonstration airports during times of reduced capacity.
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\2\ These ``arrival slots'' are an informal pacing device used
by Air Traffic Control and do not relate to takeoff and landing
slots allocated under Subpart K-High Density Traffic Airports (the
HDR rule), 14 CFR 93.121.
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The proposed guidelines would govern CDM procedures at the two
airports specified for the CDM pilot program in accordance with 49
U.S.C. 40129(e) and would provide for limited, collaborative decision
making among air carriers when a Capacity Reduction Event (CRE) exists
that meets the Triggering Criteria, as defined below. The FAA is
proposing that one of the two airports selected for the pilot program
be Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD). ORD is major hub
airport, and delays there frequently ripple throughout the NAS as a
whole. Therefore, the agency has concluded that the use of CDM at ORD
should be beneficial in reducing delays at that airport and in the NAS
as a whole.\3\ The second airport to be selected will be determined by
reference to the statutory requirement and in consideration of the
comments received in response to this Notice.
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\3\ See Order Limiting Scheduled Operations (Operating
Limitations at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Docket FAA-
2004-16944), at 2-4.
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As part of its review of the effectiveness of the CDM pilot program
and its consideration of these guidelines, the FAA is preparing a
computer simulation of a capacity-reducing event using ORD as a model.
The purpose of the simulation is to evaluate the effectiveness of
different delay-avoidance strategies that may be employed by the FAA
and its customers in handling Capacity Reduction Events. The simulation
will be designed to explore the complexities, costs, and benefits of
allowing limited coordination over schedule adjustments in the period
preceding a capacity-reduction event. By examining several different
scenarios at ORD, the simulation should help produce metrics for
determining participation in, and the success of, the program when
implemented. Additionally, the simulation will provide insight into any
new technologies, processes or software that may be required to support
allowable information-sharing under the CDM pilot program.
In addition, as part of the FAA's continuing effort to anticipate
growth in the system, and to provide for traffic growth without
gridlock, the FAA has received input from general aviation users, the
military, labor organizations, and air carriers, in developing a plan
to augment existing traffic management procedures so as to better
manage system flows when delays are created by over-scheduling (even in
good weather). Such procedures may include rerouting of traffic and
imposition of ground stops or ground delays at airports that are not
experiencing delays, in order to improve traffic flows at congested
airports. The FAA anticipates that these developing methodologies will
contribute to reducing delays in the NAS as a whole and, consequently,
at the demonstration airports in the CDM pilot program.
Capacity Reduction Event (CRE)
A CRE is an unplanned occurrence or emergency that reduces the
Airport Arrival Rate (AAR) so as to cause a material increase in flight
delays, including but not limited to adverse weather or wind
conditions, unanticipated runway or taxiway maintenance or other
airport construction or maintenance that limits the airport arrival
rate, and acts constituting Force Majeure.
Triggering Criteria
A CRE may warrant collaborative decision making among carriers in
the CDM pilot program if the CRE is expected to, or results in, (i) a
reduction in the AAR, as determined under optimal weather conditions,
of 30 percent or more; and (ii) where such reduction would last for a
period of three hours or longer. Based on current experience, the FAA
would not expect the conditions to be met more than approximately 20
times a year. In any case, it is not necessarily the intent of the FAA
to declare a CRE on every occasion where the criteria are met.
Any U.S. or foreign air carrier that operates at either or both of
the specified airports has the option of participating in the pilot
program, provided it possesses the operational and communications
capabilities necessary for participation.
Permitted Communications
When a CRE is declared that meets the Triggering Criteria, and the
FAA determines that CDM is necessary, authorized air carriers may
engage in Permitted Communications during a period designated by the
FAA not to exceed twenty-four hours. Permitted Communications consists
of: (1) Offers to reroute or retime flights; (2) offers to reduce the
total number of operations conducted during any one hour period (but
without reference to specific flights or markets); and (3) offers to
relinquish arrival slots obtained during ground delay programs. Such
offers may be communicated to the FAA as part of the Strategic Planning
Telcons concerning the demonstration airports or via the
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pilot program Web site. Permitted Communications also include general
discussions over measures by the FAA taken to reduce delays including
traffic management initiatives.
Only communications made to the FAA as part of the Strategic
Planning Telcons or to the FAA via the pilot program Web site shall
qualify as Permitted Communications. Other carriers and foreign air
carriers participating in the pilot program may receive such
communication by participating in the Strategic Planning Telcon or by
viewing the pilot program Web site.
Permitted Communications do not include: (1) Offers to cancel
specifically identified flights (as opposed to a total number of
operations); (2) discussions of fares; (3) discussions of passenger
revenues attributable to cancelled, retimed or rerouted operations; (4)
discussions of marketing strategies or passenger accommodations,
including but not limited to amounts paid in compensation to, or other
consideration provided to, passengers whose flights are cancelled,
retimed or rerouted; and (5) any other discussions likely to result in
an agreement violative of the antitrust laws, except as expressly
authorized under these guidelines as Permitted Communications. However,
nothing in these guidelines precludes any carrier from taking
unilateral action based on information gained during conference calls
or other communications permitted under the pilot program.
The Department of Justice, in addition to the FAA, may monitor all
communications that occur during the telephone conferences or via the
pilot program Web site. For this purpose, the telephone conferences
will be recorded and an electronic record of the activity on the pilot
program Web site will be preserved for 45 days.
Antitrust Immunity
As authorized by section 40129(h), and subject to concurrence by
the Attorney General, during the period the pilot program is in effect,
the Secretary intends to exempt U.S. and foreign air carriers
participating in the program from the antitrust laws for activities
they engage in to the extent those activities are necessary for their
participation in the program. The antitrust exemption is for the sole
purpose of participating in the pilot program, and shall not extend to
any discussions, agreements, or activities outside the scope of the
pilot program as described in these guidelines. It shall apply only to
the extent that the U.S. or foreign air carrier complies with the
conditions imposed by these guidelines. The FAA reserves the authority
to modify or terminate the exemption prospectively, or to otherwise
modify or terminate the program or a particular carrier's participation
in it, if it is determined by the FAA or the Secretary, respectively,
and with the concurrence of the Department of Justice, that the purpose
of the program is not being furthered or that the program or the
particular carrier's participation is having an adverse effect on
competition. This statement shall serve as the notice required by
section 40129(h) that states the Secretary's intention to use the
authority created by that section to grant antitrust immunity.
Evaluation
The FAA will evaluate the pilot program to determine whether it has
reduced total passenger delays, facilitated a more effective use of air
traffic capacity through improvements in the realized airport arrival
rate, or enabled a greater utilization of reservation times during
ground delay programs. The FAA will also consider whether benefits from
one airport's participation in the program have brought benefits to
other parties of the National Airspace System.
The Department is obligated to evaluate the pilot program's effects
on airline competition and service to communities. We ask for comment
on what kinds of data should be obtained by us to conduct the
evaluation. This data could include the following, but commenters may
suggest alternatives or discuss whether the following data would be
unnecessary:
(1) Identification of flights scheduled, including number of seats
sold, average fare, markets scheduled to be served, and times from the
selected airports, during the CRE;
(2) Identification of flights cancelled during the CRE; flights
operated during the CRE and within 24 hours afterwards including
average fares, destinations, etc.;
(3) Identification of communities that lost service during the CRE; and
(4) Data on the extent, if any, the program disadvantages carriers with
limited flight schedules.
We welcome other ideas as to how the program's effectiveness should
be evaluated.
Additionally, while we recognize (as described above) that flight
delays impose additional costs on air carriers, airports and the FAA,
it would also be beneficial to obtain information about the direct
effect of this program on the traveling public. Such information would
allow us to evaluate the amount of delay experienced by passengers
traveling on airlines participating in the program compared to the
delay experienced during similar events that occurred before the
program went into effect. Such information could include the number of
passengers given prior notification of an impending CRE, the number of
passengers who are rebooked on flights that depart in advance, during,
or immediately after a CRE, reductions in the number of passengers who
are offered compensation because of ``overbooking'' during the relevant
time period, the number of passengers who are rebooked on other
carriers' flights in response to notification of an impending CRE, or
the speed with which carriers are able to accommodate all passengers
wishing to travel during or immediately following a CRE.
Issued in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2004.
Marion C. Blakey,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 04-6353 Filed 3-17-04; 4:05 pm]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-M