[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 187 (Tuesday, September 28, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 59661-59666]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-24342]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Part 187
[Docket No. FAA-2010-0326; Notice No. 10-12]
RIN 2120-AJ68
Update of Overflight Fees
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This NPRM proposes to adjust existing Overflight Fees by using
current FAA cost accounting data and air traffic activity data. This
action is necessary because operational costs for providing air traffic
control and related services for Overflights have increased steadily
since the fees were established in 2001. The adjustment of Overflight
Fees would result in an increased level of cost recovery for the
services being provided.
DATES: Send your comments on or before December 27, 2010.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments identified by Docket Number FAA-2010-
0326 using any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for sending your
comments electronically.
Mail: Send comments to Docket Operations, M-30; U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Room W12-
140, West Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: Take comments to Docket
Operations in Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200
New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Fax: Fax comments to Docket Operations at 202-493-2251.
For more information on the rulemaking process, see the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section of this document.
Privacy: We will post all comments we receive, without change, to
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information you
provide. Using the search function of our docket web site, anyone can
find and read the electronic form of all comments received into any of
our dockets, including the name of the individual sending the comment
(or signing the comment for 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://DocketsInfo.dot.gov.
Docket: To read background documents or comments received, go to
http://www.regulations.gov at any time and follow the online
instructions for accessing the docket, or, go to Docket Operations in
Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical questions concerning
this proposed rule contact David Lawhead, Office of Financial Controls,
Financial Analysis Division (AFC 300), Federal Aviation Administration,
800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591; telephone (202)
267-9759 facsimile (202) 267-5271, e-mail to [email protected]. For
legal questions concerning this proposed rule contact Michael Chase,
AGC-240, Office of Chief Counsel, Regulations Division, Federal
Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20591; telephone: (202) 267-3110; e-mail to [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Later in this preamble under the Additional
Information section, we discuss how you can comment on this proposal
and how we will handle your comments. Included in this discussion is
related information about the docket, privacy, and the handling of
proprietary or confidential business information. We also discuss how
you can get a copy of related rulemaking documents.
Authority for This Rulemaking
The FAA's authority to establish these fees is found in Title 49 of
the United States Code. This rulemaking is promulgated under the
authority described in Chapter 453, Section 45301 et seq. Under that
Chapter, the FAA is charged with prescribing regulations for the
collection of fees for air traffic control and related services
provided to aircraft, other than military and civilian aircraft of the
United States government or a foreign government, that transit U.S.-
controlled airspace, but neither take off from nor land in the United
States (``Overflights''). This proposed regulation is within the scope
of that authority.
I. Background
The FAA's Overflight Fees were initially authorized in the Federal
Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-264, enacted October
9, 1996). Overflight Fees are charges for aircraft flights that transit
U.S.-controlled airspace, but neither land in nor depart from the
United States. Following enactment of the initial fee authority, and as
mandated by that authority, the FAA issued an Interim Final Rule (IFR),
``Fees for Air Traffic Services for Certain Flights through U.S.
Controlled Airspace'' (62 FR 13496), on March 20, 1997. Under the terms
of the IFR, the FAA sought public comment on the IFR while concurrently
beginning to assess Overflight Fees 60 days after its publication, on
May 19, 1997.
On July 17, 1997, petitions for judicial review of the IFR were
filed in the U.S.
[[Page 59662]]
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the Court) by the Air
Transport Association of Canada (ATAC) and seven foreign air carriers.
Those petitions were consolidated into a single case (Asiana Airlines
v. FAA, 134 F.3d 393 (D.C. Cir. 1998)). The litigation proceeded
throughout the remainder of 1997 while the FAA continued to collect
fees pursuant to the statute.
On January 30, 1998, the Court issued a decision, upholding the FAA
on three process and procedure issues, but vacating the Rule because
the Court found that the methodology the FAA used to allocate costs did
not conform to the statute. The FAA immediately suspended billing
operations, and eventually refunded nearly $40 million in fees that had
then been collected.
Although the 1997 IFR (62 FR 13496) had been set aside by the
Court, the statutory requirement that the FAA establish Overflight Fees
through an IFR remained in effect. One of the principal criticisms the
FAA had received from the public commenters on its 1997 IFR concerned
the quality of the cost information upon which the Overflight Fees were
based. The FAA had already begun developing a new Cost Accounting
System (CAS) in 1996. Early data from the new CAS was becoming
available in 1998. Thus, when the FAA decided, following the initial
litigation, to issue a new IFR, a key element of that decision was that
the fees would be derived from cost data from the new CAS.
A new IFR was published in the Federal Register on June 6, 2000 (65
FR 36002), with fees scheduled to go into effect on August 1, 2000.
This new IFR was challenged in court by the ATAC and a slightly
different group of seven foreign air carriers. The FAA began assessing
and collecting the new Overflight Fees as scheduled on August 1, 2000,
while public comments were still being received by the FAA on its
second IFR. The litigation proceeded concurrently, with oral arguments
held on May 14, 2001.
On July 13, 2001, the Court again vacated the FAA's IFR, this time
because the Court believed the FAA had failed to explain a key
assumption in its costing methodology. (Air Transport Association of
Canada v. FAA; 00-1344, July 13, 2001). Under the Court's order, there
were 45 days before the IFR was to be vacated. As noted above, the FAA
had solicited public comment on the IFR at the time it was published.
The FAA had received many comments on the several issues raised in the
litigation. At the time the Court's decision was issued, the FAA was
nearing completion of a Final Rule that would address these issues in
the disposition of public comments section of its preamble.
The FAA therefore proceeded on two fronts. It successfully
petitioned the Court not to vacate the IFR while it proceeded
concurrently with issuance of the Final Rule (``Fees for FAA Services
for Certain Flights,'' 66 FR 43680) on August 20, 2001, with revised
fees effective immediately. In addition to addressing the public
comments received on the IFR, the Final Rule reduced fees by about 15
percent due to adjustments in the original cost data. A new challenge
to the revised fees was brought after the issuance of the Final Rule by
ATAC and the same group of air carriers. The two cases, one challenging
the IFR (65 FR 36002) issued in 2000 and the other challenging the
Final Rule (66 FR 43680) issued in 2001, were combined by the Court
into a single case.
While the litigation was still pending, on November 19, 2001,
Congress enacted the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA),
which included a provision that amended the Overflight Fee
authorization (1) To require that the fees be ``reasonably'' (rather
than ``directly'') related to costs, (2) to clarify that the
Administrator has sole authority to determine the costs upon which the
fees are based, and (3) to state explicitly that such cost
determinations by the Administrator are not subject to judicial review.
Meanwhile, the litigation proceeded into 2003, with the FAA continuing
to collect the fees as required by statute.
On April 8, 2003, the Court issued a decision setting aside the
Final Rule and remanding it back to the FAA, finding that the agency
had not adequately explained its handling of controller labor costs in
deriving the fees. Air Transport Association of Canada v. FAA, 323 F.3d
1093 (D.C. Cir. 2003). The Court also found that the Overflight Fees
amendments in the ATSA statute were inapplicable because of a generic
``savings'' provision in the ATSA legislation that stated that nothing
enacted in ATSA was applicable to any litigation ongoing prior to the
date of enactment of ATSA. Fee collections were immediately suspended.
On December 12, 2003, Congress enacted VISION 100--CENTURY OF
AVIATION REAUTHORIZATION ACT, (Vision 100). Section 229 of that Act
explicitly ``adopted, legalized, and confirmed'' both the IFR published
in 2000 and the Final Rule published in 2001. In addition, the FAA was
directed to hold a consultation meeting with users (those who pay the
Overflight Fees to the FAA) and to submit a report to Congress
addressing the issues that had been in dispute in the litigation before
resuming the billing and collection of the Overflight Fees.
Because there were ambiguous and potentially conflicting provisions
in Vision 100 concerning Overflight Fees, the Administrator issued an
Order on July 21, 2004, that set forth her interpretation of the
language of the statute and, based on that interpretation, made
determinations as to the ultimate disposition of Overflight Fees
collected by the FAA under both the 2000 IFR and the 2001 Final Rule.
The FAA retained a portion of the funds collected under the Final Rule,
while either refunding or providing credits to the airlines for all of
the fees collected under the IFR and a portion of the fees collected
under the Final Rule. A copy of that Order, ``Order Directing the
Disposition of Certain Fees Collected by the Federal Aviation
Administration Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. Section 45301,'' has been placed
in the docket.
The FAA met with users in September 2004 and submitted a report to
Congress at the same time, as mandated by the Vision 100 statute. This
cleared the way for the FAA to resume the billing and collection of
Overflight Fees. In most cases, amounts previously collected by the FAA
under the IFR and under the Final Rule up until the date of the ATSA
enactment were provided as credits to frequent payers. These amounts
were, in most cases, roughly offset by amounts owed by the carriers and
other users for the one-year period from March 2003 through February
2004. The carriers had not been billed for this period while the
litigation was ongoing, but were ultimately determined by the
Administrator to be liable for those fees.
Since that time, the FAA has followed the normal process of issuing
monthly bills for the services provided to Overflights. The fees
currently being charged were derived from cost and activity data for FY
1999. This NPRM proposes to update the existing fees by using cost and
activity data for FY 2008 to derive the fees. The cost methodology
applied in this NPRM is applied in the same manner as in 2001, except
that overhead has been included in the cost base for the fees this time
as a direct result of the ATSA amendment that changed the previous
statutory requirement that fees be ``directly'' related to costs to a
less stringent requirement that the fees be ``reasonably'' related to
costs.
The FAA's CAS has been evolving and improving over time. The CAS
has always relied on the best available data,
[[Page 59663]]
and as new systems and techniques have evolved, the quality and
accuracy of the data has improved. There are areas, such as the
reporting of labor costs, where costs were allocated or assigned in the
past based on estimates, but today are determined by actual data. This
is not a difference in how the data is gathered, but rather an
improvement in the quality and accuracy of the basic data. A detailed
explanation of how the CAS data was assembled can be found in the
``Costing Methodology Report, FY 2008,'' which has been placed in the
docket for this rulemaking.
Overflight Fees Aviation Rulemaking Committees (ARC)
In 2004, the FAA established an Overflight Fees ARC. That Committee
held two meetings in early 2005, but never issued a report or made a
recommendation to the FAA before its Charter expired. Subsequently, on
December 17, 2008, the FAA issued a new Charter for an Overflight Fees
ARC to advise and make recommendations to the FAA on the updating of
its Overflight Fees. The Overflight Fees ARC met several times in 2009
and issued its report and recommendations to the FAA on August 26,
2009. A copy of this report has been placed in the docket. The report
contains three principal recommendations:
1. That the FAA pursue the updating of its Overflight Fees through
the normal notice and comment type of rulemaking, rather than through
the interim final rule process previously mandated by Congress;
2. That, in updating the fees, the FAA abide by the policies of the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), whereby the principle
of gradualism is applied so that any substantial fee increase (as in
this case where a 9-year update is involved) is spread over several
years; and
3. That, in this instance, the specific increases be accomplished
over 4 increments, on October 1st of each year from 2011 through 2014,
with annual increases of 14% for Enroute and 8% for Oceanic.
The FAA believes that the ARC recommendations are a reasonable
approach to move forward on a consensus basis to update its Overflight
Fees. This NPRM proposes to implement the recommendations of the ARC.
It should be noted that the annual increases recommended by the ARC
(14% for the Enroute fee and 8% for the Oceanic fee) were derived from
information presented to the ARC by the FAA. The FAA had shown the ARC
that, in order for the FAA to approach the cost recovery called for by
Federal policy guidance on user fees, based on actual cost and activity
data for FY 2008, fee increases of approximately 69% and 36%,
respectively, for Enroute and Oceanic, would be necessary. Spreading
this increase over 4 years produces the recommended levels of 14% per
year, compounded, for Enroute and 8% per year, compounded, for Oceanic.
The actual dollar amounts of each fee as of each of the four
October 1st fee revision dates would be as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enroute Oceanic
(per 100 (per 100
Time period nautical nautical
miles) miles)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 1, 2011............................... $38.44 $17.22
October 1, 2012............................... 43.82 18.60
October 1, 2013............................... 49.95 20.09
October 1, 2014............................... 56.86 21.63
------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. Discussion of the Proposal
The proposed rule would update the FAA's existing Overflight Fees,
which are presently based on Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 cost and activity
data. The fees have not been updated since they were initially
established on August 20, 2001.
The current fees are derived arithmetically from final FAA CAS data
for FY 1999 and from the Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS) data
for the same year. The updated fees would be derived using basically
the same methodology as in 2001, but would be derived from final,
audited CAS data and ETMS data for FY 2008. The only difference would
be that the updated fees would include overhead in the cost base.
Overhead originally was excluded from the cost base for the existing
fees, but would be included in the derivation of the updated fees as
the result of the previously discussed change in the applicable
statutory authority (changing the requirement that fees be ``directly''
related to costs to a requirement that the fees be ``reasonably''
related to costs).
Separate overflight fees have been established, and are currently
in effect, for flights that transit U.S.-controlled airspace in each of
two operational environments--Enroute and Oceanic--without either
taking off from or landing in the United States. The updated Enroute
fee would be derived by taking (from CAS) the total costs incurred in
the Enroute environment in FY 2008 and dividing that number by the
number of miles flown in U.S.-controlled Enroute airspace in FY 2008.
This would produce a per-mile cost that would be levied as a charge per
100 nautical miles flown, using Great Circle Distance (GCD), from point
of entry into, to point of exit from, U.S.-controlled airspace. The
separate Oceanic fee is determined in precisely the same manner, by
dividing total Oceanic costs for FY 2008 by the total number of Oceanic
miles flown in FY 2008. The actual step-by-step derivation of these
fees, using actual numbers for FY 2008, is shown in the ``Overflight
Fee Development Report'' which is included in the docket for this
rulemaking.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507(d)) requires
that the FAA consider the impact of paperwork and other information
collection burdens imposed on the public. The FAA has determined that
there would be no new requirement for information collection associated
with this proposed rule. The FAA information used to track and bill
overflights (including the information collection necessary to
implement this proposal) is accessed from flight plans filed with the
FAA. The collection of Domestic and International Flight Plans is
approved under OMB collection Control 2120-0026. The FAA
seeks comment on whether a revision to this information collection
would be necessary as a result of this proposal.
International Compatibility
In keeping with U.S. obligations under the Convention on
International Civil Aviation, it is FAA policy to comply with
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and
Recommended Practices to the
[[Page 59664]]
maximum extent practicable. The FAA has reviewed the corresponding ICAO
Standards and Recommended Practices and has identified no differences
with these proposed regulations.
III. Regulatory Evaluation, Regulatory Flexibility Determination, and
Unfunded Mandates Assessment
Changes to Federal regulations must undergo several economic
analyses. First, Executive Order 12866 directs that each Federal agency
shall propose or adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned determination
that the benefits of the intended regulation justify its costs. Second,
the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (Pub. L. 96-354) requires
agencies to analyze the economic impact of regulatory changes on small
entities. Third, the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-
4) requires agencies to prepare a written assessment of the costs,
benefits, and other effects of proposed or final rules that include a
Federal mandate likely to result in the expenditure by State, local, or
tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of $100
million or more annually (adjusted for inflation with base year of
1995). This portion of the preamble summarizes the FAA's analysis of
the economic impacts of this proposed rule.
Department of Transportation Order DOT 2100.5 prescribes policies
and procedures for simplification, analysis, and review of regulations.
If the expected cost impact is so minimal that a proposed or final rule
does not warrant a full evaluation, this order permits that a statement
to that effect and the basis for it to be included in the preamble if a
full regulatory evaluation of the cost and benefits is not prepared.
Such a determination has been made for this proposed rule. The
reasoning for this determination follows:
Benefit
The benefit of this proposed rule would be that the overflight fees
will be more closely related to the actual costs of providing FAA's
services for these flights.
Costs
Taxes and government fees are a transfer payment, and, by OMB
directive, transfers are not considered a societal cost. Therefore,
this rule imposes no costs. We do provide an estimate of the transfers.
There would be a 4-year phase-in of fees with yearly increases (14%
Enroute and 8% Oceanic). Increases would begin in 2011 and end in 2014.
We have determined that approximately 80% of Overflight Fees for
domestic operators would be Enroute and 20% would be Oceanic. (See
Table 1.)
Most of the transfers from this proposed rule would be borne by
foreign operators. The estimated transfers from foreign operators to
the FAA are about $73 million ($52 million, present value). (See Table
2.)
Using the preceding information, the FAA estimates that the total
transfers resulting from this proposed rule from U.S. entities to the
FAA over 5 years would be about $1.1 million ($0.8 million, present
value). Again, government fees and taxes are considered transfers and
not societal costs, so this proposed rule does not increase society's
costs.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TP28SE10.001
The FAA has, therefore, determined that this proposed rule is not
an economically ``significant regulatory action'', but is a
``significant regulatory action'' for other reasons as defined in
section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866
[[Page 59665]]
and is ``significant'' as defined in DOT's Regulatory Policies and
Procedures.
Regulatory Flexibility Determination
The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) establishes ``as a
principle of regulatory issuance that agencies shall endeavor,
consistent with the objective of the rule and of applicable statutes,
to fit regulatory and informational requirements to the scale of the
business, organizations, and governmental jurisdictions subject to
regulation.'' To achieve that principle, the RFA requires agencies to
solicit and consider flexible regulatory proposals and to explain the
rationale for their actions. The RFA covers a wide-range of small
entities, including small businesses, not-for-profit organizations and
small governmental jurisdictions.
Agencies must perform a review to determine whether a proposed or
final rule will have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. If the agency determines that it will, the
agency must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis as described in
the Act.
The FAA ranked in descending order all domestic entities based on
their Overflight Fees. Then we identified 5 small entities having
publicly-available financial information (using a size standard of
1,500 or fewer employees) in the top 20 percent of the ranking. We
retrieved their annual revenue from World Aviation Directory and
compared it to their annualized compliance costs. Of these 5 entities,
all of them have annualized compliance costs as a percentage of annual
revenues lower than 0.1 percent. We believe this economic impact is not
significant. Consequently, the FAA certifies that the proposed rule
would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of
small entities.
Unfunded Mandates Assessment
Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-
4) requires each Federal agency to prepare a written statement
assessing the effects of any Federal mandate in a proposed or final
agency rule that may result in an expenditure of $100 million or more
(in 1995 dollars) in any one year by State, local, and tribal
governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector; such a mandate
is deemed to be a ``significant regulatory action.'' The FAA currently
uses an inflation-adjusted value of $143.1 million in lieu of $100
million. This proposed rule does not contain such a mandate; therefore,
the requirements of Title II of the Act do not apply.
Executive Order 13132, Federalism
The FAA has analyzed this proposed rule under the principles and
criteria of Executive Order 13132, Federalism. We determined that this
action would not have a substantial direct effect on the States, on the
relationship between the national government and the States, or on the
distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of
government, and, therefore, would not have federalism implications.
Environmental Analysis
FAA Order 1050.1E identifies FAA actions that are categorically
excluded from preparation of an environmental assessment or
environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy
Act in the absence of extraordinary circumstances. The FAA has
determined this proposed rulemaking action qualifies for the
categorical exclusion identified in paragraph 312d and involves no
extraordinary circumstances.
Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or
Use
The FAA has analyzed this NPRM under Executive Order 13211, Actions
Concerning Regulations that Significantly Affect Energy Supply,
Distribution, or Use (May 18, 2001). We have determined that it is not
a ``significant regulatory action'' under the executive order because,
while it is a ``significant regulatory action'' under DOT's Regulatory
Policies and Procedures, it is not likely to have a significant adverse
effect on the supply, distribution, or use of energy.
Plain English
Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, Oct. 4, 1993) requires each
agency to write regulations that are simple and easy to understand. We
invite your comments on how to make these proposed regulations easier
to understand, including answers to questions such as the following:
Are the requirements in the proposed regulations clearly
stated?
Do the proposed regulations contain unnecessary technical
language or jargon that interferes with their clarity?
Would the regulations be easier to understand if they were
divided into more (but shorter) sections?
Is the description in the preamble helpful in
understanding the proposed regulations?
Please send your comments to the address specified in the Addresses
section of this preamble.
Additional Information
Comments Invited
The FAA invites interested persons to participate in this
rulemaking by submitting written comments, data, or views. We also
invite comments relating to the economic, environmental, energy, or
federalism impacts that might result from adopting the proposals in
this document. The most helpful comments reference a specific portion
of the proposal, explain the reason for any recommended change, and
include supporting data. To ensure the docket does not contain
duplicate comments, please send only one copy of written comments, or
if you are filing comments electronically, please submit your comments
only one time.
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 proposed rulemaking. Before acting on this proposal, we
will consider all comments we receive on or before the closing date for
comments. We will consider comments filed after the comment period has
closed if it is possible to do so without incurring expense or delay.
We may change this proposal in light of the comments we receive.
Proprietary or Confidential Business Information
Do not file in the docket information that you consider to be
proprietary or confidential business information. Send or deliver this
information directly to the person identified in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document. You must mark the
information that you consider proprietary or confidential. If you send
the information on a disk or CD-ROM, mark the outside of the disk or
CD-ROM and also identify electronically within the disk or CD-ROM the
specific information that is proprietary or confidential.
Under 14 CFR 11.35(b), when we are aware of proprietary information
filed with a comment, we do not place it in the docket. We hold it in a
separate file to which the public does not have access, and we place a
note in the docket that we have received it. If we receive a request to
examine or copy this information, we treat it as any other request
under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). We process such a
request under the DOT procedures found in 49 CFR part 7.
[[Page 59666]]
Availability of Rulemaking Documents
You can get an electronic copy of rulemaking documents using the
Internet by--
1. Searching the Federal eRulemaking Portal (http://www.regulations.gov);
2. Visiting the FAA's Regulations and Policies Web page at http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies; or
3. Accessing the Government Printing Office's Web page at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html.
You can also get a copy by sending a request to the Federal
Aviation Administration, Office of Rulemaking, ARM-1, 800 Independence
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591, or by calling (202) 267-9680. Make
sure to identify the docket number or notice number of this rulemaking.
You may access all documents the FAA considered in developing this
proposed rule, including economic analyses and technical reports, from
the Internet through the Federal eRulemaking Portal referenced in
paragraph (1).
List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 187
Administrative practice and procedure, Air transportation.
The Proposed Amendment
In consideration of the foregoing, the Federal Aviation
Administration proposes to amend Chapter I of Title 14, Code of Federal
Regulations, as follows:
PART 187--FEES
1. The authority citation for part 187 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 31 U.S.C. 9701, 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 49 U.S.C.
106(l)((6), 40104-401-5, 40109, 40113-40114, 44702.
2. In part 187, Appendix B is amended by revising paragraph (e)(2)
to read as follows:
Appendix B to Part 187--Fees for FAA Services for Certain Flights
* * * * *
(e) * * *
(2) A User (operator of an Overflight) is assessed a fee for
each 100 nautical miles (or portion thereof) flown in each segment
and type of U.S.-controlled airspace. Separate calculations are made
for transiting Enroute and Oceanic airspace. The total fee charged
for an Overflight between any entry and exit point is equal to the
sum of these two charges. This relationship is summarized as:
Rij = X*DEij + Y*DOij,
Where:
Rij = the fee charged to aircraft flying between entry point i and
exit point j,
DEij = total great circle distance traveled in each
segment of U.S.-controlled Enroute airspace expressed in hundreds of
nautical miles for aircraft flying between entry point i and exit
point j for each segment of Enroute airspace.
DOij = total great circle distance traveled in each
segment of U.S.-controlled Oceanic airspace expressed in hundreds of
nautical miles for aircraft flying between entry point i and exit
point j for each segment of Oceanic airspace.
X and Y = the values respectively set forth in the following
schedule:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time period X (Enroute) Y (Oceanic)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through September 30, 2011.......... $33.72 $15.94
October 1, 2011 through September 38.44 17.22
30, 2012...........................
October 1, 2012 through September 43.82 18.60
30, 2013...........................
October 1, 2013 through September 49.95 20.09
30, 2014...........................
October 1, 2014 and beyond.......... 56.86 21.63
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * *
Issued in Washington, DC, on September 22, 2010.
Carl W. Burrus,
Director, Office of Financial Controls.
[FR Doc. 2010-24342 Filed 9-27-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P