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[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 205 (Monday, October 24, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65773-65775]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-27434]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

[Docket No. FAA-2010-0109]

Petition for Waiver of the Terms of the Order Limiting Scheduled 
Operations at LaGuardia Airport; Procedures for the Reallocation of 
Slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and LaGuardia 
Airport

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

ACTION: Notice of procedures for the reallocation of slots at Ronald 
Reagan Washington National Airport and LaGuardia Airport.

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SUMMARY: Under this notice, the FAA announces the procedures for the 
reallocation of slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and 
LaGuardia Airport, which are being divested by Delta Air Lines, Inc. 
and US Airways, Inc. resulting from a grant of waiver to them.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 7, 2011, the Secretary of 
Transportation and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation 
Administration (FAA) granted with conditions a joint waiver request by 
Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Delta) and US Airways, Inc. (US Airways) from 
the prohibition on purchasing operating authorizations (slots) at 
LaGuardia Airport (LGA). 76 FR 63702 (Oct. 13, 2011) (the Waiver). The 
Waiver permitted Delta and US Airways 30 days to accept the terms of 
the Waiver. They accepted by joint letter on October 12, 2011.
    Among the conditions of the Waiver, the Secretary and the 
Administrator require Delta and US Airways collectively to dispose of 
16 slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and 32 
slots at LGA. Those divested slots will be reallocated in one slot 
bundle for DCA and two slot bundles (of 16 slots each) for LGA to 
eligible new entrant and limited incumbent carriers. The following 
discussion describes the procedures and timelines for that 
reallocation.

Registration for the Slot Reallocation

    The Waiver establishes that new entrant and limited incumbent 
carriers with less than five percent of the total slot holdings at DCA 
or LGA, and which do not code share to or from DCA or LGA with any 
carrier that has five percent or more of the total slot holdings, may 
participate in the reallocation at the respective airport. Eligible 
participating carriers also may not be subsidiaries, either partially 
or wholly owned, of a company whose combined slot holdings are equal to 
or greater than five percent of the total slot holdings at DCA or LGA 
respectively, with the exception of Frontier Airlines as noted in the 
Waiver.
    Because the identities of slot bidders are undisclosed during the 
bidding period, the FAA is requiring registration by eligible carriers 
to participate in the reallocation process. Eligible carriers may 
register by e-mail to 7-awa-slotadmin@faa.gov between October 19 and 
October 28, 2011. Please include ``DCA/LGA Slot Reallocation'' in the 
email subject line. An eligible carrier must register as an individual 
carrier and may not submit a joint bid with another carrier. The 
registering carrier must indicate whether it intends to bid on slot 
bundles at DCA or LGA or both airports. The registering carrier must 
state whether there is common ownership or control of, by, or with any 
other carrier at the respective airport. Finally, the registering 
carrier must certify that it will disclose no purchase offer 
information to any person other than its agent.
    The FAA will confirm eligibility and respond by email with a bidder 
identification number for each slot bundle no later than November 10, 
2011.

Slot Bundles

    The Waiver requires the divested slots to be reallocated in 
bundles. For DCA slots, there is one bundle of 16 slots (DCA Bundle). 
For LGA slots, there are two bundles of 16 slots each (LGA Bundle A and 
LGA Bundle B). The contents of the slot bundles are included in an 
appendix to this document.

Bidding on Slot Bundles

    The Waiver permits a bidding period of seven business days. 
Accordingly, the bidding period will open at 9 a.m., Eastern time, on 
November 14, 2011, and it will close at 5 p.m., Eastern time, on 
November 22, 2011. Registered bidders may submit cash-only bids at any 
time during that bidding period and may submit multiple bids during the 
bidding period. The FAA will construe the latest received bid as that 
bidder's final bid.
    Registered bidders may submit bids via email to 7-awa-slotadmin@faa.gov. Please include ``DCA/LGA Slot Reallocation'' in the 
e-mail subject line. The FAA requests the following format for required 
bid information in the body of the email:

Bidder Identification Number, Slot Bundle, Preference Ranking, Bid 
Price

    The preference ranking applies only to the LGA slot bundles, and 
the FAA will use it only if one bidder submits the highest bid for both 
bundles. This preference ranking should be either a ``1'' (first 
priority) or a ``2'' (second priority).
    The FAA will reject any bid that does not contain all required bid 
information. The FAA also will reject any bid received after 5 p.m., 
Eastern time, on November 22, 2011. The FAA will use its email system 
time stamp as the submission time of the bid. Bids are effective upon 
receipt, and the FAA will not permit the withdrawal of any bid.
    The FAA will post a running tally of bids for each slot bundle at 
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation. That tally will include the required bid information and 
time stamp of the bid. The FAA will post bids at approximately 9 a.m., 
12 p.m., and 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each business day of the bidding 
period (for bids received by 8 a.m., 11 a.m., and 3 p.m., Eastern time, 
respectively). On November 22, the FAA will post bids each hour from

[[Page 65774]]

9 a.m. through 4 p.m., Eastern time, for bids received prior to the 
previous half hour (e.g., at 10 a.m. for all bids received by 9:30 
a.m.). On the following day, November 23, 2011, the FAA will post bids 
received during the last hour of bidding.

Completing the Slot Reallocation Transaction

    On November 23, 2011, the FAA will notify the divesting carrier and 
the winning bidder for each bundle of the winning bid and contact 
information for completing the transaction. The Waiver requires the 
divesting carrier and each winning bidder to enter into a binding 
agreement with respect to the sale of the divested slots within five 
business days from the FAA's notice of the winning bid. Accordingly, 
the FAA expects the carriers will notify the FAA that they have entered 
into binding agreements with respect to the sale of the divested slots, 
via e-mail to 7-awa-slotadmin@faa.gov, no later than December 1, 2011. 
That notification must certify that only monetary consideration will be 
or has been exchanged for the slots.

Posting Bid Information

    After the FAA receives notice of the binding agreement between the 
divesting carrier and the winning bidder, it will post the winning bid 
and identity of the winning bidder at http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation. The FAA also will post all 
other bid information with the name of the respective bidders.
    In the unlikely event that no bids are received for a particular 
slot bundle, those slots would revert to the FAA. The FAA would post 
notice if no bids were received at http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation.
    DATES: Registration by eligible carriers must be completed by 
October 28, 2011. The bidding period for registered bidders will open 
at 9 a.m., Eastern time, on November 14, 2011, and will close at 5 
p.m., Eastern time, on November 22, 2011.
    ADDRESSES: Requests for registration and bids may be submitted by 
e-mail to the Slot Administration Office at 7-AWA-slotadmin@faa.gov. 
Information regarding the slot reallocation may be found at: http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation.
    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Hawks, Office of the Chief 
Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20591; telephone number: 202-267-7143; fax number: 202-
267-7971; e-mail: rob.hawks@faa.gov.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on October 18, 2011.
Rebecca B. MacPherson,
Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations.

Appendix

    The DCA Bundle consists of:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Slot ID                       Time          Frequency
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1147....................................            0700             X67
1132....................................            0800           Daily
1150....................................            0800           Daily
1056....................................            0900           Daily
1030....................................            1000           Daily
1083....................................            1000           Daily
1223....................................            1100           Daily
1027....................................            1200           Daily
1142....................................            1300           Daily
1109....................................            1400           Daily
1389....................................            1600           Daily
1238....................................            1700           Daily
1401....................................            1800           Daily
1515....................................            1800           Daily
1308....................................            2000              X6
1065....................................            2100              X6
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The LGA Bundle A consists of:

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                  Slot ID                         Time                    Arr./Dep.                  Frequency
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3197.......................................            0600  Departure..........................             X67
3183.......................................            0630  Departure..........................             X67
2138.......................................            0730  Arrival............................             X67
2202.......................................            0830  Departure..........................             X67
3003.......................................            0830  Arrival............................             X67
3230.......................................            0930  Departure..........................             X67
3636.......................................            1100  Arrival............................             X67
3430.......................................            1230  Departure..........................              X6
3415.......................................            1300  Arrival............................              X6
2160.......................................            1400  Departure..........................              X6
2188.......................................            1500  Arrival............................              X6
3089.......................................            1600  Departure..........................              X6
3606.......................................            1700  Arrival............................              X6
3015.......................................            1830  Departure..........................              X6
3848.......................................            2000  Arrival............................              X6
3110.......................................            2100  Arrival............................              X6
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    The LGA Bundle B consists of:

[[Page 65775]]

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                  Slot ID                         Time                    Arr./Dep.                  Frequency
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3326.......................................            0630  Departure..........................             X67
2201.......................................            0700  Departure..........................             X67
2108.......................................            0800  Arrival............................             X67
3318.......................................            0930  Departure..........................             X67
2072.......................................            1000  Arrival............................             X67
2182.......................................            1030  Departure..........................             X67
3093.......................................            1230  Arrival............................              X6
3075.......................................            1330  Departure..........................              X6
3098.......................................            1430  Arrival............................              X6
3569.......................................            1600  Departure..........................              X6
2004.......................................            1630  Arrival............................              X6
2129.......................................            1730  Departure..........................              X6
2007.......................................            1830  Arrival............................              X6
2038.......................................            1930  Departure..........................              X6
3104.......................................            2030  Arrival............................              X6
3054.......................................            2130  Arrival............................              X6
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[FR Doc. 2011-27434 Filed 10-21-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P
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