554 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 3 / Wednesday, January 5, 2000 / Notices

C file for a carrier or carriers with the

same aircraft type and similar operating

characteristics. Such a review validates

the reasonableness of the carrier’s

operating plan.

The quarterly financial submissions

by commuter and small certificated air

carriers are used in determining each

carrier’s continuing fitness to operate.

Section 41738 of Title 49 of the United

States Code requires DOT to find all

commuter and small certificated air

carriers fit, willing and able to conduct

passenger service as a prerequisite to

providing such service to an eligible

essential air service point. In making a

fitness determination, DOT reviews

three areas of a carrier’s operation: (1)

The qualifications of its management

team, (2) its disposition to comply with

laws and regulations, and (3) its

financial posture. DOT must determine

whether or not a carrier has sufficient

financial resources to conduct its

operations without imposing undue risk

on the traveling public. Moreover, once

a carrier is operating as a commuter,

DOT is required to monitor its

continuing fitness.

Industry Analysis

The Secretary, Deputy Secretary and

other senior DOT officials must be kept

fully informed and advised of all

current and developing economic issues

affecting the airline industry. This is

accomplished through the preparation

of testimony given before Congressional

committees, briefing and status papers,

speech preparation, and memoranda

recommending decisions or listing

available options.

The analytical methodologies

employed under this program are as

varied as the nature of the particular

aviation policy issues that confront

senior DOT officials. In preparing

financial condition reports or status

reports on a particular airline, financial

and traffic data are analyzed. Briefing

papers may use the same information as

well as airport activity data and market

data. In summary, the nature of a

particular aviation issue determines the

particular methodology used to prepare

the analysis.

Safety Analysis

The FAA evaluates the adequacy of

aviation safety regulations, standards,

policies and procedures. Problem areas

are identified and recommendations are

developed for appropriate solutions.

Enplanement data are used in

evaluating the safety status of carriers.

Passenger-miles are used to calculate

fatality and injury rates, while aircraftmiles are used in performing risk

analysis and comparative analyses with

other traffic modes. Departure data are

used to calculate accident/incident

rates, developing rates of near misses,

and assessing the significance of the

incident of operational errors.

Forecasting

Traffic schedules are used to derive

air carrier operations at non-tower

airports. Historical aircraft departure

data are used to supplement and

validate other sources of Terminal Area

Forecasts (TAF). The aircraft operations

data in the TAF are needed by the

National Plan of Integrated Airports

System (NPIAS) to prepare airport

master plans. In addition, aircraft

operations forecast data in TAF are used

in developing benefit/cost ratios for

tower establishment and tower

discontinuance criteria, for supporting

decisions on the purchase of safetyrelated avionics equipment, and for the

allocation of scarce resources for the

construction or expansion of runways

and other airport facilities.

Historical enplanement data are

required to produce short, medium, and

long range passenger demand forecasts

for all airports with passenger service.

These forecasts are presented in the

TAF data base, which contains

approximately 4,000 airports, including

all airports in the NPIAS. TAF

enplanement data are used in the

preparation of various airport master

plans and in response to requests for

specific airport information from

Congress, states, and the general public.

Historical passenger enplanement

data, aircraft departure data, and freight

and mail tons enplaned by airport are

all used to project air carrier traffic and

cargo activity levels for hub airports.

Cost/Benefit Analysis

Safety rules proposed by the FAA

operating units are submitted for

economic analysis. Under established

costing methodologies, which use

various cost and traffic data, accident

data, and risk analysis, the proposed

rules are evaluated on (1) a cost/benefit

basis, (2) regulatory flexibility basis and,

(3) an international trade impact basis.

Allocation of Airport and Airways

Improvement Funds

A revenue passenger enplanement

formula prescribed in the Airport and

Airway Improvement Act is used to

determine the amount of funds to be

allocated to each airport. Form 298–C

schedules that identify revenue

passengers enplaned at individual

airports in the United States and Trust

Territories, are used for the formula.

Since several airports in the national

system are heavily involved in air

freight, all-cargo data, such as revenue

tons enplaned and aircraft departures,

are used to plan for future needs of

those airports. Scheduled aircraft

departures by aircraft type by airport are

used in determining the practical

annual capacity (PANCAP) at airports,

as prescribed in FAA Advisory Circular

‘‘Airport Capacity Criteria Used in

Preparing the National Airport Plan.’’

PANCAP is a safety-related benchmark

measure which indicates when airport

management should be concerned about

capacity problems, delays and possible

needed airport expansion or runway

construction.

Noise Abatement

Air carrier traffic data by airport are

used in assessing the level and

frequency of service at individual

airports in order to determine the

environmental noise impact of carrier

operations. Also, aircraft operating data

are used to assess carrier compliance

with noise abatement agreements.

Donald W. Bright,

Acting Director, Office of Airline Information,

Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

[FR Doc. 00–162 Filed 1–4–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–FE–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Agency Information Collection;

Activity Under OMB Review; Report of

Extension of Credit to Political

Candidates: Form 183

AGENCY: Bureau of Transportation

Statistics (BTS), DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,

Public Law 104–13, the Bureau of

Transportation Statistics (BTS) invites

the general public, industry and other

Federal Agencies to comment on the

continuing need for and usefulness of

BTS collecting reports from air carriers

on the aggregated indebtedness balance

of a political candidate or party for

Federal office. The reports are required

when the aggregated indebtedness is

over $5,000 on the last day of a month.

DATES: Written comments should be

submitted by March 6, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be

directed to: Office of Airline

Information, K–25, Room 4125, Bureau

of Transportation Statistics, Department

of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street,

SW., Washington, DC 20590–0001, FAX

NO. (202) 366–3383 or EMAIL

bernard.stankus@bts.gov.

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 3 / Wednesday, January 5, 2000 / Notices 555

COMMENTS: Comments should identify

the OMB # 2138–0016 and submit a

duplicate copy to the address listed

above. Commenters wishing the

Department to acknowledge receipt of

their comments must submit with those

comments a self-addressed stamped

postcard on which the following

statement is made: Comments on OMB

# 2138–0016. The postcard will be date/

time stamped and returned to the

commenter.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Bernie Stankus, Office of Airline

Information, K–25, Bureau of

Transportation Statistics, 400 Seventh

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590–

0001, (202) 366–4387.

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION:

OMB Approval No. 2138–0016.

Title: Report of Extension of Credit to

Political Candidates—Form 183

Form No.: 183.

Type of Review: Extension of a

currently approved collection.

Respondents: Certificated air carriers.

Number of Respondents: 2.

Number of Responses: 24.

Estimated Time Per Response: 1 hour.

Total Annual Burden: 24 hours.

Needs and Uses: The Department uses

this form as the means to fulfill its

obligations under the Federal Election

Campaign Act to collect data on the

extension of unsecured credit to

candidates for Federal office.

Certificated air carriers submit this data.

Donald W. Bright,

Acting Director, Office of Airline Information,

Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

[FR Doc. 00–164 Filed 1–4–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–FE–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Agency Information Collection;

Activity Under OMB Review; Report of

Traffic and Capacity Statistics—The T–

100 System

AGENCY: Bureau of Transportation

Statistics (BTS), DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,

Public Law 104–13, the Bureau of

Transportation Statistics (BTS) invites

the general public, industry and other

Federal Agencies to comment on the

continuing need for and usefulness of

collecting market and segment traffic

statistics from U.S. and foreign air

carriers.

DATES: Written comments should be

submitted by March 6, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be

directed to: Office of Airline

Information, K–25, Room 4125, Bureau

of Transportation Statistics, Department

of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street,

SW., Washington, DC 20590–0001, FAX

NO. (202) 366–3383 or EMAIL

bernard.stankus@bts.gov.

COMMENTS: Comments should identify

the OMB # 2138–0040 and submit a

duplicate copy to the address listed

above. Commenters wishing the

Department to acknowledge receipt of

their comments must submit with those

comments a self-addressed stamped

postcard on which the following

statement is made: Comments on OMB

# 2138–0040. The postcard will be date/

time stamped and returned to the

commenter.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Bernie Stankus, Office of Airline

Information, K–25, Bureau of

Transportation Statistics, 400 Seventh

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590–

0001, (202) 366–4387.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

OMB Approval No. 2138–0040

Title: Report of Traffic and Capacity

Statistics—The T–100 System.

Form No.: Schedule T–100 and

Schedule T–100(f).

Type of Review: Extension of a

currently approved collection.

Respondents: U.S. certificated and

foreign air carriers.

Number of Respondents: 90 U.S.

certificated air carriers 176 foreign air

carriers.

Number of Responses: 3192.

Estimated Time Per Response: 10

hours per U.S. carrier 1.5 hours per

foreign carrier.

Total Annual Burden: 14,000 hours.

Needs and Uses: Air services between

the United States and most foreign

countries are governed by bilateral

aviation agreements. Evaluations of

existing bilateral agreements and

proposed changes to such agreements

are based on a determination of the

traffic and revenues between the United

States and foreign countries for

scheduled passenger and cargo flights as

well as charter services. In order to

determine conditions of reciprocity and

the overall balance of trade, DOT

conducts similar analyses for countries

with which the United States does not

have bilateral aviation agreements.

Information used in these analyses

includes traffic volume by countries and

by city-pairs for passenger and cargo

services and the corresponding traffic

yields. Data such as passenger and cargo

load factors, aircraft seating

configurations, cargo capacities, and

aircraft unit costs are also used.

Air Carrier Safety

The Department is responsible for

monitoring the safety levels and

continuing fitness of individual air

carrier operators. These programs

conduct risk analysis and evaluations

based on air carrier traffic and capacity

statistics. For instance, if a carrier is

rapidly expanding its operations, traffic

data may indicate whether its expansion

is exceeding its capacity for growth.

Further, Departmental decisions as to

the frequency and intensity of in-depth

inspections are affected by such activity

indicators.

International Routes

In air carrier selection cases for

limited entry international routes, the

competing air carriers are required to

submit an operating plan. To analyze a

proposed operating plan, the

Department uses current and historical

traffic and capacity data of the applicant

and other air carriers serving the

relevant markets to determine the

reliability of the applicant’s financial

and traffic forecasts and to evaluate the

applicant’s competing fare and service

proposals.

In a route case where an air carrier

proposes ‘‘primary service’’ and

‘‘behind gateway’’ service, timely and

consistent data are essential for the

Department to respond to the

procedural deadlines mandated by the

Airline Deregulation Act in route

application proceedings, such as the 150

days given to the Administrative Law

Judge to receive evidence, conduct a

hearing, and issue a Recommended

Decision.

International/Alaska Mail Rates

The Department is responsible for

establishing international and intraAlaska mail rates. Separate international

mail rates are set based on scheduled

operations in four geographic areas:

Transborder, Latin America, the

Atlantic, and the Pacific. The rate

structure is updated biannually to

reflect changes in unit costs in each

ratemaking entity. In the rate-making

process, the investment base and area

cost calculations use traffic and capacity

data, such as enplaned tons and

available ton-miles, to develop the

required unit cost data, as well as to

evaluate the reasonableness of carrier

cost allocations between entities.

International Fares and Rates

The Department is charged with

establishing regulatory benchmarks

(zones of reasonableness) for its review

of international fares and rates for

passenger and cargo traffic, respectively.

The benchmark for passenger fares is