Delta Air Lines, Inc., Dept #661, PO Box 20706, Atlanta, GA 30320-6001

 

Delta Air Lines, Inc.

 Network Planning

 August 3, 2011

Mr. Rob Hawks

Attorney, Regulations Division

Federal Aviation Administration

Office of Chief Counsel

800 Independence Avenue, S.W.

Washington, DC 20591

Dear Mr. Hawks,

In light of our slot waiver request, further review of the usage report submitted to the FAA 

identified several slot transfers that should have occurred between Delta Air Lines and our Delta 

Connection carriers. Due to the numerous cancellations and subsequent repositioning of 

aircraft and other network recovery initiatives during the excessive snow storms, many 

unplanned schedule changes transpired. 

Due to these extraordinary circumstances, we neglected to submit these transfers in advance. 

In normal course of business, our schedules are planned months in advance and slots are 

assigned accurately to the appropriate carriers. We will continue to be on the alert to 

accomplish any needed transfers of slots due to unexpected, close-in situations to prevent this 

from happening in the future. We have scheduled further reviews of slot compliance and 

accuracy to ensure this situation will not happen again and do not expect this to be an ongoing 

situation.

We respectfully request retroactive transfers of operations by our Delta Connection partners 

which are listed below. Confirmation of these transfers, and granting of the waiver request on 

file, will result in the following slots meeting the 80% utilization requirement for January and 

February. 

1/ DCA - 1900/11010 – Short 5 operations

REQUEST FOR SLOT APPROVAL

EFF. 08FEB2011 END. 10FEB2011

SLOT ID TIME STAT FREQNCY LOSS GAIN

DCA 11010 1900 A 234 DAL COM

REQUEST FOR SLOT APPROVAL

EFF. 13FEB2011 END. 14FEB2011

SLOT ID TIME STAT FREQNCY LOSS GAIN

DCA 11010 1900 A 17 DAL CAA
 

Delta Air Lines, Inc., Dept #661, PO Box 20706, Atlanta, GA 30320-6001

2/ LGA - 0830D/35034 – Short 3 operations

REQUEST FOR SLOT APPROVAL

EFF. 14FEB2011 END. 16FEB2011

SLOT ID TIME STAT FREQNCY LOSS GAIN

LGA 35034 0830D A 123 DAL CHQ

3/ LGA - 0830D/3336 – Short 3 operations

REQUEST FOR SLOT APPROVAL

EFF. 18FEB2011 END. 18FEB2011

SLOT ID TIME STAT FREQNCY LOSS GAIN

LGA 3336 0830D A 5 DAL TCF

REQUEST FOR SLOT APPROVAL

EFF. 08FEB2011 END. 08FEB2011

SLOT ID TIME STAT FREQNCY LOSS GAIN

LGA 3336 0830D A 2 DAL CHQ

REQUEST FOR SLOT APPROVAL

EFF. 25FEB2011 END. 25FEB2011

SLOT ID TIME STAT FREQNCY LOSS GAIN

LGA 3336 0830D A 5 DAL CHQ

Finally, we understand certain traditional off-peak slot times at DCA were below 80% utilization 

(0600 and 2200 hours). In practice, these slots have not been precisely monitored due to their 

availability; however, given new increased demand and inquiries, Delta Air Lines has taken 

immediate action to maintain utilization requirements within these hours, in future. I hope this 

can resolve any concerns of under-utilization of these slots during past usage periods, as well. 

See transactions sent in to FAA on July 20, 2011 which are listed below:

SLOT ID TIME STAT FREQNCY LOSS GAIN EFF DT DIS DT

DCA 0092 2200N A DAILY DAL FAA 20JUL11 PERM

DCA 0187 2200N A DAILY DAL FAA 20JUL11 PERM

DCA 1434 2200N A DAILY DAL FAA 20JUL11 PERM

DCA 1004 2200N A DAILY DAL FAA 16AUG11 PERM

DCA 1485 2200N A DAILY DAL FAA 16AUG11 PERM

DCA 1006 0600N A 12345.7 DAL FAA 16AUG11 03SEP11 

DCA 1006 0600N A DAILY DAL FAA 04SEP11 PERM SUBJ TO RECALL 

DCA 1595 0600N A 12345.7 DAL FAA 16AUG11 03SEP11 

DCA 1595 0600N A DAILY DAL FAA 04SEP11 PERM SUBJ TO RECALL

Please contact me at 612-578-4122 should you have any questions and thank youyou’re your 

consideration.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Sayre

Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Director – International Schedules and Airport Access