I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 469

To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to improve air service to small

communities.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 6, 1993

Mr. OBERSTAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Public Works and Transportation

A BILL

To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to improve

air service to small communities.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. PROTECTION OF SMALL COMMUNITY AIRLINE

4 PASSENGERS.

5 (a) ACCESS TO HIGH DENSITY AIRPORTS.—Section

6 419(b) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C.

7 App. 1389(b)) is amended by adding at the end the follow8 ing new paragraph:

9 ‘‘(10) ACCESS TO HIGH DENSITY AIRPORTS.—
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1 ‘‘(A) NONCONSIDERATION OF SLOT AVAIL2 ABILITY.—In determining what is basic essen3 tial air service and in selecting an air carrier to

4 provide such service, the Secretary shall not

5 give consideration to whether slots at a high

6 density airport are available for providing such

7 service.

8 ‘‘(B) MAKING SLOTS AVAILABLE.—If basic

9 essential air service is to be provided to and

10 from a high density airport, the Secretary shall

11 ensure that a sufficient number of slots at such

12 airport are available to the air carrier providing

13 or selected to provide such service. If necessary

14 to carry out the objectives of this subsection,

15 the Secretary shall take such action as may be

16 necessary to have such slots transferred or oth17 erwise made available to the air carrier; except

18 that the Secretary shall not be required to

19 make slots available at O’Hare International

20 Airport in Chicago, Illinois, if the number of

21 slots available for basic essential air service to

22 and from such airport is at least 132 slots.’’.

23 (b) TRANSFERS OF SLOTS AT HIGH DENSITY AIR24 PORTS.—Section 419(b)(7) of such Act (49 U.S.C. App.

25 1389(b)(7)) is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘TRANSFER OF OPERATIONAL

2 AUTHORITY AT CERTAIN’’ and inserting ‘‘TRANS3 FERS OF SLOTS AT’’;

4 (2) by striking ‘‘an airport at which the Admin5 istrator limits the number of instrument flight rule

6 takeoffs and landings of aircraft’’ and inserting ‘‘a

7 high density airport’’;

8 (3) by striking ‘‘operational authority’’ and in9 serting ‘‘slots’’;

10 (4) by striking ‘‘has to conduct a landing or

11 takeoff’’ and inserting ‘‘have’’; and

12 (5) by striking ‘‘such authority’’ the first place

13 it appears and inserting ‘‘such slots’’;

14 (6) by striking ‘‘such authority is’’ and insert15 ing ‘‘such slots are’’; and

16 (7) by inserting ‘‘basic essential’’ after ‘‘used to

17 provide’’.

18 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 419(k) of such Act (49

19 U.S.C. App. 1389(k)) is amended by adding at the end

20 the following new paragraphs:

21 ‘‘(6) HIGH DENSITY AIRPORT.—The term ‘high

22 density airport’ means an airport at which the Ad23 ministrator limits the number of instrument flight

24 rule takeoffs and landings of aircraft.
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1 ‘‘(7) SLOT.—The term ‘slot’ means a reserva2 tion for an instrument flight rule takeoff or landing

3 by an air carrier of an aircraft in air transpor4 tation.’’.

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