Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 186 / Tuesday, September 26, 2006 / Notices 56213 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Office of the Secretary 

[Docket No. OST–2003–15962] 

Notice of Request for Renewal of a 

Previously Approved Collection 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended), this 

notice announces the U.S. Department 

of Transportation’s (DOT) intention to 

request extension of a previously 

approved information collection. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by November 27, 2006. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

[identified by DOT DMS Docket Number 

OST–2003–15962] by any of the 

following methods: 

• Web site: http://dms.dot.gov. 

Follow the instructions for submitting 

comments on the DOT electronic docket 

site. 

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility; 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 

Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, 

Room PL–401, Washington, DC 20590–

0001. 

• Hand Delivery: Room PL–401 on 

the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 

400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, 

DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except on Federal 

holidays. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

Instructions: All submissions must 

include the agency name and docket 

number or Regulatory Identification 

Number (RIN) for this rulemaking. For 

detailed instructions on submitting 

comments and additional information 

on the rulemaking process, see the 

Public Participation heading of the 

Supplementary Information section of 

this document. Note that all comments 

received will be posted without change 

to http://dms.dot.gov including any 

personal information provided. Please 

see the Privacy Act heading under 

Regulatory Notes. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to http:// 

dms.dot.gov at any time or to Room PL–

401 on the plaza level of the Nassif 

Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., 

Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 

p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal Holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Lauralyn Remo, Air Carrier Fitness 

Division (X–56), Office of Aviation 

Analysis, Office of the Secretary, U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 400 

Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 

20590, (202) 366–9721. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Procedures and Evidence Rules 

for Air Carrier Authority Applications: 

14 CFR Part 201—Air Carrier Authority 

under Subtitle VII of Title 49 of the 

United States Code—(Amended); 14 

CFR Part 204—Data to Support Fitness 

Determinations; 14 CFR Part 291—Cargo 

Operations in Interstate Air 

Transportation. 

OMB Control Number: 2106–0023. 

Type of Request: Extension without 

change, of previously approved 

collection. 

Abstract: In order to determine the 

fitness of persons seeking authority to 

engage in air transportation, the 

Department collects information from 

them about their ownership, 

citizenship, managerial competence, 

operating proposal, financial condition, 

and compliance history. The specific 

information to be filed by respondents 

is set forth in 14 CFR parts 201 and 204. 

Respondents: Persons seeking initial 

or continuing authority to engage in air 

transportation of persons, property, and/ 

or mail. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

215. 

Average Annual Burden per 

Respondent: 25.20 hours. 

Estimated Total Burden on 

Respondents: 5,420 hours. 

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether 

the proposed collection of information 

is necessary for the proper performance 

of the functions of the Department, 

including whether the information will 

have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of 

the Department’s estimate of the burden 

of the proposed information collection; 

(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility 

and clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on respondents, including the use of 

automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

All responses to this notice will be 

summarized and included in the request 

for OMB approval. All comments will 

also become a matter of public record. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on September 

10, 2006. 

Todd M. Homan, 

Director, Office of Aviation Analysis. 

[FR Doc. E6–15726 Filed 9–25–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

[Docket No. FAA–2004–16944] 

Operating Limitations at Chicago 

O’Hare International Airport; Order To 

Show Cause and Request for 

Comments 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of Order To Show Cause 

and request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The FAA has issued an order 

to show cause, which solicits the views 

of interested persons on the FAA’s 

tentative determination to modify the 

August 2004 order temporarily limiting 

scheduled operations at O’Hare 

International Airport (O’Hare). The text 

of the order to show cause is set forth 

in this notice. 

DATES: Any written information that 

responds to the FAA’s order to show 

cause must be submitted by September 

29, 2006. 

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, 

identified by docket number FAA–

2004–16944, using any of the following 

methods: 

• DOT Docket Web site: 

Go to http://dms.dot.gov and follow the 

instructions for sending your comments 

electronically. 

• Government-wide rulemaking Web 

site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov 

and follow the instructions for sending 

your comments electronically. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility; 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 

Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, 

Room PL–401, Washington, DC 20590–

0001. 

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251. 

• Hand Delivery: Room PL–401 on 

the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 

400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, 

DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

Privacy: We will post all comments 

we receive, without change, to http:// 

dms.dot.gov, including any personal 

information you provide. 

Using the search function of our 

docket web site, anyone can find and 

read the comments received into any of 

our dockets, including the name of the 

individual sending the comment (or 

signing the comment on behalf of 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 19477–19478) or you may visit 

http://dms.dot.gov. 

Docket: To read background 

documents or comments received, go to 


pwalker on PRODPC60 with NOTICES
56214 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 186 / Tuesday, September 26, 2006 / Notices 

1Section 93.27 provides for the sale and lease of 

authorized authorizations in a blind, cash-only 

secondary market. 

http://dms.dot.gov at any time or to 

Room PL–401 on the plaza level of the 

Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, 

SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Komal Jain, Office of the Chief Counsel, 

Regulations Division, AGC–240, Federal 

Aviation Administration, 800 

Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20591; telephone (202) 

267–3073. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Order To Show Cause 

The Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) has tentatively determined that it 

is necessary to modify the August 2004 

order, as amended, (the Order) 

temporarily limiting scheduled 

operations at O’Hare International 

Airport (O’Hare). Under the Order, the 

FAA may modify or withdraw any 

provision in the order on its own or on 

application by any air carrier for good 

cause shown. The FAA proposes to 

eliminate the prohibition on trading or 

transferring (buying, selling, or leasing) 

arrival authorizations for consideration 

for the remaining duration of the Order. 

We believe there may be merit to 

allowing carriers to modify their 

schedules for competitive or operational 

reasons through various market 

mechanisms prior to the effective date 

of the August 29, 2006, final rule 

regulating scheduled arrivals at O’Hare. 

The FAA invites air carriers and other 

interested persons to submit written 

comments by no later than September 

29, 2006, in Docket FAA–2006–16944 

on this proposal. After reviewing and 

evaluating the comments, the FAA 

expects to issue a final modification to 

the Order based on this proposal. 

Background 

On August 18, 2004, the FAA issued 

an order limiting the number of 

scheduled arrivals that air carriers 

conduct at O’Hare during peak hours. 

The August 18 Order followed a period 

during which O’Hare operated without 

any regulatory constraint on the number 

of aircraft operations, and O’Hare 

experienced significant congestionrelated delay. The Order took effect 

November 1, 2004, and was 

subsequently extended on March 25, 

2005, October 6, 2005, and March 31, 

2006. It terminates at midnight, October 

28, 2006, when the August 29, 2006, 

final rule, Congestion and Delay 

Reduction at Chicago O’Hare 

International Airport, becomes effective. 

71 FR 51382. 

The Order established two means 

through which air carriers can move an 

existing arrival that has been authorized 

under the Order and scheduled within 

the period from 7 a.m. though 8:59 p.m. 

The first is through requests for 

schedule changes that are subject to the 

Administrator’s approval and a 

determination that the schedule change 

would not adversely affect operations or 

congestion at O’Hare, taking into 

account the strict limits on operations 

per hour that were established when the 

Order first took effect. The second is 

through a trade of an arrival time for 

another but on a one-for-one basis with 

another air carrier. Once again, the trade 

is subject to the Administrator’s 

approval and a determination that the 

trade will not increase congestion or 

adversely affect operations at the 

airport. At the time of the Order, the 

FAA determined that these two 

mechanisms would provide carriers 

with adequate flexibility to make 

changes if necessary during peak hours 

of operation. 

Order To Show Cause 

When it issued the Order the FAA 

intended that it would be in effect for 

a short duration—until the FAA 

published a final rule to limit scheduled 

arrivals at O’Hare and establish 

allocation, transfer and other procedures 

not included in the Order. The FAA did 

not anticipate that the Order would be 

extended through October 2006. 

Limiting trades of scheduled arrivals, so 

that they could occur only on a one-forone basis and remain in place only for 

the duration of the Order, particularly 

when coupled with a prohibition on 

sales and leases, has had the unintended 

effect of eliminating any flexibility to 

shift operations even when such shifts 

would not contribute to congestion or 

interfere with the hourly cap on 

operations. 

In order to facilitate the most efficient 

transition from the Order to the final 

rule, the FAA proposes to allow carriers 

to make long-term adjustments to their 

holdings of scheduled arrivals during 

the last remaining days of the Order, as 

described below. Under this proposed 

modification, the FAA would accept 

permanent trades, which the FAA 

would then recognize at the effective 

date of the final rule. As several carriers 

have long-standing, multi-seasonal 

trades to adjust schedule operating 

times, this proposal would facilitate the 

finalization of those or other trades and 

transfers prior to the commencement of 

the 2006 winter scheduling season. 

Underlying this proposed decision is 

that through the Order’s elimination of 

a usage requirement, there are several 

scheduled arrivals that while allocated 

have not been fully utilized. It was not 

until August 29, 2006, when we issued 

the final rule on O’Hare operations, that 

carriers could have definitely known 

that under-utilized authorizations could 

be transferred for consideration rather 

than simply traded temporarily on a 

one-for-one basis.1 Unintentionally, the 

FAA thus created a 2-month window in 

which carriers may have found it to 

their benefit to hold onto their arrivals 

rather than trade them, saving them 

potentially to obtain monetary value in 

a secondary market. We are concerned 

that this contributes towards an 

inefficient use of authorizations. 

For these reasons the Administrator 

has tentatively determined that there is 

no longer any justification for 

maintaining a restriction that arrival 

authorizations may only be transferred 

on a one-for-one basis and a prohibition 

on sales, leases and other transactions 

that result in the transfer of arrival 

authorizations for consideration. 

Therefore, with respect to scheduled 

flight operations at O’Hare under the 

August 2004 Order, as amended, the 

FAA proposes to adopt the following 

measures in substitution for ordering 

paragraph 6: 

6. An air carrier who is currently 

operating or will operate at O’Hare by 

December 31, 2006, may buy, sell, lease 

or otherwise transfer or trade any 

scheduled arrival from 7 a.m. through 

8:59 p.m. to or from any other air carrier 

who is operating or will operate at 

O’Hare by December 31, 2006. Each air 

carrier must receive advance written 

approval of the Administrator, or her 

delegate, of the trade or transfer. All 

requests to trade or transfer a scheduled 

arrival must be submitted in writing to 

the FAA Slot Administration Office, 

facsimile (202) 267–7277 or e-mail 7–

AWA–Slotadmin@faa.gov, and must 

come from a designated representative 

of the air carrier. 

Request for Comments 

The FAA invites all interested 

persons to submit written comments on 

the proposals described in this order by 

filing their written views in Docket 

FAA–2006–16944 on or before 

September 29, 2006. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on September 

22, 2006. 

James W. Whitlow, 

Deputy Chief Counsel for Policy and 

Adjudications. 

[FR Doc. 06–8300 Filed 9–22–06; 2:07 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 


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