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[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 6, 2016)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 19861-19863]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-07910]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 93

[Docket No.: FAA-2008-0221]

Change of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) Designation

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Change of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) 
Designation.

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SUMMARY: This document announces that the FAA will designate Newark 
Liberty International Airport (EWR) as a Level 2, schedule-facilitated 
airport under the International Air Transport Association (IATA) 
Worldwide Slot Guidelines (WSG) effective for the Winter 2016 
scheduling season, which begins on October 30, 2016. The FAA has 
determined this designation is necessary based on an updated demand and 
capacity analysis of the airport. The current FAA Order designating EWR 
as a Level 3, slot-controlled airport will expire on October 29, 2016.

DATES: This designation takes effect on October 30, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Requests may be submitted by mail to Slot Administration 
Office, AGC-220 Office of the Chief Counsel, 800 Independence Ave. SW., 
Washington, DC 20591; facsimile: 202-267-7277; or by email to: 7-AWA-slotadmin@faa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions contact: Susan 
Pfingstler, System Operations Services, Air Traffic Organization, 
Federal Aviation Administration, 600 Independence Avenue SW., 
Washington, DC 20591; telephone (202) 267-6462; email 
susan.pfingstler@faa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    By Order dated May 21, 2008, the FAA placed temporary limits on 
scheduled operations at EWR to mitigate congestion and delays at the 
airport.\1\ The Order addressed the FAA's concern about a spillover 
effect in the summer 2008 scheduling season resulting from the Agency's 
Order limiting operations at John F. Kennedy International Airport 
(JFK), which took effect in March 2008.\2\
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    \1\ 73 FR 29550 (May 21, 2008).
    \2\ 73 FR 3510 (Jan. 18, 2008).
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    Under the EWR Order, the FAA (1) established hourly limits of 81 
scheduled operations during the peak period; (2) imposed an 80 percent 
minimum usage requirement for Operating Authorizations (OAs or slots) 
with defined exceptions; (3) provided a mechanism for withdrawal of OAs 
for FAA operational reasons; (4) established procedures to allocate 
withdrawn, surrendered, or unallocated OAs; and, (5) allowed for trades 
and leases of OAs for consideration for the duration of the Order.
    On January 8, 2015, the Department of Transportation (DOT) and FAA 
issued the Slot Management and Transparency for LaGuardia Airport, John 
F. Kennedy International Airport, and Newark Liberty International 
Airport Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).\3\ The DOT and FAA are 
currently reviewing the comments received on the NPRM and considering 
the impacts of the EWR Level 2 designation on the rulemaking.
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    \3\ 80 FR 1274.
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    Based on the FAA's review of operational performance, demand, and 
capacity discussed in this document, Level 3 slot controls are no 
longer warranted for EWR. Rather, the FAA will transition EWR to a 
Level 2, schedule-facilitated airport, starting with the Winter 2016 
scheduling season. In addition, the FAA also has updated the 
performance, demand, and capacity analyses for JFK and LGA and has 
determined that Level 3 slot-controlled restrictions remain necessary 
for these airports. Therefore, through separate notices published in 
the Federal Register, the FAA will be extending the JFK and LGA Orders 
until October 27, 2018.
    This document confirms the EWR Order will expire on October 29, 
2016. A copy of this document will be placed in Docket FAA-2008-0221. 
As explained herein, the FAA is designating EWR as a Level 2 airport 
effective October 30, 2016. As further explained in this document, the 
FAA has conducted a screening for potential impacts to noise and air 
emissions as a result of this change in designation at EWR and has 
determined that the proposed action does not have the potential to 
cause a significant impact.

Capacity and Operational Performance Review

    The FAA regularly reviews operational performance and demand at the 
New York City area airports as part of ongoing efforts to improve the 
efficiency of the air traffic control system. Section 413 of the FAA 
Modernization and Reform Act, Pub. L. 112-95, 126 Stat. 11 (Feb. 14, 
2012), requires the FAA to take actions to ensure that aircraft 
operations of air carriers do not exceed the hourly

[[Page 19862]]

maximum departure and arrival rate established by the Administrator for 
such operations. The FAA reviews data on actual operations, including 
the number of hourly and daily air traffic operations, runway capacity 
and utilization, aircraft fleet mix, scheduled and unscheduled demand, 
on-time performance relative to schedule, the number and duration of 
flight arrival and departure delays, airfield or other capacity 
changes, and air traffic control procedures.
    On an annual basis since adopting the 2008 Order, the FAA has 
performed analyses to compare and contrast operational and performance 
data for each year subsequent to the peak 2007 summer scheduling season 
to identify operational and performance trends. Such analyses have 
consistently placed particular emphasis on the May through August 
months since this period includes the peak summer demand. The on-time 
performance and delay metrics at EWR show significant improvements 
during such peak periods of demand. For example, on-time gate arrivals 
at EWR have increased by about 11 percentage points when comparing May 
through August 2015 to the same period in 2007.\4\ On-time gate 
departures improved by approximately three percentage points. The mean 
arrival and departure delays are down by about 33 percent, and the 
delays greater than 60 minutes are down by 37 percent for arrivals and 
38 percent for departures.
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    \4\ On-time gate arrivals have a gate arrival delay of less than 
15 minutes. The gate arrival delay is the difference in minutes 
between the actual time the aircraft arrives at the gate and the 
scheduled gate arrival time.
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    The FAA recently modeled the summer 2015 demand against summer 2015 
runway capacity and then compared the results to the delay profile that 
was the basis for the 2008 Order. Operations in 2015 were down by 8 
percent, total minutes of arrival delays went from 16,100 to 10,100 for 
a 37 percent decrease, mean arrival delays decreased from 24.0 minutes 
to 16.3 minutes, and mean departure delays from 18.0 minutes to 14.2 
minutes.\5\
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    \5\ A copy of the MITRE summary of performance comparing 2015 
and 2007 has been placed in the dockets for the EWR Order (Docket 
No. FAA-2008-0221), JFK Order (Docket No. FAA-2007-29320), LGA Order 
(Docket No. FAA-2006-25755) and the Slot Management and Transparency 
for LaGuardia Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and 
Newark Liberty International Airport NPRM (Docket No. FAA-2014-
1073).
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    The FAA also reviewed scheduled flights at EWR over the last few 
years. Scheduled demand was routinely below the 81 hourly scheduling 
limits in the Order, even during the busiest early morning, afternoon, 
and evening hours. For example, in the 3 p.m. through 8:59 p.m. local 
hours, weekday scheduled demand in the May-August period averaged 71 
flights per hour in 2011, 74 flights per hour in 2013, and 72 flights 
per hour in 2015.\6\ Early summer 2016 schedules reflect similar demand 
patterns. At the same time, the FAA denied requests for new flights as 
slots are allocated up to the scheduling limits. Carriers are generally 
maintaining historic slots and meeting the minimum usage rules under 
the Order; therefore, weekday slots in peak hours do not regularly 
revert to the FAA for reallocation. The result is scheduled demand that 
is well below the FAA scheduling limits and runway capacity at the 
airport to handle additional flights. This is unlike other FAA slot-
controlled airports, which have significantly fewer differences between 
the number of allocated slots and the scheduled demand, especially in 
peak periods.
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    \6\ There are a few additional flights by carriers such as FedEx 
and UPS that are allocated slots and do not publish schedules in the 
FAA's Innovata schedule database.
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FAA Level 2 Determination and Planned Schedule Review

    In light of the FAA's demand and capacity analysis at EWR, the FAA 
has determined that EWR does not warrant a Level 3 designation. The 
FAA's analysis demonstrates that runway capacity exists for additional 
operations. However, under a Level 3 designation, the FAA must deny 
requests from carriers to add or retime operations based on allocated 
slots rather than scheduled and actual operations, provided the carrier 
satisfies the minimum slot usage requirements. Further, the FAA simply 
cannot increase the scheduling limits to compensate for slots that are 
under-scheduled but meet the minimum usage rules, as this would require 
the FAA to determine that additional capacity exists for operations 
above the current scheduling limits.
    The FAA also considered whether EWR should be re-designated as a 
Level 1 airport since EWR operated for many years without scheduling 
limits while nearby JFK and LGA were slot controlled. During this time, 
EWR provided access to the New York City area and, while delays were 
high compared to other airports, overall demand was generally 
consistent with runway capacity. However, there are practical 
limitations to the number of additional flights that EWR can accept 
from a runway and airport facilities perspective. Moreover, we expect 
there will be significant demand for access to EWR, given its location 
and that the JFK and LGA airports will remain slot-controlled airports. 
Thus, the FAA has determined that the Level 2 schedule facilitation 
process and its related principles of voluntary cooperation will best 
balance the anticipated demand with the practical limitations on the 
number of additional flights possible at EWR. Following the effective 
date of the Level 2 designation, the FAA will continue to review 
whether Level 2 is appropriate or whether other action might be needed. 
The FAA does not expect to make any airport level changes based on 
short-term airline schedule plans or resulting delays.
    Consistent with existing FAA practice for schedule facilitation at 
Level 2 airports, under the Level 2 designation at EWR, the FAA will 
request and review airline schedules for the 6 a.m. to 10:59 p.m. 
period and either approve the request or work with carriers to achieve 
schedule adjustments as needed to avoid exceeding the airport's 
capacity. The success of Level 2 schedule facilitation procedures 
depends upon a number of factors delineated in the WSG. The FAA will 
apply the priorities for schedule facilitation outlined in the WSG. In 
particular, priority will be given to carriers based on actual approved 
schedules and operations conducted in the previous corresponding season 
over new demand for the same timings.
    Additionally, although there is some runway capacity available at 
EWR, approval of new or retimed operations must avoid significant 
scheduled peaking and allow for recovery to avoid causing a consistent 
level of unacceptable delay, which could necessitate a return to Level 
3. The FAA intends, if necessary, to deny schedule submissions that 
exceed the declared airport runway capacity and to offer alternative 
times to carriers. The WSG recognizes that some carriers might operate 
at times without approval from the airport's schedule facilitator. 
Consistent with the WSG, carriers would not receive historic status for 
such flights if the airport level changes from Level 2 to Level 3.
    Finally, while the FAA is responsible for managing the airport's 
runway capacity, there are terminal, gate, and other operational 
factors that may require schedule adjustments. The FAA recognizes that 
the entry at EWR has been limited by runway slot availability for the 
last 8 years and new entry and growth by incumbent carriers is 
expected. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port 
Authority) currently reviews schedules for

[[Page 19863]]

international passenger flights operating at Terminal B. A carrier must 
separately obtain approval from the Port Authority for Terminal B 
flights and request runway slots from the FAA under the current Level 3 
designation Order. After the effective date for the Level 2 
designation, carriers would continue to work with the Port Authority to 
synchronize with the relevant terminals and gates at EWR to the extent 
practicable. Under existing practice, the FAA regularly works with the 
Port Authority and carriers to reconcile differences between available 
terminal/gate and runway times. The FAA expects this process to 
continue under the Level 2 designation based on impacts to the 
availability of facilities. This necessary de-conflicting of carriers' 
requested terminal/gate and runway schedules is likely to be most 
significant in the initial transition from Level 3 to Level 2 in the 
Winter 2016 and Summer 2017 seasons.

Environmental Considerations

    The FAA conducted an environmental screening for potential impacts 
to noise and air emissions relative to the change of the EWR 
designation from Level 3 to Level 2. Based on the screening, the FAA 
has determined that this action may be categorically excluded from 
further environmental analysis according to FAA Order 1050.1, 
``Environmental Impacts: Policies and Procedures,'' paragraph 5-6.6.f. 
Specifically, paragraph 5-6.6.f states that ``Regulations, standards, 
and exemptions (excluding those which if implemented may cause a 
significant impact on the human environment)'' are categorically 
excluded from further environmental review.
    The FAA conducted noise screening of the proposed action using Area 
Equivalent Method and determined that the action does not have the 
potential to cause a significant impact on noise levels of noise 
sensitive areas. In addition, the FAA conducted an analysis of air 
emissions using Aviation Environmental Design Tool and determined that 
the action does not have the potential to cause a significant impact on 
air quality or a violation of Federal, state, tribal, or local air 
quality standards under the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec. Sec.  7401-
7671q. Therefore, implementation of the airport level change is not 
expected to result in significant adverse impacts to the human 
environment. The implementation of this action is not expected to 
result in any extraordinary circumstances in accordance with FAA Order 
1050.1. A copy of the categorical exclusion has been placed in the 
docket associated with this action.

Future Operational Demand and Performance Reviews

    The FAA will continue to regularly review and monitor performance 
at EWR, as well as carrier compliance with FAA-approved schedules. The 
FAA will continue to review data on actual operations, including the 
number of hourly and daily air traffic operations, runway capacity and 
utilization, aircraft fleet mix, scheduled and unscheduled demand, on-
time performance relative to schedule, the number and duration of 
flight arrival and departure delays, airfield or other capacity 
changes, and air traffic control procedures. The FAA will publish a 
notice in April, 2016 announcing the schedule submission deadline and 
the declared runway capacity limits for the Winter 2016 scheduling 
season.
    The FAA expects that delays at EWR will increase over current 
levels as flights are added, but an incremental increase in delays 
would not necessarily mean the FAA would revert to Level 3. The FAA's 
objective while working with carriers under the Level 2 process is to 
appropriately balance and maximize the use of the available runway 
capacity at EWR while maintaining an acceptable level of delay.

    Issued in Washington, DC on April 1, 2016.
Daniel E. Smiley,
Acting Vice President, System Operations Services.
[FR Doc. 2016-07910 Filed 4-1-16; 4:15 pm]
 BILLING CODE 4910-13-P
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