UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

ESTABLISHMENT OF SLOT EXEMPTION PROCEEDING

PURSUANT TO 49 U.S.C. § 41718(b)

Docket OST-2000-7182

NOTICE

Summary

By this notice, the U.S. Department of Transportation (the Department) requests 

applications from air carriers using Stage 3 aircraft for two slot exemptions for service to 

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) from airports that were designated 

as medium hub, small hub, or nonhub airports in 1997 within the 1,250-mile perimeter 

established for civil air carrier operations at DCA under Title 49 U.S.C. § 49109. 

Completed applications must be filed in Docket DOT-OST-2000-7182 by March 25, 

2014, and comments with respect to any timely filed request for slot exemptions must be 

filed by April 1, 2014.

Background

The Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century, as 

amended by the Vision 100 Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act of 2003, directs the 

Department to grant slot exemptions at DCA, both within and beyond the airport’s 1,250-

mile perimeter. These grants are limited in number, and selections of air carriers are 

made through application of specified statutory criteria. See 49 U.S.C. § 41718. 

By Order 2012-3-8 (DOT March 13, 2012), the Department issued two within-perimeter 

slot exemptions to Republic Airline Inc. (Republic) pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 41718(b) to 

provide nonstop service between DCA and Kansas City International Airport (MCI). 

Republic provided the service under the brand of its then-affiliate Frontier Airlines. On 

January 24, 2014, Republic informed the Department by letter that, due to the sale of 

Frontier, the service between DCA and MCI would be discontinued effective February 1, 

2014, and the slot exemptions returned for reallocation. 

After receipt of the notice from Republic, the Department granted a request from 

Southwest Airlines for pendente lite authority to operate nonstop service between DCA

and MCI using the two within-perimeter slot exemptions authorized by 49 U.S.C. § 

41718(b) and previously issued to Republic from February 1, 2014 until such time as a 

final selection decision is made in this reallocation proceeding and the selected carrier 

initiates service. As we stated in our Order Confirming Grant of Temporary Slot 

Exemption Authority, Order 2014-1-6 (DOT January 27, 2014), a grant of pendente lite

Served: March 5, 2014
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authority is one of temporary character and is intended to minimize any inconvenience to 

travelers and to ensure that the slot exemptions are not idled pending the Department’s 

decision on longer term authority. Our grant to Southwest of temporary authority to 

operate the slot exemptions between DCA and MCI will not give the carrier any benefit 

or advantage in the Department’s application of the statutorily-mandated criteria in this

reallocation proceeding. All applications will receive full and fair comparative 

consideration of their merits under 49 U.S.C. § 41718(b). 

Proceeding

Accordingly, the Department requests applications from air carriers using Stage 3 aircraft 

for the two slot exemptions previously issued to Republic. Applicants must propose to 

provide service to DCA from airports that were designated as medium hub, small hub, or 

nonhub airports in 19971 within the 1,250-mile perimeter established for civil air carrier 

operations at DCA under Title 49 U.S.C. § 49109. 

The selection criteria applicable to granting slot exemptions are found in Title 49 U.S.C. 

§ 41718(b), which directs the Secretary to distribute within-perimeter slot exemptions in 

a manner that promotes air transportation: (1) by new entrant air carriers and limited 

incumbent air carriers;2 (2) to communities without existing nonstop air transportation to 

DCA; (3) to small communities; (4) that will provide competitive nonstop air 

transportation on a monopoly nonstop route to DCA; or (5) that will produce the 

maximum competitive benefits, including low fares. As we recently explained in Order

Reallocating Within-Perimeter Slot Exemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington National 

Airport, Order 2012-7-26 (DOT July 24, 2012), the Department has the discretion to 

premise an award of within-perimeter slot exemptions on the satisfaction of less than the 

greatest number of criteria, or even one criterion, listed in Section 41718(b), based upon 

the Department’s analysis of the relative merits of each carrier’s proposal when evaluated 

under these criteria. We also stated that the Department would apply this interpretation of

the statute in all future proceedings under Section 41718(b). 

With respect to airport size, Title 49 U.S.C. § 41718(c)(3) specifies additional 

requirements governing the grant of within-perimeter slot exemptions, requiring that “[o]f 

the exemptions granted under 49 U.S.C. § 41718: (A) without regard to the criteria 

contained in subsection (b)(1), six shall be for air transportation to small hub airports and 

nonhub airports; (B) ten shall be for air transportation to medium hub and smaller 

airports; and (C) four shall be for air transportation to airports without regard to their 

size.” Under this provision, then, a maximum of four slot exemptions may be used to 

serve large hubs. Currently, all large hub opportunities have been allocated, as have the 

six exemptions specifically for small and nonhub airports. Therefore, to be responsive to 

 

1 49 U.S.C. § 41714(h)(7), (8) and (9) require that hub classifications be based on the Federal Aviation 

Administration’s Primary Airport Enplanement Activity Summary for Calendar Year 1997.

2 A new entrant carrier or limited incumbent carrier is an air carrier that holds or operates fewer than 40 

slots at DCA. See 49 U.S.C. § 41714(h)(3), (5), as amended by the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 

2012, Pub. L. No. 112-95, 126 Stat. 11 (Feb. 14, 2012).
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this request and eligible for award, carriers must propose service with Stage 3 aircraft to a 

medium hub or smaller airport within the 1,250-mile perimeter. 

At a minimum, carriers should include in their applications the market to be served, the 

aircraft type, a schedule showing proposed times, an approximate start-up date, and an 

analysis of the relative merits of the carrier’s proposed service when evaluated under the 

Section 41718(b) criteria. Completed applications must be filed in Docket DOT-OST2000-7182 by March 25, 2014, and comments with respect to any timely filed request for 

slot exemptions must be filed by April 1, 2014.

The Department further notes that the previously-allocated slot times for the DCA-MCI

service are in the 1100 and 1400 hour periods. Section 41718(c)(2) prohibits the 

Department from assigning more than five slot exemptions per one hour period. Some

time periods are fully subscribed, and, thus, the Department may not be able to 

accommodate carrier requests for alternative slot exemption times.

We will serve a copy of this notice on all certificated air carriers, the Metropolitan 

Washington Airports Authority, and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Slot 

Administration office.

By:

Susan L. Kurland

 Assistant Secretary for Aviation

 and International Affairs

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document will be available on the World Wide Web at:

http://dms.dot.gov/