July 9, 2010

THE NATIONAL AIRLINES COUNCIL OF CANADA REQUEST

BEFORE THE US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

In the matter of:  

Enhancing Airline Passenger  

Protections  

                                                                       Docket No.:

                                                                       DOT‐OST‐2010‐0140

Request by the National Airlines Council of Canada

for a 60 day extension of the comment period

The National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) respectfully requests, on behalf of itself and of its member

airlines – Air Canada, Air Transat, Jazz Air LP and WestJet –  an additional 60 days to submit its comments

regarding the Department of Transportation (DOT) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking , “Enhancing Airline

Passenger Protections,” (EAPP‐NPRM), issued on June 8, 2010, which seeks to expand upon the published

Final Rule under the same title (DOT‐OST‐2007‐0022).  

The EAPP‐NPRM currently provides until August 9, 2010, 60 days from publication, for the public to

comment on the EAPP‐NPRM. The NACC seeks an additional 60 days for the following reasons:

 The EAPP‐NPRM seeks to impose on foreign carriers significant and new regulatory burdens,

which the NACC must adequately analyze in order to provide comprehensive and valuable

comments to the DOT. As the regulation would touch on almost all aspects of an airline’s

business, the NACC needs to consult with its members and the various departments involved to

study the many facets of the regulation including cost, timing, feasibility and potential

unintended consequences. Sixty days is not a sufficient time period in which to collect the

extensive amounts of data and information from all affected parties necessary to adequately

evaluate the EAPP‐NPRM.  

 The EAPP‐NPRM requests detailed information on the impacts, costs, and benefits on foreign

carriers of proposed time intervals for deplanement, contingency plans, customer service plans,

communication strategies, covered operations, data collection and publication, denied boarding

compensation, pricing, fees and oversale regulations, and other provisions. Much of this data is

not readily accessible and the NACC needs considerable time to collect and provide meaningful

comments on these subjects.  
 The Department has published an extensive cost benefit analysis of the proposed regulation.

The NACC may need to secure the support of outside experts in order to provide a meaningful

response to this analysis.  

 The EAPP‐NPRM could raise implications in terms of Canadian and international law. The NACC

must be provided sufficient time to discern these impacts on its member carriers.  

 Finally, the comment period for this NPRM falls during the busy summer travel and vacation

season, during which airline resources are stretched to the limit. In order for the NACC to

provide valuable comments on all aspects of the proposal, the comment period must be

extended into the fall.  

For these reasons, the NACC requests an additional 60 days to collect the aforementioned essential

information to provide valuable comments on the EAPP‐NPRM.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of this request.  

Sincerely,

NATIONAL AIRLINES COUNCIL OF CANADA

George Petsikas  

President