[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 148 (Friday, August 1, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41462-41463]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-20255]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary
[Docket No. OST-97-2767]


Notice of Intent to Collect Information on Passenger Travel by 
Air Under Emergency Review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, (DOT).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Transportation (``Department'' or ``DOT'') 
has submitted the following information request (see below under 
Abstract) under emergency processing to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). OMB approval has been 
requested by July 30, 1997.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 29, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be filed in Room PL-401, Docket OST-97-2767, 
U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, 
DC 20590. To facilitate consideration of comments, each commenter 
should submit five copies of its comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack Schmidt, Office of Aviation and 
International Economics, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Aviation 
and International Affairs, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 Seventh St. SW., Washington, DC 20590 at (202) 366-
5420 or (202) 366-7638 (FAX).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Title: Collection of Data on Passenger Travel by Air.
    Type of Request: Approval of new data collection.
    Abstract: The Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act 
of 1996 (Public Law 104-264) required the Secretary of Transportation 
to complete a Study of Rural Air Fares which, among other things, was 
to analyze air fares paid between small communities and large hub 
airports with fares between large hub airports. Currently, DOT collects 
air fare data from certain air carriers as part of the Passenger Origin 
and Destination Survey (``Survey''). This Survey is based on a ten 
percent sample of passenger tickets and is reported to the Department 
on a quarterly basis by the large certificated air carriers. In the 
course of analyzing these data with reference to the small communities, 
the Department has tentatively concluded that because of the small size 
of the sample and the absence of smaller carriers from the database, 
the current data are somewhat unrepresentative and inadequate for 
providing proper analysis. The Department is therefore seeking the 
development of a database that will better meet its needs to provide 
this analysis.
    Through an order issued at the same time as this notice, the 
Department will require airlines and CRSs to provide the data needed 
for this analysis. In order to minimize the burden of providing these 
data, the Department is suggesting the use of the Ticket Control Number 
(TCN) files. In the process of ticketing airline passengers, airlines 
and CRSs electronically record most transactions in TCN files for 
various accounting, reconciliation and control purposes. Each TCN file 
contains approximately 150 individual data items. The Department 
believes that these files are the best source of the type of 
comprehensive data that it is seeking.
    Furthermore, under a current data interchange program, many 
airlines and CRSs routinely submit the TCN data to the Airline Tariff 
Publishing Company (ATPCO) electronically on a daily basis, Monday 
through Friday. The Department believes that these TCN data as 
submitted to ATPCO provide an ideal source for meeting its data needs 
because of the comprehensive nature of the data and the potential 
advantages of advanced techniques for managing the data that are 
already in place. DOT intends to collect a full year's data in order to 
eliminate any seasonal variations or other aberrations.
    By collecting these data, the Department intends to develop a 
system that includes the design and creation of a database extracted 
from the TCN files, storage of the database, and direct access by 
Departmental users to the database. To the extent that some ticketing 
data are not included in current data interchange programs, the 
Department intends to take whatever steps are necessary to provide as 
complete a database as possible.
    The Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 1996 
(Public Law 104-264) was enacted on October 9,

[[Page 41463]]

1996 and required that the Secretary submit a final report on the study 
no later than sixty days after enactment of the legislation. The 
Department completed the initial service analysis in January 1997 with 
additional fare analysis to follow. Based on a thorough review of the 
data in the Survey as well as other sources, the Department has decided 
that the new data collection is necessary to provide the best data for 
this analysis. Therefore, because of the length of time involved in the 
thorough review of the data in the Survey and in order not to delay the 
completion of the Congressional report further beyond the statutory 
deadline, the Department is seeking emergency clearance to begin to 
collect data for use in the Rural Air Fare Study.
    Estimate of Burden: The Department tentatively estimates that the 
impact of this data collection will be minimal based on the use of the 
TCN data files and data transmission through ATPCO as mentioned 
previously. For those carriers that use their own internal reservation 
systems and are not part of the CRSs, and for those smaller carriers 
that are less automated, the Department anticipates that these 
respondents could incur an additional cost for the additional time 
spent in processing and transmitting the data. The Department does not 
have specific information to estimate this additional cost and invites 
comments regarding this issue. However, the Department expects that the 
extent of this supplemental data is relatively small and has engaged a 
contractor to work with these carriers to satisfy this data 
requirement.
    Respondents: All U.S. airlines providing scheduled passenger 
service and all computer reservations systems operating in the United 
States.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 47 large certificated airlines, 36 
small certificated and commuter airlines and four computer reservations 
systems.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: It is anticipated 
that the majority of the data (75 percent) will be transmitted through 
the CRSs on a daily (Monday through Friday) basis with several larger 
carriers and half of the small carriers, who maintain independent 
systems, responding on a weekly and monthly basis, respectively. Thus, 
the estimated annual number of responses per respondent would range 
from 260 per year for the CRSs to 12 per year for some of the smaller 
airlines.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: Based on a 
calculation of an additional one-quarter of a man-year for non-CRS 
respondents and an estimate of an additional 15 minutes for data 
transmission per response for the CRSs, the Department estimates an 
annual burden of 9,360 hours. However, we invite comments on this 
issue.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether this proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (b) ways in which the Department could estimate the burden of 
the proposed collection of information; (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 the 
respondents, including through the use of automated techniques or other 
forms of information technology.

    Issued in Washington, DC on July 24, 1997.
Charles A. Hunnicutt,
Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 97-20255 Filed 7-31-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-62-P