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

On February 27, 2008, pursuant to the provisions of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation 

Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR-21),1 the Department of 

Transportation issued Order 2008-2-28, reallocating two “within perimeter” slot 

exemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to Spirit Airlines, Inc.

(Spirit) for daily nonstop service to Fort Lauderdale, Florida (FLL). 

By letter dated July 3, 2012, Spirit informed the Department that, due to access 

constraints at DCA, it was unable to operate its limited DCA slots profitably, and 

therefore it planned to relocate its service from DCA to Baltimore/Washington 

International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI). Upon termination of its DCA-FLL

service, Spirit stated that it would return the two AIR-21 slot exemptions to the 

Department for reallocation, and this has now occurred.

Proceeding

Given this development, the Department requests applications from air carriers using 

Stage 3 aircraft for the two AIR-21 slot exemptions previously granted to Spirit. 

Applicants must propose to provide service to DCA from airports that were designated as 

medium hub, small hub, or nonhub airports in 19972 within the 1,250-mile perimeter 

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

Applications should be filed in Docket DOT-OST-2000-7182.

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;

3 (2) to communities without existing nonstop air transportation to 

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

 

1 See 49 U.S.C. § 41718(b).

2 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.

3 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).

Served: November 13, 2012
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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 

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 December 5, 2012, and comments with respect to any timely filed request 

for slot exemptions must be filed by December 19, 2012.

As a final matter, the Department notes that Spirit’s currently allocated slot times for its 

nonstop DCA-FLL service are in the 0900 and 1000 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.
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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/