### UNITED STATES OF AMERICA **DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY**  **WASHINGTON, D.C. ESTABLISHME**  **NT OF SLOT EXEMPTION PROCEEDING**

**P URSUANT TO 49 U.S.C. § 41718(b)**  **Docket OST**  **- 2000**  **- 7182**  **NOTICE** On February

27, 2008 , pursuant to the provisio ns of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21 st Century (AIR - 21), 1 the Department of Transportation issued Order 2 00 8 - 2 - 2 8 , 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 fo r reallocation , and th is has now occurred. **Proceeding** Given this development, the Department requests applications from air carriers using Stage 3 aircraft for the two AI R - 21 slot exemptions previously granted to Spirit. Applicants must propose to prov ide service to DCA from airports that were designated as medium hub, small hub , or nonhub airports in 1997 2 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 grant ing 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) b y 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 ope rates 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**- 2 -

transportation on a monopoly nonstop route to DCA ; or (5) that will produce the maximum competitive benefits, including low fares. A s we recently explained in Order Reallocating W

ithin -Perimeter Slot Exemptions at Ronald Reagan W ashington 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 analy sis of the relative merits of each carrier’s proposal when evaluated under the se 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 , a ll 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 s maller airport within the 1,250 - mile perimeter. At a minimum, carriers should include in their applications the market to be served, the aircraft ty pe, a schedule showing propose d times, an approximate start - up date , and an analy sis 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 - OST 2000 - 7182 by December 5 , 2012, and c omments with respect to any timely filed request for slot exemptions must be filed by December 19 , 2012. As a final matter, the Department note s that Spirit’s currently allocated slot times for its nonstop DCA - FLL service are in the 09 00 and 1 0 00 hour per iods. Section 41718(c)(2) prohibits the Department from assign ing 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 alt ernative slot e xemption times.- 3 -

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/