I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 80

To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 relating to bankruptcy

transportation plans.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 5, 1993

Mr. BOEHLERT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Public Works and Transportation

A BILL

To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 relating to

bankruptcy transportation plans.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Airline Bankruptcy

5 Passenger Protection Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. REPORTING AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Federal Aviation

8 Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. App. 1371–1389) is amended by

9 adding at the end thereof the following new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 420. BANKRUPTCY TRANSPORTATION PLANS.

2 ‘‘(a) DEVELOPMENT.—

3 ‘‘(1) ORDER.—Not later than 60 days after the

4 date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary

5 shall issue an order authorizing covered air carriers

6 to develop a plan for providing air transportation for

7 any person who holds an airline ticket for provision

8 of such transportation by a covered air carrier who,

9 after the date of purchase of such ticket, becomes a

10 debtor in a case under title 11, United States Code.

11 Such order shall also include an exemption in ac12 cordance with section 414.

13 ‘‘(2) DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION.—Any plan

14 developed under paragraph (1) shall be submitted to

15 the Secretary for approval within 180 days after the

16 date of the enactment of this section.

17 ‘‘(b) TIME LIMIT AND BASIS FOR APPROVAL.—If a

18 plan is submitted to the Secretary in accordance with sub19 section (a), the Secretary shall approve or disapprove such

20 plan within 60 days after the date of such submission. If

21 the Secretary determines that such plan will provide (or

22 would provide if all covered air carriers participate in im23 plementation of such plan) satisfactory protection for all

24 persons who hold airline tickets described in subsection

25 (a), the Secretary shall approve such plan. Otherwise, the

26 Secretary shall disapprove such plan.
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1 ‘‘(c) IMPLEMENTATION OF APPROVED PLANS.—If

2 the Secretary approves a plan under this section, the Sec3 retary shall issue an order requiring implementation of

4 such plan by the covered air carriers who submitted such

5 plan and any other covered air carriers. If there are any

6 covered air carriers who did not participate in development

7 of a plan approved under this section, such carriers shall

8 be treated under such order and plan in the same manner

9 as carriers who did participate in development of such

10 plan.

11 ‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.—If a plan described in sub12 section (a) is not submitted within 180 days after the date

13 of the enactment of this section, or if the Secretary dis14 approves a plan submitted in accordance with subsection

15 (a), or if the Secretary determines that a plan approved

16 under this section is not being implemented in a manner

17 which provides satisfactory protection for all persons who

18 hold airline tickets described in subsection (a), the Sec19 retary shall issue regulations requiring all covered air car20 riers to provide air transportation for persons who hold

21 such tickets. Such regulations must be issued within 90

22 days after the expiration of such 180-day period, the date

23 of disapproval of such plan, or the date of such determina24 tion, as the case may be.

25 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—
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1 ‘‘(1) AIRLINE TICKET.—The term ‘airline tick2 et’ means any written instrument that embodies a

3 contract of carriage between a covered air carrier

4 and a passenger thereof for interstate or overseas

5 air transportation.

6 ‘‘(2) COVERED AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘cov7 ered air carrier’ means—

8 ‘‘(A) an air carrier which provides inter9 state or overseas air transportation primarily

10 with aircraft having seating for more than 60

11 passengers and which in the 12-month period

12 preceding the date of the enactment of this sec13 tion, enplaned more than .2 percent of the total

14 number of passengers enplaned on all aircraft

15 used to provide interstate and overseas air

16 transportation in such period; and

17 ‘‘(B) an air carrier not described in sub18 paragraph (A) who enters into an agreement

19 with an air carrier who is described in subpara20 graph (A) to operate under or use a single air

21 carrier designator code to provide interstate or

22 overseas air transportation, but only with re23 spect to those operations of the carrier not de24 scribed in subparagraph (A) which are carried

25 out under such code.
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1 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means

2 the Secretary of Transportation.’’.

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO TABLE OF CON4 TENTS.—The table of contents in the first section of the

5 Federal Aviation Act of 1958 is amended by adding at

6 the end of the material relating to title IV the following:

‘‘Sec. 420. Bankruptcy transportation plans.

‘‘(a) Development.

‘‘(b) Time limit and basis for approval.

‘‘(c) Implementation of approved plans.

‘‘(d) Regulations.

‘‘(e) Definitions.’’.

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