Order 2012

- 1

- 19 Served: January 25, 201 2



### UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation On the 25th day of January, 2012

___________________________________________ Application of US AIRWAYS, INC

. under 49 U.S.C. 41718 for pendent e lite Docket OST

– 2000

– 7182 authority to operate slot exemptions (Ronald Reagan Washington N ational Airport

– Jackson, Mississippi )

___________________________________________

ORDER GRANTING TEMPORARY SLOT EXEMPTION AUTHORITY

SUMMARY
By this O rder, the Department of Transportation grants US Airways, Inc. (US Airways) temporary authority to operate nonstop service using two slot exemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to Jackson

- Evers International Airport (JAN) at Jackson, Mississippi, until such time as the Department grants long

- term authority to operate the two slot exemptions pursuant to a reallocation proceeding and the selected carrier initiates service

. This grant of pendente lite authority will help minimize consumer inconvenience and is made without prejudice to the Department’s decision on long er term authority.

BACKGROUND

The Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21 st Century (AIR

- 21), as amended by the Vision 100 Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act of 2003, directs the Department to grant slot exemptions at DCA, both within and beyond its 1,250 mile pe rimeter. These grants are limited in number
, and selections of carriers are made through application of specified statutory criteria. See 49 U.S.C. § 41718.
On December 6, 2004, by Order 2004

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- 6, the Department granted two within

- perimeter slot
exemp tions to Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc. d/b/a Delta Connection (ASA) to provide nonstop service from DCA to Jackson, Mississippi. O n December 28, 2011, after seven years of operating in this market, Delta Air Lines, Inc. informed the Department that ASA’s operation of the DCA

- JAN service would cease effective March 2, 2012. As a result of this announcement,the Department will establish in the near future a proceeding on a long

- term reallocation of the slot exemptions and invit e carriers to submit ap plications.
On January 4, US Airways applied to the Department for temporary authority to operate to JAN
, beginning on March 4, 2012, under these slot exemptions until such time as the Department complete s a reallocation proceeding. US Airways advised the Department that, if granted the interim authori ty , it plans to use two

- class Embraer E170/175 aircraft on the route, maintaining the two

- class service that presently exists, and that the aircraft would be operated by US Airways Express carriers. The s lot exemptions would be operated in their originally

- awarded times
, though a one

- day gap in service would be necessary due to the carrier’s equipment and crew scheduling process US Airways stated that approval of the interim authority would ensure that D CA

- JAN passengers could maintain the same nonstop service to whi ch they had become
accustome d until a final decision on the slot exemptions was made. The carrier also noted that the Department ha s granted pendente lite authority previously to ensure that valuable operating authorizations did not sit idle and that consumer inconvenience was minimized.
US Airways further advised that, to assist in expediting action, it would poll other carriers who could potentially object to such an award, and advise whet her any such objections had been received. Accordingly, it polled authorized representatives for AirTran Airways, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Sun Countr y Airlines, Republic Airways, and United Air l ines. On January 10
, US Airways advised the Department that no objections had been received.
US Airways’ pendente lite application also received letters of support from the Boyd Group , an aviation research and consulting firm that has worked with JAN in the past, and Dirk B. Vanderleest, Chief Executive Officer of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority.
On January 9, Southwest Airlines submitted a letter to the Department relative t o US Airways’ application. While Southwest expressed no objection to the application, it stated that it did so subject to the Department’s “admonition” that the grant of such interim authority would have no bearing on the award of permanent authority. So uthwest further indicat ed that it would be submitting an application in the reallocation proceeding

. A grant of pendente lite authority is in fact one of temporary character and in this case would be intend ed only to minimize any inconvenience to travelers in the event that the reallocation proceeding is not completed prior to ASA’s cessation of service on March 2. We emphasize that our grant to US Airways of interim authority to operate these two slot exemptions t o J AN will
not give the carrier any benefit or advantage in our application of the statutorily

- mandated criteria in the reallocation proceeding. A ll applications will receive full and fair comparative consideration o f their merits under 49 U.S.C. § 41718 (b)

.As no objections have been received and having addressed Southwest’s concern , and in the interest of conducting the reallocation process while minimizing consumer inconvenience , we grant US Airways’ application under the conditions stated below.

T his Order is issued under authority delegated in 49 C.F.R. § 1.56(a )

. ACCORDINGLY,
1. The Department grants to US Air ways interim authority to operate , if necessary, nonstop service using the two slot exemptions authorized by 49 U.S.C. § 41718(b), previously awarded under Order 2004

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- 6 at DCA to ASA for service to JAN, commencing on March 4, 2012, following the cessation of DCA

- JAN flights by ASA
, until such time as a final selection decision is made in the reallocation proceeding and the selected carrier initiates service ;
2. Any flight operations conducted under this Order remain subject to the terms and conditions imposed by Order 2004

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- 6, including the use of Stage 3 aircraft and the prohibition of use between the hours of 10:00 p

. m

. and 6:59 a

. m

. ;
3. US Airways is prohibited by 49 U.S.C. § 41714(j) from buy ing , sell ing , leas ing , or otherwise transfer ring the exemptions;

4 . The authorities granted in this Order are otherwise subject to the other requirements delineated in 14 C.F.R. P art 93, Subparts K and S, including, but not limited to, the reporting provisions and the use

- or

- lose requirements; and

5

. We will serve this Order on all parties in Docket OST

- 2000

- 7182 and the Federal Aviation Administration Slot Administration Office. We further direct US Airways to contact the Slot Administration Office to coordinate slot exemption times and identification numbers.

By:

SUSAN L. KURLAND
Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs

(SEAL)
An electronic version of this document is available at
http://www.regulations.gov