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[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 37 (Friday, February 24, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11187-11188]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-4299]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Docket No. DOT-OST-2011-0170]

Request for Comments of a Previously Approved Information 
Collection

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information 
Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below is being forwarded to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comments. A 
Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting 
comments on the following information collection was published on 
September 16, 2011 (76 FR 57795).

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before March 26, 2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Aleta Best, Office of the Assistant 
Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs (X-55), Office of the 
Secretary, W86-498, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, (202) 493-0797.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Disclosure of Code Sharing Arrangements and Long-Term Wet 
Leases.
    OMB Control Number: 2105-0537.
    Type of Request: Renewal of a Previously Approved Information 
Collection.
    Abstract: Codesharing is the name given to a common airline 
industry marketing practice where, by mutual agreement between 
cooperating carriers, at least one of the airline designator codes used 
on a flight is different from that of the airline operating the 
aircraft. In one version, two or more airlines each use their own 
designator codes on the same aircraft operation. Although only one 
airline operates the flight, each airline in a codesharing arrangement 
may hold out, market, and sell the flight as its own in published 
schedules. Codesharing also refers to the arrangements, such as when a 
code on a passenger's ticket is not that of the operator of the flight, 
but where the operator does not also hold out the service in its own 
name. Such codesharing arrangements are common between commuter air 
carriers and their larger affiliates, and the number of arrangements 
between U.S. air carriers and foreign air carriers has also been 
increasing. Arrangements falling into this category are similar to 
leases of aircraft with crew (wet leases).
    The Department recognizes the strong preference of air travelers 
for on-line service (service by a single carrier) on connecting flights 
over interline service (service by multiple carriers). Codesharing 
arrangements are, in part, a marketing response to this demand for on-
line service. Often, codesharing partners offer services similar to 
those available for on-line connections with the goal of offering 
``seamless'' service (i.e., service where the transfers from flight to 
flight or airline to airline are facilitated). For example, they may 
locate gates near each other to make connections more convenient or 
coordinate baggage handling to give greater assurance that baggage will 
be properly handled. Codesharing arrangements can help airlines operate 
more efficiently because they can reduce costs by providing a joint 
service with one aircraft rather than operating separate services with 
two aircraft. Particularly in thin markets, this efficiency can lead to 
increased price and service options for consumers or enable the use of 
equipment sized appropriately for the market. Therefore, the Department 
recognizes that codesharing, as well as long-term wet leases, can offer 
significant economic benefits.
    Although codesharing and wet-lease arrangements can offer 
significant consumer benefits, they can also be misleading unless 
consumers know that the transportation they are considering for 
purchase will not be provided by the airline whose designator code is 
shown on the ticket, schedule, or itinerary and unless they know the 
identity of the airline on which they will be flying. The growth in the 
use of codesharing, wetleasing, and similar marketing tools, 
particularly in international air transportation, had given the 
Department concern about whether the then-current disclosure rules (14 
CFR 399.88) protected the public interest adequately and led the 
Department to adopt specific regulations requiring the disclosure of 
code-sharing arrangements and long-term wet leases on March 15, 1999. 
(14 CFR part 257)
    These regulations required U.S. airlines, foreign airlines and 
travel agents doing business in the United States, to notify passengers 
of the existence of code-sharing or long-term wet lease arrangements. 
It also required U.S. airlines, foreign airlines and travel agents to 
tell prospective consumers, in all oral communications before booking 
transportation, that the transporting airline is not the airline whose 
designator code will appear on travel documents and identify the 
transporting airline by its corporate name and any other name under 
which that service is held out to the public.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 16,000, excluding travelers.
    Estimated Number of Responses: 300 million (estimated number of 
passengers who may be traveling on a codeshare or wet-lease ticket).
    Annual Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: Annual reporting burden 
for this data collection is estimated at 618,750 hours for all travel 
agents and airline ticket agents, based on 15 seconds per phone call 
and an average of 1.5 phone calls per trip, for the approximately 33% 
of codeshare itineraries that involve personal contact. Most of this 
data collection (third party notification) is accomplished through 
highly automated computerized systems.
    The estimated burden has changed from the previous collection based 
on adjustments to the set of respondents and changes to the number of 
annual airline passengers.
    Frequency of Collection: Collection occurs at the time a passenger 
books an airline ticket.
    ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding the burden estimate, including 
suggestions for reducing the burden, to the Office of Management and 
Budget,

[[Page 11188]]

Attention: Desk Officer for the Office of the Secretary of 
Transportation, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503.
    Comments are invited on: Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Department, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; the accuracy of the Department's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed information collection; ways to enhance the quality, utility 
and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize 
the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including 
the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.

    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1:48.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on February 17, 2012.
Patricia Lawton,
Departmental PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-4299 Filed 2-23-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P
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