Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 192 / Thursday, October 3, 2024 / Proposed Rules 80435 

26, 1979); and (3) does not warrant 

preparation of a regulatory evaluation as 

the anticipated impact is so minimal. 

Since this is a routine matter that will 

only affect air traffic procedures and air 

navigation, it is certified that this 

proposed rule, when promulgated, will 

not have a significant economic impact 

on a substantial number of small entities 

under the criteria of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act. 

Environmental Review 

This proposal will be subject to an 

environmental analysis in accordance 

with FAA Order 1050.1F, 

‘‘Environmental Impacts: Policies and 

Procedures’’ prior to any FAA final 

regulatory action. 

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 71 

Airspace, Incorporation by reference, 

Navigation (air). 

The Proposed Amendment 

In consideration of the foregoing, the 

Federal Aviation Administration 

proposes to amend 14 CFR part 71 as 

follows: 

PART 71—DESIGNATION OF CLASS A, 

B, C, D, AND E AIRSPACE AREAS; AIR 

TRAFFIC SERVICE ROUTES; AND 

REPORTING POINTS 

■ 1. The authority citation for 14 CFR 

part 71 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(f), 106(g); 40103, 

40113, 40120; E.O. 10854, 24 FR 9565, 3 CFR, 

1959–1963 Comp., p. 389. 

§ 71.1 [Amended] 

■ 2. The incorporation by reference in 

14 CFR 71.1 of FAA Order JO 7400.11J, 

Airspace Designations and Reporting 

Points, dated July 31, 2024, and 

effective September 15, 2024, is 

amended as follows: 

Paragraph 5000 Class D Airspace 

* * * * * 

AGL OH D Youngstown/Warren, OH 

[Amended] 

Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport, OH 

(Lat 41°15′42′′ N, long 80°40′49′′ W) 

That airspace extending upward from the 

surface to and including 3,700 feet MSL 

within a 4.5-mile radius of the Youngstown/ 

Warren Regional Airport. 

* * * * * 

Paragraph 6005 Class E Airspace Areas 

Extending Upward From 700 Feet or More 

Above the Surface of the Earth. 

* * * * * 

AGL OH E5 Youngstown/Warren, OH 

[Amended] 

Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport, OH 

(Lat 41°15′42′′ N, long 80°40′49′′ W) 

That airspace extending upward from 700 

feet above the surface within a 7-mile radius 

of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport. 

* * * * * 

Issued in Fort Worth, Texas, on September 

26, 2024. 

Martin A. Skinner, 

Acting Manager, Operations Support Group, 

ATO Central Service Center. 

[FR Doc. 2024–22574 Filed 10–2–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Office of the Secretary 

14 CFR Parts 259 and 261 

[Docket No. DOT–OST–2024–0091] 

RIN No. 2105–AF15 

Family Seating in Air Transportation 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OST), 

Department of Transportation (DOT or 

the Department). 

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of 

comment period. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Transportation (Department or DOT) is 

extending the comment end date for 

interested persons to submit comments 

to its proposed rule on Family Seating 

in Air Transportation from October 8, 

2024, to November 7, 2024. 

DATES: The comment period for the 

proposed rule published August 9, 

2024, at 89 FR 65272 is extended. 

Comments should be filed by November 

7, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: You may file comments 

identified by the docket number DOT– 

OST–2024–0091 by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility, 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC, 20590–0001. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: West 

Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, 

DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays. 

• Fax: (202) 493–2251. 

Instructions: You must include the 

agency name and docket number DOT– 

OST–2024–0091 or the Regulatory 

Identification Number (RIN 2105–AF15) 

for the rulemaking at the beginning of 

your comment. All comments received 

will be posted without change to 

https://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided. 

Privacy Act: Anyone can search the 

electronic form of all comments 

received in any of our dockets by the 

name of the individual submitting the 

comment (or signing the comment, if 

submitted on behalf of an association, 

business, labor union, etc.). You may 

review DOT’s complete Privacy Act 

statement in the Federal Register 

published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 

19477–78), or you may visit https://

www.transportation.gov/privacy. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents and 

comments received, go to https://

www.regulations.gov or to the street 

address listed above. Follow the online 

instructions for accessing the docket. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Maegan Johnson, Nicole Smith, or Blane 

A. Workie, Office of Aviation Consumer 

Protection, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave., 

SE, Washington, DC, 20590, 202–366– 

9342 (phone), Maegan.johnson@dot.gov, 

nicole.smith@dot.gov, or blane.workie@

dot.gov (email). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 

9, 2024, the Department published in 

the Federal Register a Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that 

proposes to require airlines to seat 

children aged 13 and under adjacent to 

at least one accompanying adult at no 

additional cost beyond the fare, subject 

to limited exceptions. Under the NPRM, 

the specific requirements that airlines 

would be required to follow to ensure a 

young child is seated adjacent to an 

accompanying adult at no additional 

cost differ depending on the carrier’s 

seating method. There are different 

requirements for an open seating carrier 

and an assigned seating carrier. 

However, in both cases, airline that fail 

to provide family seating as proposed 

would be required to mitigate the harm 

to passengers by offering them a choice 

of rebooking at no additional cost on the 

next available flight with family seating, 

transport of the young child or young 

children and an accompanying adult on 

the flight without adjacent seats, or a 

prompt refund of the fare paid for the 

child and other persons on the same 

reservation. In addition, the proposal 

explains that the Department considers 

family seating to be a basic service that 

must be included in the advertised fare 

and seeks comment on what services 

beyond adjacent family seating should 

be considered a basic service. The 

NPRM provided for a comment period 

of 60 days after publication of the 

NPRM in the Federal Register, i.e., 

October 8, 2024. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
80436 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 192 / Thursday, October 3, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

On August 29, 2024, Airlines for 

America, the International Air Transport 

Association, the National Air Carrier 

Association, and the Regional Airline 

Association (collectively, ‘‘Members’’) 

filed a joint request to extend the public 

comment period on the family seating 

NPRM for an additional 60 days. The 

Members state that additional time is 

needed to collect data and submit 

comprehensive comments to help the 

Department make an informed decision 

on a final rule. Specifically, the 

Members assert that the Department has 

not sufficiently considered the impact of 

its proposal on foreign airlines which 

means that the airline industry must 

collect, analyze, and submit information 

regarding this impact. According to the 

Members, this is a significant task that 

will take time to complete. Furthermore, 

the Members state that airlines need 

additional time to fully consider and 

analyze the proposed procedures for 

mitigating harm to passengers who are 

not provided adjacent family seating, 

including time to determine the 

proposals impact on their operations 

and propose potential alternatives that 

meet the Department’s goals but are less 

disruptive to airlines. The Members also 

note that the expert report that the 

Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) relied 

on was placed in the docket two weeks 

after the NPRM was published which 

reduced the time available to review 

this important report and negatively 

impacted their ability to assess the 

Department’s proposal and its potential 

impacts and submit well informed 

comments. Finally, the members point 

to the Department’s request for 

comments regarding fees charged by 

airlines for ‘‘basic services’’ as a broad 

request for which additional time is 

needed to respond. 

On September 3, 2024, Southwest 

Airlines (Southwest) also filed a request 

to extend the public comment period on 

the family seating NPRM for an 

additional 60 days. In addition to 

expressing support for the Member’s 

request to extend the comment period, 

Southwest states in its request that the 

comment period for the NPRM should 

be extended because the airline is 

currently transitioning from an open 

seating model to a carrier that assigns 

seat and unlike other carriers must 

evaluate and comment on both the 

assigned seating carrier and open 

seating carrier provisions in the NPRM. 

On September 11, 2024, the American 

Economic Liberties Project, the 

Consumer Action, the Consumer 

Federation of America, the National 

Consumers League, and the U.S. PIRG 

(collectively ‘‘consumer advocacy 

groups’’) filed an opposition to the 

Members’ request for an extension to the 

public comment period for the family 

seating NPRM. The consumer advocacy 

groups urge the Department to stay on 

its current rulemaking trajectory and 

argue that an extension is unnecessary 

since the Department has provided 

ample time for relevant stakeholders to 

respond to a proposed rule that has been 

years in the making, especially since the 

proposals in the NPRM are modeled 

after draft legislation that the 

Department made public before the 

NPRM was issued. 

The Department has carefully 

considered both requests to extend the 

comment period on the family seating 

NPRM filed by the Members and 

Southwest, and the consumer advocacy 

groups opposition to an extension 

request. After considering the arguments 

presented, the Department has decided 

to extend the comment period of the 

proposed rule for 30 days from October 

8, 2024, to November 7, 2024. In doing 

so, the Department acknowledges that 

the NPRM raises important issues which 

require in-depth analysis and 

consideration by stakeholders. At the 

same time, the Department agrees with 

the consumer advocacy groups that the 

proposals in the NPRM are modeled 

after draft legislation that Department 

submitted to Congress and should not 

be a surprise to the stakeholders. The 

Department believes that granting a 30- 

day extension of the original 60-day 

comment period, is sufficient to allow 

stakeholders to conduct a thorough and 

careful consideration of all potential 

impacts and prepare comments. Latefiled comments will be considered to 

the extent practicable. 

Signed in Washington, DC, under authority 

delegated at 49 CFR 1.27(n). 

Subash Iyer, 

Acting General Counsel, U.S. Department of 

Transportation. 

[FR Doc. 2024–22632 Filed 10–2–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Coast Guard 

33 CFR Part 117 

[Docket No. USCG–2024–0412] 

RIN 1625–AA09 

Drawbridge Operation Regulation; 

Hackensack River, Little Snake Hill, NJ 

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard proposes to 

modify the operating conditions of the 

Amtrak Portal Bridge across the 

Hackensack River, mile 5.0, at Little 

Snake Hill, New Jersey. This action is 

necessary to facilitate the construction 

of the new replacement Portal Bridge 

North, adjacent to the current Amtrak 

Portal Bridge. This proposed rulemaking 

would limit the extent of the opening of 

the Amtrak Portal Bridge in the 

horizontal position to prevent the swing 

span from striking the new Portal Bridge 

North during construction. We invite 

your comments on this proposed 

rulemaking. 

DATES: Comments and related material 

must reach the Coast Guard on or before 

November 4, 2024. The Coast Guard 

anticipates that this proposed rule will 

be effective on or about February 1, 

2025. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

identified by docket number USCG– 

2024–0412 using the Federal Decision 

Making Portal at http://

www.regulations.gov. See the ‘‘Public 

Participation and Request for 

Comments’’ portion of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 

below for instruction on submitting 

comments. This notice of proposed 

rulemaking with its plain-language, 100- 

word-or-less proposed rule summary 

will be available in this same docket. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If 

you have questions on this proposed 

rule, call or email Ms. Judy Leung-Yee, 

First Coast Guard District, Project 

Officer; telephone 212–514–4336, email 

Judy.K.Leung-Yee@uscg.mil. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Table of Abbreviations 

CFR Code of Federal Regulations 

DHS Department of Homeland Security 

FR Federal Register 

OMB Office of Management and Budget 

NPRM Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 

(Advance, Supplemental) 

§ Section 

U.S.C. United States Code 

II. Background, Purpose and Legal 

Basis 

The Amtrak Portal Bridge is a swing 

bridge across the Hackensack River, at 

mile 5.0, in Little Snake Hill, NJ. The 

bridge has a vertical clearance of 23 feet 

at mean high water in the closed 

position and 102 feet at mean high 

water in the open position. When 

closed, the Amtrak Portal Bridge allows 

trains to transit across the river. When 

marine traffic needs to transit down the 

waterway, the bridge swings open from 

a central pivot to create horizontal 

clearance for vessels. The waterway 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with PROPOSALS1