jetBlue 

AIRWAYS" 

August27,2013 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

Docket Operations 

West Building Ground Floor, Room W12~140 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Subject: Petition for Exemption 

Reference: Flight Crew Member Duty and Rest Requirements 

Dear Sir or Madam: 

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I F./.NSPORTATION 

·Jc~ ~ET OPERATIONS 

ZO 13 AUG 2 8 A lO: 2 0 

In accordance with the provisions of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) §11.63 and 

§11.81, JetBiue Airways Corp. petition for a limited exemption from 14 CFR 121 subparts Q, Rand 

S (part 121 FDT), which prescribe flight time limits and rest requirements for U.S. carriers, to 

operate under pending 14 CFR part 117 flight crew member duty and rest requirements. 

Specifically, we request that FAA permit JetBiue Airways the option to implement 14 CFR part 117 

between the period of January 7, 2014 and January 31, 2014 to reduce the regulatory and 

operational burden of implementing such a significant new regulation during our most peak travel 

period of the calendar year. 

Background 

On January 4, 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published a final rule adopting new 

flight crew duty and rest rules applicable to U.S. passenger carrying airlines.1 The FAA provided a 

two~year implementation period, with an effective date of January 4, 2014. JetBiue Airways has 

been working diligently to implement part 117 over the past 18 months and will continue to do so 

until our effective implementation of the new rules. 

Implementation Flexibility 

The part 117 effective date falls during our most peak travel period for passengers and airline 

operations, and flexibility is needed to provide us options to avoid potential disruptions to the 

national airspace system (NAS). Major system changes over the past several years have disrupted 

passenger travel, a scenario this exemption will help avoid. For example, a Customs and Border 

Protection computer glitch at Los Angeles airport resulted in delaying thousands of passengers for 

several hours.2 In addition, the holiday season is one of the highest load factor periods during the 

calendar year, so glitches in the NAS, should they occur, would impact more travelers and will 

make recovery efforts more difficult. 

1 77 Fed. Reg. 330. 

2 http://usatodav30.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-08-12-lax-gfitch N.htm; See also FAA system delays 

http://abcnews.go.comfTravei/BusinessTraveler/faa-computer-glitch-delays-flightsnationwide/storv?id-9124958#.UcivUOXD Gq; United and Continental merger system delays 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/major-computer-failures-delay-united-airlines-passengers-countrv-article1.1146600 

JetBiue Airways® 127-01 Queens Plaza North I Long Island City, NY 11101 1718.286.7900 
jetBLue 

AIRWAYSe 

JetBiue Airways runs flight crewmember schedules on a monthly or multi-week basis. This 

exemption will alleviate the programming burden of building one flight crew schedule under part 121 

FDT rules .for four days in 2014 (Dec 31 is scheduled during the January crew schedule) and 

building another schedule to meet part 117 for the remaining days of January 2014. Our airline has 

never attempted to build a schedule with two sets of work rules within the same schedule month. 

As Chief Operating Officer, my professional opinion is that effecting this change during our most 

peak travel period places unnecessary risk on our operation. 

Given JetBiue's belief that safety and compliance are of the utmost importance to our company's 

success and Customer value proposition, we believe the January 4, 2014 execution date creates 

unnecessary risk for our airline, and as the largest carrier at JFK, the National Air System. And, 

while we have looked at early adoption as well, a similar risk exists due to the peak travel period 

and therefore renders that option unviable. 

Finally, while our systems will be ready for execution on January 4, 2014, we are concerned that 

the nearly 30 airlines that utilize the same crew tracking system we do, all executing (potentially) on 

the same day, places even more unnecessary risk on our company during a critical travel period. 

The Applicable Regulations and Relief Sought 

U.S. airlines that carry passengers currently operate under part 121 FDT regulations. We seek 

exemption from 14 CFR subparts Q, R and S, which prescribe the flight time limits and rest 

requirements for U.S. carriers. 

Reasons for seeking the relief include: 

1) The exemption is narrowly focused seeking a short window for carriers to implement part 

117. 

2) Permitting carriers to implement on different days will reduce the impact and system 

vulnerability of an entire industry switching crew scheduling software and algorithms 

the same day. 

3) The exemption time period will assist carriers in avoiding the heaviest holiday travel days. 

4) It will potentially ease the burden of building two different crew schedules to accommodate 

two different regulations in the same month. 

5) FAA support and resources needed during the implementation will also be spread out due 

to the potentially numerous simultaneous implementations. 

Without the requested relief all carriers will implement new scheduling protocols on the same day, 

increasing the risk of software or operational disruptions. 

Granting the Exemption Would be in the Public Interest 

Absent this relief, every U.S. airline that carries passengers will implement part 117 on January 4, 

2014. If any one or several carriers have malfunctions in the reprogrammed crew scheduling 

software, the traveling public will be impacted because scheduling detailed and extensive flight 

crew duty and rest requirements and matching those schedules with aircraft that operate around 

the world is an extremely complex process. While JetBiue will make every effort to prevent and 

recover from anomalies, solutions will be complex and time consuming that could result in 

significant impacts to the traveling public. In addition, holiday load factors on aircraft are high; 

therefore, abundant capacity is not available to recover when there are cancellations or delays. 

JetBiue Airways® 127-01 Queens Plaza North I Long Island City, NY 11101 1718.286.7900 
j . 1 "'.\ 

jetBLue 

AIRWAYSe 

Granting the Exemption Would Not Adversely Affect Safety 

Delaying the start of part 117 (for as many as 27 days) will not adversely impact safety; JetBiue will 

apply what the FAA has determined to be an improved regulation. 

Reasons for Exercising the Privileges of the Reguested Exemption Outside the United 

States. 

Application of this exemption outside the U.S. is required because new FAA pilot duty time and rest 

regulations that apply to U.S. airlines that carry passengers do not distinguish between domestic 

and international operations. Part 117 applies to scheduling of flight crew members worldwide. 

Conclusion 

Summary of Relief Sought: The relief would provide JetBiue Airways Corp. the option to 

implement new pilot duty and rest requirements over a period with 

a reduced risk to our flying customers. 

Granting this exemption is in the public interest as it avoids potential, unpredictable disruptions 

in passenger airline service. 

Thank you for your consideration of this exemption request. 

Sincerely, 

Robert Maruster 

EVP, Chief Operating Officer 

JetBiue Airways Corp. 

cc: Kevin O'Donnell, POl, FSDO Garden City, NY 

JetBiue Airways® 127-01 Queens Plaza North I Long Island City, NY 11101 1718.286.7900