# jetBlue AIRWAYS"
August27,2013 U.S. Department ofTransportation Docket Operations West Building Ground Floor, Room**W12~140** 1200 NewJerseyAvenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 Subject: Petition for Exemption Reference: Flight Crew Member Dutyand Rest Requirements Dear Siror Madam:**...,~** 

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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 117flight crew memberduty and rest requirements. Specifically, we request that FAA permit JetBiue Airways the option to implement 14 CFR part 117 between the period of January7, 2014 and January31, 2014to reduce the regulatory and operational burden of implementing such a significant new regulation during our most peaktravel period of the calendar year. Background On January4, 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published a final rule adopting new flight crew duty and rest rules applicable to U.S. passengercarrying airlines. 1 The FAA provideda**two~year** implementation period, with an effective date of January4, 2014. JetBiue Airways has been working diligentlyto implement part 117 overthe 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 overthe past several years have disrupted passengertravel, 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 delayshttp://abcnews.go.comfTravei/BusinessTraveler/faa-computer-glitch-delays-flightsnationwide/storv?id-9124958#.UcivUOXD Gq; United and Continental mergersystem delayshttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/major-computer-failures-delay-united-airlines-passengers-countrv-article1.1146600

JetBiueAirways®127-01 Queens Plaza North 

## ILong Island City, NY 11101 1718.286.7900

# jetBLue AIRWAYSe

JetBiue Airways runs flight crewmemberschedules 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 .forfourdays in 2014 (Dec 31 is scheduled during the Januarycrewschedule) and building another schedule to meet part 117forthe remaining days of January2014. Ourairline has neverattemptedto build a schedule with two sets of work rules within the same schedule month. As Chief Operating Officer, my professional opinion isthat effecting this change during our most peak travel period places unnecessary risk on our operation. Given JetBiue's beliefthat safetyand compliance are of the utmost importanceto ourcompany's success and Customervalue proposition, we believe the January4, 2014 execution date creates unnecessary risk for ourairline, and as the largest carrier at JFK, the National Air System. And, while we have looked at earlyadoption as well, a similar risk exists dueto the peaktravel period and therefore renders that option unviable. Finally, while oursystems will be readyfor execution on January4, 2014, we are concerned that the nearly30 airlines that utilize the same crewtracking 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 14CFR 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 narrowlyfocused seeking a short windowfor carriers to implement part 117. 2) Permitting carriers to implement on different days will reduce the impact and system vulnerability of an entire industryswitching crew scheduling software and algorithms the same day. 3) The exemption time period will assist carriers in avoiding the heaviest holidaytravel days. 4) It will potentially ease the burden of building two different crewschedules 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. Withoutthe requested relief all carriers will implement new scheduling protocols on the same day, increasingthe risk of software oroperational 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 January4, 2014. If anyone orseveral carriers have malfunctions in the reprogrammed crewscheduling software, the traveling public will be impacted because scheduling detailed and extensiveflight crew dutyand rest requirements and matching those schedules with aircraftthat operate around the world is an extremely complex process. While JetBiue will make every effortto prevent and recoverfrom 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 ordelays.

JetBiueAirways® 127-01 Queens Plaza North 

## ILong Island City, NY 11101 1718.286.7900j

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# jetBLue AIRWAYSe
Grantingthe Exemption Would Not Adversely Affect Safety Delaying the start of part 117 (for as manyas 27 days) will not adversely impact safety; JetBiue will apply what the FAA has determined to be an improved regulation. Reasons for Exercisingthe Privileges ofthe Reguested Exemption Outsidethe United States. Application of this exemption outside the U.S. is required because new FAA pilot dutytime and rest regulations that applyto U.S. airlines that carry passengers do not distinguish between domestic and international operations. Part 117applies to scheduling of flight crew members worldwide. Conclusion Summaryof Relief Sought: The relief would provide JetBiue Airways Corp. the option to implement new pilot dutyand rest requirements overa period with a reduced risk to ourflying customers. Grantingthis exemption is in the public interestas it avoids potential, unpredictable disruptions in passenger airline service.
Thankyou foryour consideration of this exemption request. Sincerely,

Robert Maruster EVP, Chief Operating Officer JetBiue Airways Corp.
cc: Kevin O'Donnell, POl, FSDO Garden City, NY

JetBiueAirways® 127-01 Queens Plaza North 

## ILong Island City, NY 11101 1718.286.7900