I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2024

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require air carriers to conduct

safety audits of foreign air carriers as a condition of approval of certain

cooperative arrangements between the carriers.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 7, 1999

Mr. OBERSTAR (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, and Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require air carriers to conduct safety audits of foreign air carriers

as a condition of approval of certain cooperative arrangements between the carriers.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aviation Code-Share

5 Safety Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. APPROVAL OF AIR CARRIER CODE-SHARING AR2 RANGEMENTS WITH FOREIGN AIR CARRIERS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 41309 of title 49, United

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing:

6 ‘‘(d) APPROVAL OF CODE-SHARING ARRANGE7 MENTS.—

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transpor9 tation may approve a code-sharing arrangement

10 under subsection (a) between an air carrier pro11 viding air transportation of passengers and a foreign

12 air carrier only if—

13 ‘‘(A) the director of safety, director of op14 erations, and director of maintenance for the

15 air carrier (or individuals employed in equiva16 lent positions) each certify to the Administrator

17 of the Federal Aviation Administration that—

18 ‘‘(i) an initial safety audit, including

19 an on-site inspection, of the foreign air

20 carrier has been conducted under a safety

21 audit program approved by the Adminis22 trator under this subsection; and

23 ‘‘(ii) the foreign air carrier met the

24 standards of the safety audit program; and

25 ‘‘(B) the air carrier agrees to conduct peri26 odic safety audits, including on-site inspections,
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1 of the foreign air carrier in accordance with the

2 safety audit program.

3 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR SAFETY AUDIT PRO4 GRAMS.—

5 ‘‘(A) ELEMENTS TO BE AUDITED.—A safe6 ty audit program of an air carrier under this

7 section shall include periodic safety audits, in8 cluding on-site inspections, conducted by the air

9 carrier of each of the following elements of a

10 foreign air carrier’s operations:

11 ‘‘(i) Flight operations.

12 ‘‘(ii) Maintenance operations.

13 ‘‘(iii) Airworthiness.

14 ‘‘(iv) Incident and accident rates.

15 ‘‘(v) Crew training.

16 ‘‘(vi) En-route procedures.

17 ‘‘(vii) Emergency response plans.

18 ‘‘(viii) Other elements considered nec19 essary by the Administrator.

20 ‘‘(B) QUALITY ASSURANCE.—A safety

21 audit program of an air carrier under this sec22 tion shall include procedures to ensure the qual23 ity of audits conducted under the program, in24 cluding procedures for training personnel of the

25 air carrier who will conduct the audits.
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1 ‘‘(C) CHANGES IN OWNERSHIP.—A safety

2 audit program of an air carrier under this sec3 tion shall include procedures to ensure that if

4 there is a change in ownership of a code-shar5 ing partner of the air carrier a new audit of the

6 code-sharing partner will be conducted under

7 the program.

8 ‘‘(3) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 180 days

9 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the

10 Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of

11 Defense, the International Civil Aviation Organiza12 tion, and representatives and employees of air car13 riers and foreign air carriers, shall issue guidance to

14 air carriers on the establishment of safety audit pro15 grams that will satisfy the requirements of this sub16 section.

17 ‘‘(4) APPROVAL.—An air carrier described in

18 paragraph (1) that has entered into or plans to

19 enter into a code-share arrangement with a foreign

20 air carrier shall submit a safety audit program to

21 the Administrator for approval.

22 ‘‘(5) WRITTEN RECORDS.—Each director of an

23 air carrier making a certification under paragraph

24 (1) shall maintain for inspection by the Adminis-
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1 trator sufficient written records to support the cer2 tification.

3 ‘‘(6) REVIEWS.—To ensure the consistency,

4 quality, and effectiveness of safety audit programs

5 conducted under this subsection, the Administrator

6 shall conduct a comprehensive review of the safety

7 audit program of an air carrier at least once each

8 year. To facilitate such a review, the air carrier shall

9 permit the Administrator to accompany the air car10 rier on site inspections of foreign air carriers that

11 are code-share partners of the air carrier.

12 ‘‘(7) ASSESSMENTS OF FOREIGN REGULATORY

13 AUTHORITIES.—The Administrator shall work with

14 the International Civil Aviation Organization to en15 sure that oversight of code-sharing arrangements be16 tween air carriers and foreign air carriers is included

17 as part of any assessment of a country’s air safety

18 regulatory authorities.

19 ‘‘(8) CODE-SHARING ARRANGEMENT DE20 FINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘code-sharing

21 arrangement’ means an arrangement whereby an air

22 carrier’s designator code is used to identify a flight

23 operated by another carrier.

24 ‘‘(9) APPLICABILITY.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) shall

2 apply to approvals of code-sharing arrange3 ments under subsection (a) on and after the

4 day that is 1 year after the date of enactment

5 of this subsection.

6 ‘‘(B) EXISTING AGREEMENTS.—If an air

7 carrier has received approval of a code-sharing

8 arrangement under subsection (a) before the

9 day that is 1 year after the date of enactment

10 of this subsection (including approvals received

11 before such date of enactment), the air carrier

12 shall make the certifications and assurances re13 quired by paragraph (1) with respect to the ar14 rangement on or before such day.’’.

15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 41309(b)

16 of such title is amended—

17 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of paragraph

18 (1);

19 (2) by striking the period at the end of para20 graph (2) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

21 (3) by adding at the end the following:

22 ‘‘(3) or, after periodic review, end approval of

23 a code-sharing arrangement that raises safety con24 cerns.’’.

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