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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2051

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Transportation to investigate and hold public hearings in response to petitions

claiming unreasonably high air fares or inadequate air carrier competition

at airports.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 8, 1999

Mr. DEFAZIO 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 the Secretary of Transportation to investigate and hold public

hearings in response to petitions claiming unreasonably

high air fares or inadequate air carrier competition at

airports.

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

3 SECTION 1. PETITIONS CLAIMING UNREASONABLY HIGH

4 AIR FARES OR INADEQUATE AIR CARRIER

5 COMPETITION AT AIRPORTS.

6 Section 41712 of title 49, United States Code, is

7 amended—
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1 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before

2 ‘‘On the initiative’’; and

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

4 ‘‘(b) PETITIONS CLAIMING UNREASONABLY HIGH

5 AIR FARES OR INADEQUATE AIR CARRIER COMPETITION

6 AT AIRPORTS.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary receives a

8 petition submitted by the sponsor of a commercial

9 service airport (or by the attorney general of a State

10 on behalf of 1 or more persons, including govern11 mental entities, with respect to an airport) claiming

12 that fares for scheduled air transportation at the

13 airport are unreasonably high, or that competition

14 between air carriers at the airport is inadequate, the

15 Secretary shall investigate and hold a public hearing

16 on the petition before the expiration of the 90-day

17 period beginning on the date of receipt of the peti18 tion.

19 ‘‘(2) LOCATION OF HEARING.—A public hearing

20 under paragraph (1) shall be held in the community

21 served by the airport if requested in the petition and

22 if practicable.

23 ‘‘(3) INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED BY AIR

24 CARRIERS.—An air carrier providing air transpor25 tation at the airport shall provide to the Secretary
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1 pursuant to section 41708 such information con2 cerning fares for air transportation and air service

3 at the airport as the Secretary considers necessary

4 to making findings in response to the petition.

5 ‘‘(4) OPPORTUNITY TO TESTIFY.—A sponsor of

6 an airport or an attorney general of a State submit7 ting a petition under paragraph (1), and each air

8 carrier providing air transportation at the airport,

9 shall be provided an opportunity to testify at the

10 public hearing conducted with respect to the peti11 tion. The Secretary may also take testimony from

12 other interested persons and shall consider all writ13 ten petitions received in response to each petition.

14 ‘‘(5) FINDINGS.—Not later than 60 days after

15 the date on which a public hearing is convened with

16 respect to a petition submitted under this sub17 section, the Secretary shall issue written findings in

18 response to the issues raised in the petition, includ19 ing, at a minimum, findings as to—

20 ‘‘(A) subject to paragraph (8), whether

21 fares for air transportation at the airport are

22 substantially higher than at comparable air23 ports in the Nation;
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1 ‘‘(B) whether air carrier costs to provide

2 air transportation at the airport appear sub3 stantially higher than at comparable airports;

4 ‘‘(C) whether barriers to entry are discour5 aging or preventing other air carriers from ini6 tiating competitive air transportation at the air7 port;

8 ‘‘(D) whether marketing practices de9 scribed in subsection (c) or other air carrier

10 practices are contributing to such barriers to

11 entry or are otherwise resulting in higher air

12 carrier costs or higher fares for air transpor13 tation; and

14 ‘‘(E) as appropriate, whether any pro15 grams under the Secretary’s authority could be

16 helpful to airports in marketing their facilities

17 to air carriers, reducing fares for air transpor18 tation, or minimizing barriers to entry by other

19 air carriers seeking to provide air transpor20 tation at the airport.

21 ‘‘(6) SUBSEQUENT PETITIONS.—If the Sec22 retary receives a petition under this section with re23 spect to an airport for which the Secretary has pre24 viously conducted an investigation and public hear25 ing under this subsection, the Secretary may decide
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1 not to conduct a subsequent investigation and public

2 hearing in response to the new petition. In deciding

3 whether to conduct the investigation and public

4 hearing, the Secretary shall consider whether

5 changed circumstances may have limited the con6 tinuing validity of the Secretary’s previous findings

7 with respect to the airport.

8 ‘‘(7) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than

9 180 days after the date of enactment of this sub10 section, and at the end of each 180-day period there11 after, the Secretary shall transmit to Congress a re12 port on the results of the investigations, if any, com13 pleted under this subsection during that period.

14 ‘‘(8) LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUC15 TION.—Nothing in this subsection may be construed

16 to authorize the Secretary to set or invalidate any

17 fare for air transportation.

18 ‘‘(c) MARKETING PRACTICES THAT ADVERSELY AF19 FECT AIR CARRIER COMPETITION.—

20 ‘‘(1) REVIEW.—Not later than 180 days after

21 the date of enactment of this subsection, the Sec22 retary shall review the marketing practices of air

23 carriers that may inhibit the availability of quality,

24 affordable air transportation services to commercial

25 service airports, including—
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1 ‘‘(A) marketing arrangements between air

2 carriers and travel agents;

3 ‘‘(B) code-sharing partnerships;

4 ‘‘(C) frequent flyer incentive programs and

5 restrictions on purchases of frequent flyer mile6 age by other air carriers;

7 ‘‘(D) computer reservation system displays;

8 ‘‘(E) gate arrangements at airports;

9 ‘‘(F) exclusive dealing arrangements; and

10 ‘‘(G) any other marketing practices that

11 may have similar impacts.

12 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—If the Secretary finds,

13 after conducting the review required by paragraph

14 (1), that 1 or more marketing practices of air car15 riers inhibit the availability of quality, affordable air

16 transportation services at commercial service air17 ports, the Secretary, after providing notice and an

18 opportunity for public comment, shall issue regula19 tions to address the marketing practices.’’.

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