2011-27434. Petition for Waiver of the Terms of the Order Limiting Scheduled Operations at LaGuardia Airport; Procedures for the Reallocation of Slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and LaGuardia Airport
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Start Preamble
AGENCY:
Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
ACTION:
Notice of procedures for the reallocation of slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and LaGuardia Airport.
SUMMARY:
Under this notice, the FAA announces the procedures for the reallocation of slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and LaGuardia Airport, which are being divested by Delta Air Lines, Inc. and US Airways, Inc. resulting from a grant of waiver to them.
End Preamble Start Supplemental InformationSUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
On October 7, 2011, the Secretary of Transportation and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted with conditions a joint waiver request by Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Delta) and US Airways, Inc. (US Airways) from the prohibition on purchasing operating authorizations (slots) at LaGuardia Airport (LGA). 76 FR 63702 (Oct. 13, 2011) (the Waiver). The Waiver permitted Delta and US Airways 30 days to accept the terms of the Waiver. They accepted by joint letter on October 12, 2011.
Among the conditions of the Waiver, the Secretary and the Administrator require Delta and US Airways collectively to dispose of 16 slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and 32 slots at LGA. Those divested slots will be reallocated in one slot bundle for DCA and two slot bundles (of 16 slots each) for LGA to eligible new entrant and limited incumbent carriers. The following discussion describes the procedures and timelines for that reallocation.
Registration for the Slot Reallocation
The Waiver establishes that new entrant and limited incumbent carriers with less than five percent of the total slot holdings at DCA or LGA, and which do not code share to or from DCA or LGA with any carrier that has five percent or more of the total slot holdings, may participate in the reallocation at the respective airport. Eligible participating carriers also may not be subsidiaries, either partially or wholly owned, of a company whose combined slot holdings are equal to or greater than five percent of the total slot holdings at DCA or LGA respectively, with the exception of Frontier Airlines as noted in the Waiver.
Because the identities of slot bidders are undisclosed during the bidding period, the FAA is requiring registration by eligible carriers to participate in the reallocation process. Eligible carriers may register by e-mail to 7-awa-slotadmin@faa.gov between October 19 and October 28, 2011. Please include “DCA/LGA Slot Reallocation” in the email subject line. An eligible carrier must register as an individual carrier and may not submit a joint bid with another carrier. The registering carrier must indicate whether it intends to bid on slot bundles at DCA or LGA or both airports. The registering carrier must state whether there is common ownership or control of, by, or with any other carrier at the respective airport. Finally, the registering carrier must certify that it will disclose no purchase offer information to any person other than its agent.
The FAA will confirm eligibility and respond by email with a bidder identification number for each slot bundle no later than November 10, 2011.
Slot Bundles
The Waiver requires the divested slots to be reallocated in bundles. For DCA slots, there is one bundle of 16 slots (DCA Bundle). For LGA slots, there are two bundles of 16 slots each (LGA Bundle A and LGA Bundle B). The contents of the slot bundles are included in an appendix to this document.
Bidding on Slot Bundles
The Waiver permits a bidding period of seven business days. Accordingly, the bidding period will open at 9 a.m., Eastern time, on November 14, 2011, and it will close at 5 p.m., Eastern time, on November 22, 2011. Registered bidders may submit cash-only bids at any time during that bidding period and may submit multiple bids during the bidding period. The FAA will construe the latest received bid as that bidder's final bid.
Registered bidders may submit bids via email to 7-awa-slotadmin@faa.gov. Please include “DCA/LGA Slot Reallocation” in the e-mail subject line. The FAA requests the following format for required bid information in the body of the email:
Bidder Identification Number, Slot Bundle, Preference Ranking, Bid Price
The preference ranking applies only to the LGA slot bundles, and the FAA will use it only if one bidder submits the highest bid for both bundles. This preference ranking should be either a “1” (first priority) or a “2” (second priority).
The FAA will reject any bid that does not contain all required bid information. The FAA also will reject any bid received after 5 p.m., Eastern time, on November 22, 2011. The FAA will use its email system time stamp as the submission time of the bid. Bids are effective upon receipt, and the FAA will not permit the withdrawal of any bid.
The FAA will post a running tally of bids for each slot bundle at http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation. That tally will include the required bid information and time stamp of the bid. The FAA will post bids at approximately 9 a.m., 12 p.m., and 4 p.m., Eastern time, on each business day of the bidding period (for bids received by 8 a.m., 11 a.m., and 3 p.m., Eastern time, respectively). On November 22, the FAA will post bids each hour from Start Printed Page 657749 a.m. through 4 p.m., Eastern time, for bids received prior to the previous half hour (e.g., at 10 a.m. for all bids received by 9:30 a.m.). On the following day, November 23, 2011, the FAA will post bids received during the last hour of bidding.
Completing the Slot Reallocation Transaction
On November 23, 2011, the FAA will notify the divesting carrier and the winning bidder for each bundle of the winning bid and contact information for completing the transaction. The Waiver requires the divesting carrier and each winning bidder to enter into a binding agreement with respect to the sale of the divested slots within five business days from the FAA's notice of the winning bid. Accordingly, the FAA expects the carriers will notify the FAA that they have entered into binding agreements with respect to the sale of the divested slots, via e-mail to 7-awa-slotadmin@faa.gov, no later than December 1, 2011. That notification must certify that only monetary consideration will be or has been exchanged for the slots.
Posting Bid Information
After the FAA receives notice of the binding agreement between the divesting carrier and the winning bidder, it will post the winning bid and identity of the winning bidder at http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation. The FAA also will post all other bid information with the name of the respective bidders.
In the unlikely event that no bids are received for a particular slot bundle, those slots would revert to the FAA. The FAA would post notice if no bids were received at http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation.
DATES: Registration by eligible carriers must be completed by October 28, 2011. The bidding period for registered bidders will open at 9 a.m., Eastern time, on November 14, 2011, and will close at 5 p.m., Eastern time, on November 22, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Requests for registration and bids may be submitted by e-mail to the Slot Administration Office at 7-AWA-slotadmin@faa.gov. Information regarding the slot reallocation may be found at: http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/ReAllocation.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Hawks, Office of the Chief Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591; telephone number: 202-267-7143; fax number: 202-267-7971; e-mail: rob.hawks@faa.gov.
Start SignatureEnd SignatureIssued in Washington, DC, on October 18, 2011.
Rebecca B. MacPherson,
Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations.
Appendix
The DCA Bundle consists of:
Slot ID Time Frequency 1147 0700 X67 1132 0800 Daily 1150 0800 Daily 1056 0900 Daily 1030 1000 Daily 1083 1000 Daily 1223 1100 Daily 1027 1200 Daily 1142 1300 Daily 1109 1400 Daily 1389 1600 Daily 1238 1700 Daily 1401 1800 Daily 1515 1800 Daily 1308 2000 X6 1065 2100 X6 The LGA Bundle A consists of:
Slot ID Time Arr./Dep. Frequency 3197 0600 Departure X67 3183 0630 Departure X67 2138 0730 Arrival X67 2202 0830 Departure X67 3003 0830 Arrival X67 3230 0930 Departure X67 3636 1100 Arrival X67 3430 1230 Departure X6 3415 1300 Arrival X6 2160 1400 Departure X6 2188 1500 Arrival X6 3089 1600 Departure X6 3606 1700 Arrival X6 3015 1830 Departure X6 3848 2000 Arrival X6 3110 2100 Arrival X6 The LGA Bundle B consists of:Start Printed Page 65775
End Supplemental InformationSlot ID Time Arr./Dep. Frequency 3326 0630 Departure X67 2201 0700 Departure X67 2108 0800 Arrival X67 3318 0930 Departure X67 2072 1000 Arrival X67 2182 1030 Departure X67 3093 1230 Arrival X6 3075 1330 Departure X6 3098 1430 Arrival X6 3569 1600 Departure X6 2004 1630 Arrival X6 2129 1730 Departure X6 2007 1830 Arrival X6 2038 1930 Departure X6 3104 2030 Arrival X6 3054 2130 Arrival X6 [FR Doc. 2011-27434 Filed 10-21-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P
Document Information
- Comments Received:
- 0 Comments
- Published:
- 10/24/2011
- Department:
- Federal Aviation Administration
- Entry Type:
- Notice
- Action:
- Notice of procedures for the reallocation of slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and LaGuardia Airport.
- Document Number:
- 2011-27434
- Dates:
- Registration by eligible carriers must be completed by October 28, 2011. The bidding period for registered bidders will open at 9 a.m., Eastern time, on November 14, 2011, and will close at 5 p.m., Eastern time, on November 22, 2011.
- Pages:
- 65773-65775 (3 pages)
- Docket Numbers:
- Docket No. FAA-2010-0109
- PDF File:
- 2011-27434.pdf
- Supporting Documents:
- » U.S. DOT/FAA - LGA Bundle B Bids Final
- » U.S. DOT/FAA - LGA Bundle A Bids Final
- » U.S. DOT/FAA - DCA Bundle Bids Final
- » U.S. DOT/FAA - See Attachment