[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 148 (Friday, August 1, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41462-41463]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-20255]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
[Docket No. OST-97-2767]
Notice of Intent to Collect Information on Passenger Travel by
Air Under Emergency Review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Transportation (``Department'' or ``DOT'')
has submitted the following information request (see below under
Abstract) under emergency processing to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). OMB approval has been
requested by July 30, 1997.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 29, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be filed in Room PL-401, Docket OST-97-2767,
U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington,
DC 20590. To facilitate consideration of comments, each commenter
should submit five copies of its comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack Schmidt, Office of Aviation and
International Economics, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Aviation
and International Affairs, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 400 Seventh St. SW., Washington, DC 20590 at (202) 366-
5420 or (202) 366-7638 (FAX).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Collection of Data on Passenger Travel by Air.
Type of Request: Approval of new data collection.
Abstract: The Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act
of 1996 (Public Law 104-264) required the Secretary of Transportation
to complete a Study of Rural Air Fares which, among other things, was
to analyze air fares paid between small communities and large hub
airports with fares between large hub airports. Currently, DOT collects
air fare data from certain air carriers as part of the Passenger Origin
and Destination Survey (``Survey''). This Survey is based on a ten
percent sample of passenger tickets and is reported to the Department
on a quarterly basis by the large certificated air carriers. In the
course of analyzing these data with reference to the small communities,
the Department has tentatively concluded that because of the small size
of the sample and the absence of smaller carriers from the database,
the current data are somewhat unrepresentative and inadequate for
providing proper analysis. The Department is therefore seeking the
development of a database that will better meet its needs to provide
this analysis.
Through an order issued at the same time as this notice, the
Department will require airlines and CRSs to provide the data needed
for this analysis. In order to minimize the burden of providing these
data, the Department is suggesting the use of the Ticket Control Number
(TCN) files. In the process of ticketing airline passengers, airlines
and CRSs electronically record most transactions in TCN files for
various accounting, reconciliation and control purposes. Each TCN file
contains approximately 150 individual data items. The Department
believes that these files are the best source of the type of
comprehensive data that it is seeking.
Furthermore, under a current data interchange program, many
airlines and CRSs routinely submit the TCN data to the Airline Tariff
Publishing Company (ATPCO) electronically on a daily basis, Monday
through Friday. The Department believes that these TCN data as
submitted to ATPCO provide an ideal source for meeting its data needs
because of the comprehensive nature of the data and the potential
advantages of advanced techniques for managing the data that are
already in place. DOT intends to collect a full year's data in order to
eliminate any seasonal variations or other aberrations.
By collecting these data, the Department intends to develop a
system that includes the design and creation of a database extracted
from the TCN files, storage of the database, and direct access by
Departmental users to the database. To the extent that some ticketing
data are not included in current data interchange programs, the
Department intends to take whatever steps are necessary to provide as
complete a database as possible.
The Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 1996
(Public Law 104-264) was enacted on October 9,
[[Page 41463]]
1996 and required that the Secretary submit a final report on the study
no later than sixty days after enactment of the legislation. The
Department completed the initial service analysis in January 1997 with
additional fare analysis to follow. Based on a thorough review of the
data in the Survey as well as other sources, the Department has decided
that the new data collection is necessary to provide the best data for
this analysis. Therefore, because of the length of time involved in the
thorough review of the data in the Survey and in order not to delay the
completion of the Congressional report further beyond the statutory
deadline, the Department is seeking emergency clearance to begin to
collect data for use in the Rural Air Fare Study.
Estimate of Burden: The Department tentatively estimates that the
impact of this data collection will be minimal based on the use of the
TCN data files and data transmission through ATPCO as mentioned
previously. For those carriers that use their own internal reservation
systems and are not part of the CRSs, and for those smaller carriers
that are less automated, the Department anticipates that these
respondents could incur an additional cost for the additional time
spent in processing and transmitting the data. The Department does not
have specific information to estimate this additional cost and invites
comments regarding this issue. However, the Department expects that the
extent of this supplemental data is relatively small and has engaged a
contractor to work with these carriers to satisfy this data
requirement.
Respondents: All U.S. airlines providing scheduled passenger
service and all computer reservations systems operating in the United
States.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 47 large certificated airlines, 36
small certificated and commuter airlines and four computer reservations
systems.
Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: It is anticipated
that the majority of the data (75 percent) will be transmitted through
the CRSs on a daily (Monday through Friday) basis with several larger
carriers and half of the small carriers, who maintain independent
systems, responding on a weekly and monthly basis, respectively. Thus,
the estimated annual number of responses per respondent would range
from 260 per year for the CRSs to 12 per year for some of the smaller
airlines.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: Based on a
calculation of an additional one-quarter of a man-year for non-CRS
respondents and an estimate of an additional 15 minutes for data
transmission per response for the CRSs, the Department estimates an
annual burden of 9,360 hours. However, we invite comments on this
issue.
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether this proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the information will have practical
utility; (b) ways in which the Department could estimate the burden of
the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
(d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the
respondents, including through the use of automated techniques or other
forms of information technology.
Issued in Washington, DC on July 24, 1997.
Charles A. Hunnicutt,
Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 97-20255 Filed 7-31-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-62-P
