[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 177 (Monday, September 14, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49150-49151]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-24592]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
[Docket No. OST-98-3713]
Enforcement Policy Regarding Unfair Exclusionary Conduct in the
Air Transportation Industry
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT.
ACTION: Notice extending comment period.
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SUMMARY: The Department (or DOT) published a proposed Statement of the
Department of Transportation's Enforcement Policy Regarding Unfair
Exclusionary Conduct in the Air Transportation Industry on April 10,
1998, and requested public comment (63 FR 17919). Subsequently, on May
21, 1998, the Department extended the due date for comments to July 24,
1998, from June 9, 1998, and the due date for reply comments to
September 8, 1998, from July 9, 1998. By this notice, the Department is
now further extending the due date for reply comments from September 8,
1998, to September 25, 1998.
DATES: Reply comments must be submitted on or before September 25,
1998.
ADDRESSES: To facilitate the consideration of comments, each commenter
should file eight copies of each set of comments. Comments must be
filed in Room PL-401, Docket OST-98-3713, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590. Late-
filed comments will be considered to the extent possible.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Craun, Director (202-366-1032) or
Randy Bennett, Deputy Director (202-366-1053), Office of Aviation and
International Economics, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Aviation
and International Affairs, or Betsy Wolf (202-366-9349), Senior Trial
Attorney, Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Aviation
Enforcement and Proceedings, U.S. Department of Transportation, 400
Seventh St. SW, Washington, DC 20590.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: DOT published a proposed Statement of the
Department of Transportation's Enforcement Policy Regarding Unfair
Exclusionary Conduct in the Air Transportation Industry and requested
comments on the proposed statement (63 FR 7919, April 10, 1998). The
proposed policy statement was developed by the Department of
Transportation in consultation with the Department of Justice and sets
forth tentative findings and guidelines for use by DOT in evaluating
whether major air carriers' competitive responses to new entry warrant
enforcement action under 49 U.S.C. 41712. The due dates for comments
and reply comments were June 9, 1998 and July 9, 1998, respectively.
Subsequently, in answer to an emergency petition from the Air
Transport Association of America (ATA) to extend the comment period,
the Department determined that it would be reasonable and in the public
interest to give commenters more time for preparing their responses to
the proposed statement. On May 21, 1998, we published a notice in the
Federal Register (63 FR 28021) extending the due date for comments to
July 24, 1998, from June 9, 1998, and the due date for reply comments
to September 8, 1998, from July 9, 1998.
The Department has now decided, on its own initiative, to extend
the period for reply comments from September 8, 1998 to September 25,
1998. In an effort to encourage a meaningful dialogue on the issues
involved in the policy statement, the Department has conducted meetings
with various air carrier parties and several additional meetings are
scheduled for the near future. Since our regulations require that a
written summary of the meetings be placed in the docket, we have
decided to extend the due date for reply comments to more easily
accommodate the submission of the written summaries and to give
commenters an opportunity to file comments after reviewing the
documents.
At the same time, the Department is co-sponsoring with the
publishers of Aviation Week and Space Technology the ``Deregulation 20
Summit'' on September 23 and 24. Because the agenda for this meeting
provides for the discussion of issues relevant to our proposed policy,
and the panelists for that meeting have expertise on those issues, we
anticipate that the summit will produce additional insights that should
be included in the docket.
[[Page 49151]]
Issued in Washington, DC on September 8, 1998, under authority
delegated by 49 CFR 1.56(a).
Charles A. Hunnicutt,
Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 98-24592 Filed 9-11-98; 8:45 am]
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