30-Day Federal Register Notice

Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 59 / Tuesday, March 27, 2012 / Notices
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
(BTS), DOT.
ACTION: Notice.
In compliance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice
announces that the Information
Collection Request (ICR) abstracted
below is being forwarded to the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) for
reinstatement of an expired approved
collection. The ICR describes the nature
of the information collection and its
expected burden. The Federal Register
Notice with a 60-day comment period
soliciting comments on the following
collection of information was published
on January 27, 2011 (76 FR 4992). The
Bureau of Economic Analysis at the
Department of Commerce submitted
comments in support of the
continuation of the data collection.
DATES: Written comments should be
submitted by April 26, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff
Gorham, Office of Airline Information,
RTS–42, Room E34–414, RITA, BTS,
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC 20590–0001,
Telephone Number (202) 366–4406, Fax
Number (202) 366–3383 or email
[email protected].
Comments: Send comments to the
Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, Office of Management and
Budget, 725–17th Street NW.,
Washington, DC 20503, Attention:
RITA/BTS Desk Officer.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:

OMB Approval No. 2138–0013
Title: Report of Financial and
Operating Statistics for Large
Certificated Air Carriers.
Form No.: BTS Form 41.
Type Of Review: Reinstatement of an
expired approved collection.
Respondents: Large certificated air
carriers.
Number of Respondents: 76.
Estimated Time per Response: 4 hours
per schedule, an average carrier may
submit 90 schedules in one year.
Total Annual Burden: 27,360 hours.
Needs and Uses: Program uses for
Form 41 data are as follows:

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Mail Rates
The Department of Transportation
sets and updates mainline Alaska mail
rates based on carrier aircraft operating
expense, traffic and operational data.
Form 41 cost data, especially fuel costs,
terminal expenses, and line haul
expenses are used in arriving at rate
levels. DOT revises the established rates
based on the percentage of unit cost

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changes in the carriers’ operations.
These updating procedures have
resulted in the carriers receiving rates of
compensation that more closely parallel
their costs of providing mail service and
contribute to the carriers’ ability to
continue providing service.
Submission of U.S. Carrier Data to
ICAO
As a party to the Convention on
International Civil Aviation, the United
States is obligated to provide the
International Civil Aviation
Organization with financial and
statistical data on operations of U.S. air
carriers. Over 99 percent of the data
filed with ICAO is extracted from the
carriers’ Form 41 reports.
Carrier Fitness
Fitness determinations are made for
both new entrants and established U.S.
carriers proposing a substantial change
in operations. A portion of these
applications consists of an operating
plan for the first year (14 CFR part 204)
and an associated projection of revenues
and expenses. The carrier’s operating
costs, included in these projections, are
compared against the cost data in Form
41 for a carrier or carriers with the same
aircraft type and similar operating
characteristics. Such a review validates
the reasonableness of the carrier’s
operating plan.
Form 41 reports, particularly balance
sheet reports and cash flow statements,
play a major role in the identification of
vulnerable carriers. Data comparisons
are made between current and past
periods in order to assess the current
financial position of the carrier.
Financial trend lines are extended into
the future to analyze the continued
viability of the carrier. DOT reviews
three areas of a carrier’s operation: (1)
The qualifications of its management
team, (2) its disposition to comply with
laws and regulations, and (3) its
financial posture. DOT must determine
whether or not a carrier has sufficient
financial resources to conduct its
operations without imposing undue risk
on the traveling public. Moreover, once
a carrier is operating, DOT is required
to monitor its continuing fitness.
Senior DOT officials must be kept
fully informed as to all current and
developing economic issues affecting
the airline industry. In preparing
financial conditions reports or status
reports on a particular airline, financial
and traffic data are analyzed. Briefing
papers may use the same information.
Pending Rulemaking
On July 15, 2011, the Department
published a Notice of Proposed

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Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to
collect certain Form 41 revenue
information on airline-imposed fees in a
more detailed manner (see 76 FR
41726). Many air carriers have adopted
a la carte pricing with separate fees for
certain optional services that use to be
included in the ticket price. Carriers
currently report excess baggage fees,
reservation cancellation fees and
miscellaneous operating revenues. The
proposed rule would require carriers to
report, (1) itinerary related fees, (2)
seating assignment fees, (3) baggage fees
broken down between first and second
checked bags, carry-on bags and other
bags, (4) unaccompanied minor/
passenger assistance fees, and (5) other
fees. The Department wants to make
airline pricing more transparent to
consumers and airline analysts.
Administrative Issues
The Confidential Information
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act
of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note) requires
a statistical agency to clearly identify
information it collects for non-statistical
purposes. BTS hereby notifies the
respondents and the public that BTS
uses the information it collects under
this OMB approval for non-statistical
purposes including, but not limited to,
publication of both Respondent’s
identity and its data, submission of the
information to agencies outside BTS for
review, analysis and possible use in
regulatory and other administrative
matters.
Issued in Washington, DC on March 20,
2012.
Patricia Hu,
Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics,
Research and Innovative Technology
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2012–7300 Filed 3–26–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–HY–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research & Innovative Technology
Administration
[Docket ID Number RITA 2008–0002]

Agency Information Collection;
Activity Under OMB Review; Report of
Passengers Denied Confirmed
Space—BTS Form 251
Research & Innovative
Technology Administration (RITA),
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
(BTS), DOT.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

In compliance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
Public Law 104–13, the Bureau of

SUMMARY:

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 59 / Tuesday, March 27, 2012 / Notices

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Transportation Statistics invites the
general public, industry and other
governmental parties to comment on the
continuing need for and usefulness of
BTS collecting reports on the number of
passengers holding confirmed
reservations that voluntarily or
involuntarily give up their seats when
the airline oversells the flight.
Comments are requested concerning
whether (a) the collection is still needed
by the Department of Transportation, (b)
BTS accurately estimated the reporting
burden; (c) there are other ways to
enhance the quality, utility and clarity
of the information collected; and (d)
there are ways to minimize reporting
burden, including the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
DATES: Written comments should be
submitted by May 29, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Cecelia Robinson, Office of Airline
Information, RTS–42, Room E34, RITA,
BTS, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC 20590–0001,
Telephone Number (202) 366–4405, Fax
Number (202) 366–3383 or email
[email protected].
Comments: Comments should identify
the associated OMB approval # 2138–
0018 and Docket ID Number RITA
2008–0002. Persons wishing the
Department to acknowledge receipt of
their comments must submit with those
comments a self-addressed stamped
postcard on which the following
statement is made: Comments on OMB
# 2138–0018, Docket–RITA 2008–0002.
The postcard will be date/time stamped
and returned.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
OMB Approval No. 2138–0018
Title: Report of Passengers Denied
Confirmed Space.
Form No.: BTS Form 251.
Type of Review: Reinstatement of an
expired approved collection.
Respondents: Large certificated air
carriers.
Number of Respondents: 14.
Number of Responses: 56.
Total Annual Burden: 560 hours.
Needs and Uses: BTS Form 251 is a
one-page report submitted four times
per year, on the number of passengers
denied seats either voluntarily or
involuntarily, whether these bumped
passengers were provided alternate
transportation and/or compensation,
and the amount of the payment. U.S. air
carriers that account for at least 1
percent of domestic scheduled-service
passenger revenues must report
oversales on all operations with 30 seats
or larger aircraft that depart a U.S.
airport.

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Carriers do not report data from
inbound international flights to the
United States because the protections of
14 CFR Part 250 Oversales do not apply
to these flights. The report allows the
Department to monitor the effectiveness
of its oversales rule and take
enforcement action when necessary.
The involuntarily denied-boarding rate
has decreased from 4.38 per 10,000
passengers in 1980 to 0.71 for the
quarter ended December 2011. Without
Form 251, determining the effectiveness
of the Department’s oversales rule
would be impossible. The publishing of
the carriers’ individual denied boarding
rates has diminished the need for more
intrusive regulation. The rate of denied
boarding can be examined as a
continuing fitness factor. This rate
provides an insight into a carrier’s
customer service practices. A rapid
sustained increase in the rate of denied
boarding may indicate operational
difficulties. Because the rate of denied
boarding is released quarterly, travelers
and travel agents can select carriers with
lower incidences of bumping
passengers. This information is
available in the Air Travel Consumer
Report at: http://airconsumer.ost.dot.
gov/reports/index.htm. The Air Travel
Consumer Report is also sent to
newspapers, magazines, and trade
journals. The public availability of this
information deters carriers from setting
unreasonable overbooking rates—a
market-based mechanism that is more
efficient than direct regulation of those
rates.
The Confidential Information
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act
of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note) requires
a statistical agency to clearly identify
information it collects for non-statistical
purposes. BTS hereby notifies the
respondents and the public that BTS
uses the information it collects under
this OMB approval for non-statistical
purposes including, but not limited to,
publication of both Respondent’s
identity and its data, submission of the
information to agencies outside BTS for
review, analysis and possible use in
regulatory and other administrative
matters.
Issued in Washington, DC on March 20,
2012.
Patricia Hu,
Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics,
Research and Innovative Technology
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2012–7303 Filed 3–26–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–HY–P

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research & Innovative Technology
Administration
[Docket ID No. RITA 2008–0002]

Agency Information Collection;
Activity Under OMB Review; Airline
Service Quality Performance
Research & Innovative
Technology Administration (RITA),
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
(BTS), DOT.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

In compliance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
Public Law 104–13, the Bureau of
Transportation Statistics invites the
general public, industry and other
governmental parties to comment on the
continuing need for and usefulness of
DOT requiring large certificated air
carriers to file ‘‘On-Time Flight
Performance Reports’’ and
‘‘Mishandled-Baggage Reports’’
pursuant to 14 CFR 234.4 and 234.6.
These reports are used to monitor the
quality of air service that larger air
carriers are providing the flying public.
The Federal Aviation Administration
uses the On-Time Flight Performance
Reports to identify problem areas within
the air traffic control system.
DATES: Written comments should be
submitted by May 29, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Cecelia Robinson, Office of Airline
Information, RTS–42, Room E34, RITA,
BTS, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC 20590–0001,
Telephone Number (202) 366–4405, Fax
Number (202) 366–3383 or email
[email protected].
Comments: Comments should identify
the associated OMB approval #2138–
0041 and Docket ID Number RITA
2008–0002. Persons wishing the
Department to acknowledge receipt of
their comments must submit with those
comments a self-addressed stamped
postcard on which the following
statement is made: Comments on OMB
# 2138–0041, Docket—RITA 2008–0002.
The postcard will be date/time stamped
and returned.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
OMB Approval No. 2138–0041.
Title: Airline Service Quality
Performance Reports—Part 234.
Form No.: BTS Form 234.
Type of Review: Reinstatement of an
expired approved collection.
Respondents: Large certificated air
carriers that account for at least 1
percent of the domestic scheduledservice passenger revenues.
SUMMARY:

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