60 Day Federal Register Notice

Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 15 / Tuesday, January 23, 2018 / Notices
received into any of our dockets by the
name of the individual submitting the
comment (or signing the comment, if
submitted on behalf of an association,
business, labor union, etc.). You may
review DOT’s complete Privacy Act
Statement in the Federal Register
published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR
19477–78) or you may visit http://
DocketInfo.dot.gov.
Docket: For access to the docket to
read background documents or
comments received, go to http://
www.regulations.gov. or the street
address listed above. Follow the online
instructions for accessing the dockets.
Electronic Access
You may access comments received
for this notice at http://
www.regulations.gov, by searching
docket DOT–OST–2014–0031.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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: Extension of a
currently approved collection.
Respondents: Large certificated air
carriers.
Number of Respondents: 60.
Estimated Time per Response: 4 hours
per schedule, an average carrier may
submit 90 schedules in one year.
Total Annual Burden: 13,910 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 the international and
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 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’ economic well-being.
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.

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Carrier Fitness
Fitness determinations are made for
both new entrants and established U.S.
domestic 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.
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.

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Issued in Washington, DC, on January 18,
2018.
William Chadwick, Jr.,
Director, Office of Airline Information,
Bureau of Transportation Statistics .
[FR Doc. 2018–01184 Filed 1–22–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
[Docket ID Number DOT–OST–2014–0031]

Agency Information Collection;
Activity Under OMB Review; Report of
Financial and Operating Statistics for
Small Aircraft Operators
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
BTS collecting financial, traffic and
operating statistics from small
certificated and commuter air carriers.
Small certificated air carriers (operate
aircraft with 60 seats or less or with
18,000 pounds of payload capacity or
less) currently must file the two
quarterly schedules listed below:
F–1 Report of Financial Data,
F–2 Report of Aircraft Operating
Expenses and Related Statistics, and
Commuter air carriers must file the
Schedule F–1 Report of Financial Data,
Commenters should address whether
BTS accurately estimated the reporting
burden and if there are other ways to
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity
of the information collected.
DATES: Written comments should be
submitted by March 26, 2018.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Marianne Seguin, Office of Airline
Information, RTS–42, Room E32–105,
OST–R, BTS, 1200 New Jersey Avenue
SE, Washington, DC 20590–0001,
Telephone Number (202) 366–1457, Fax
Number (202) 366–3383 or EMAIL
[email protected].
Comments: Comments should identify
the associated OMB approval # 2138–
0009 and Docket ID Number DOT–OST–
2014–0031. 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
#2138–0009, Docket—DOT–OST–2014–
SUMMARY:

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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 15 / Tuesday, January 23, 2018 / Notices

0031. The postcard will be date/time
stamped and returned.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
identified by DOT Docket ID Number
DOT–OST–2014–0031 by any of the
following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
online instructions for submitting
comments.
Mail: Docket Services: U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building
Ground Floor, Room W12–140,
Washington, DC 20590–0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: West
Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140,
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
Fax: 202–366–3383.
Instructions: Identify docket number,
DOT–OST–2014–0031, at the beginning
of your comments, and send two copies.
To receive confirmation that DOT
received your comments, include a selfaddressed stamped postcard. Internet
users may access all comments received
by DOT at http://www.regulations.gov.
All comments are posted electronically
without charge or edits, including any
personal information provided.
Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search
the electronic form of all comments
received into any of our dockets by the
name of the individual submitting the
comment (or signing the comment, if
submitted on behalf of an association,
business, labor union, etc.). You may
review DOT’s complete Privacy Act
Statement in the Federal Register
published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR
19477–78) or you may visit http://
DocketInfo.dot.gov.
Docket: For access to the docket to
read background documents or
comments received, go to http://
www.regulations.gov. or the street
address listed above. Follow the online
instructions for accessing the dockets.
Electronic Access: You may access
comments received for this notice at
http://www.regulations.gov, by
searching docket DOT–OST–2014–0031.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
OMB Approval No. 2138–0009.
Title: Report of Financial and
Operating Statistics for Small Aircraft
Operators.
Form No.: BTS Form 298–C.
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection for the
financial data.
Respondents: Small certificated (29)
and commuter air carriers (35).
Schedule F1
Number of Respondents: 64.

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Number of Annual responses: 256.
Total Burden per Response: 4 hours.
Total Annual Burden: 1,024 hours.
Schedule F2
Number of Respondents: 29.
Number of Annual responses: 116.
Total Burden per Response: 12 hours.
Total Annual Burden: 1,392 hours.
Needs and Uses: Program uses for
Form 298–C financial data are as
follows:
Mail Rates
The Department of Transportation
sets and updates the Intra-Alaska Bush
mail rates based on carrier aircraft
operating expense, traffic, and
operational data. Form 298–C 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 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’ economic well-being.
Essential Air Service
DOT often has to select a carrier to
provide a community’s essential air
service. The selection criteria include
historic presence in the community,
reliability of service, financial stability
and cost structure of the air carrier.
Carrier Fitness
Fitness determinations are made for
both new entrants and established U.S.
domestic 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 298–C 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.
The quarterly financial submissions
by commuter and small certificated air
carriers are used in determining each
carrier’s continuing fitness to operate.
Section 41738 of Title 49 of the United
States Code requires DOT to find all
commuter and small certificated air
carriers fit, willing, and able to conduct
passenger service as a prerequisite to
providing such service to an eligible
essential air service point. In making a
fitness determination, DOT reviews
three areas of a carrier’s operation: (1)

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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 begins conducting flight
operations, DOT is required to monitor
its continuing fitness.
Senior DOT officials must be kept
fully informed and advised of all
current and developing economic issues
affecting the airline industry. In
preparing financial condition reports or
status reports on a particular airline,
financial and traffic data are analyzed.
Briefing papers prepared for senior DOT
officials may use the same information.
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 January 16,
2018.
William Chadwick, Jr.,
Director, Office of Airline Information,
Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
[FR Doc. 2018–01183 Filed 1–22–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS
[OMB Control No. 2900–0772]

Agency Information Collection
Activity: VA Cooperative Studies
Program
Veterans Health
Administration, Department of Veterans
Affairs.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

In compliance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of
1995, this notice announces that the
Veterans Health Administration,
Department of Veterans Affairs, will
submit the collection of information
abstracted below to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and comment. The PRA
submission describes the nature of the

SUMMARY:

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