The Airspace Waiver program allows aircraft operators to request permission to fly in restricted airspace. The information collected through the Airspace Waiver applications will enable TSA to perform a background check on each individual on the aircraft seeking to fly under the waiver. The affected public consists of aircraft operators of the general aviation community.
The Federal Government cost for this program has decreased due to a change in the methodology used to calculate Federal cost. Previously, an estimate of 72 hours per application was used to calculate an hour burden. The Program Office responsible for processing Airspace Waiver Applications provided that estimate as a maximum hour burden per application. However, individual application processing times vary. TSA believes a more accurate cost estimate of Federal costs is the fully-loaded annual salaries of the staff dedicated to processing Airspace Waiver Applications.
While TSA is revising the identifying information collected to include gender, the time burden for the collection has not changed. However, from the last Information Collection renewal in 2019, the respondents decreased for International Waiver Applications and increased for Domestic Waiver Applications. TSA relies on actual numbers based on flight activity to determine the respondents. The actual numbers for the domestic flights showed an increase in the respondents from 4,183 to 4,657. The actual numbers for international flights showed a decrease from 4,777 to 4,224. TSA believes this decrease may be due to the pandemic as flights were restricted for foreign travel, in particular China, England, South Africa, etc.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.