Applications and Petitions: None Answers and Replies: None Orders and Notices: Operating Limitations at ORD - Show Cause Rules and Regulations: None Grant of Petitions: None

	Operating Limitations at Chicago O'Hare International Airport FAA-2004-16944 March 13, 2006 Order to Show Cause | As Published in FR March 16, 2006 The Federal Aviation Administration's August 18, 2004, order limiting scheduled operations at O'Hare International Airport expires on April 1, 2006. The FAA has tentatively determined that it will extend the order through October 28, 2006. This order to show cause invites air carriers and other interested persons to submit comments in Docket No. FAA-2004-16944 on this proposal to extend the duration of the August 2004 order. If the FAA were to allow the August 2004 order to expire as presently scheduled, the FAA anticipates a return of the congestion-related delays that precipitated the voluntary schedule reductions and adjustments reflected in the August 2004 order. The FAA has adopted a rule limiting unscheduled flights at O'Hare,' but it has applied no limits on scheduled flights at O'Hare, other than the August 2004 order. In a separate docket, the FAA solicited public comment on a proposed rule that would limit the number of scheduled arrivals at O'Hare. The comment period for the proposed rule ended on May 24, and the FAA and the Office of the Secretary of Transportation have evaluated the comments filed in that proceeding and expect to issue a final rule shortly. It is not possible, however, to implement a final rule in time for the beginning of the summer scheduling season. The FAA expects that the extension of the August 2004 order will permit the order's expiration to coincide with the effective date of the final rule. Independence Air, which was assigned ten arrivals in the August 2004 order, ceased all operations at O'Hare on January 5, 2006. The August 2004 order does not include a mechanism to reallocate such unused capacity; however, it does not appear that the arrival authority assigned to Independence Air is excess capacity. The principal premise for the August 2004 order was the FAA's determination that O'Hare at present can accommodate 88 scheduled arrivals per hour in average meteorological conditions without triggering intolerable congestion-related delays. In negotiating the schedule adjustments among individual air carriers for the August 2004 order, however, several peak afternoon and evening hours received scheduled arrivals that exceed the agency's preferred limit of 88 scheduled arrivals per hour. Accordingly, the unused arrival times assigned to Independence Air under the order would offset the hours that were scheduled above the preferred limit, and we tentatively conclude that it is operationally beneficial not to reallocate the arrival times formerly used by Independence Air at this time. By: Marion Blakey Index