Order 98-9-24 - Order Granting in Part Petition for Reconsideration and Deferring Applications for Slot Exemptions at Chicago O'Hare Airport

Order 98-9-24

Simmons Airlines, Inc. d/b/a American Eagle / The Community of Savannah, GA/Hilton Head, SC / Exec Express II, Inc. d/b/a Aspen Mountain Air / Atlantic Coast Airlines

Order 98-9-24

Issued and Served September 24, 1998

Order Granting in Part Petition for Reconsideration and Deferring Applications for Slot Exemptions at Chicago O'Hare Airport

Exemptions from CFR Part 93

By this order the Department is amending its action in Order 98-4-21 by increasing from 16 to 18 the number of slot exemptions granted to Simmons Airlines, dlbla American Eagle (American Eagle), at Chicago O'Hare Airport as a means of facilitating the provision of nonstop regional jet services between O'Hare and Duluth, MN, Fayetteville, AR, Montgomery, AL, and Shreveport, LA. Specifically, consistent with the action we took in Order 98-4-21, we are permitting American Eagle to reassign to those markets 18 of the slots it is currently using to perform EAS operations between O'Hare and Bloomington, IL, Champaign, IL, and La Crosse, WI, and, pursuant to our authority under 49 U.S.C. section 41714(a), we will replenish those slots with an equal number of exemptions to assure the continued provision of the Essential Air Service (EAS) operations. Grant of the 18 exemptions is conditioned on their being used solely to provide the specified EAS operations and on American Eagle's implementation of an equal number of scheduled nonstop frequencies with regional jet aircraft between O'Hare and the cities designated above. We will authorize the exemptions for an indefinite period and will thus discontinue the interim (sixmonth) limitation previously imposed on the exemptions in Order 98-4-21. We are deferring action on pending applications for O'Hare slot exemptions by Exec Express II, d/b/a Aspen Mountain Air; the Community of Savannah/Hilton Head; and Atlantic Coast Airlines.

By: Charles Hunnicutt