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OST-2003-15989 - Chautauqua - Reagan Washington National Slot Slide
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Chautauqua Airlines, Inc. August 21, 2003 OST-03-15989 - DCA Slot Slide Chautauqua Airlines, Inc. d/b/a US Airways Express, was recently awarded four slots for use at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in the FAA's August 12, 2003 slot lottery. Those slots, numbers 63, 82, 98, and 114 were awarded in the 2100 hour. Chautauqua intends to use these slots for service between DCA, on the one hand, and Columbus, Ohio ("CMH") and Indianapolis, Indiana ("IND"), on the other hand. Significantly, Columbus recently lost a long-term competitor, folio g America West's exit from the DCA-Columbus marketplace. Counsel: Shaw Pittman, Robert Cohn, 202-663-8060 OST-03-15968 - ATA Airlines September 2, 2003 Consolidated Answer of American Airlines The Department should not abuse 49 USC 41714(d), which requires a finding of "exceptional" circumstances, by granting the applications at issue here. There is nothing "exceptional" about any of these requests, other than their brazen attempt to create some 13 new peak-hour operations at DCA. If the Department were to abolish all hourly slot limitations at DCA, American would not object. But unless every carrier has the same opportunity to move the slots in their DCA portfolios to any hour of the day, then no carrier should. Counsel: American, Carl Nelson, 202-496-5647, carl.nelson@aa.com OST-03-15989 - Exemption - DCA Slot Slides September 10, 2003 Reply of Chautauqua Airlines to American Airlines American's alternate proposal of an "across-the-board change in the DCA slot rules" to eliminate the hourly allocation scheme goes well beyond the narrow relief sought by Chautauqua. The statute specifies that slot moves authorized by exemption may not "increase the number of operations at DCA in any one-hour period by more than two operations." 49 U.S.C. §41714(d)(1)(C). Based on the information currently available to Chautauqua, its application satisfies this requirement. It is not clear that American's proposal would. No other carrier's slot holdings will be affected by Chautauqua's limited request to move four slots. In these circumstances, Chautauqua does not believe that favorable action on its narrow and statutorily-authorized request would be discriminatory or unfair to American. Counsel: Shaw Pittman, Robert Cohn, 202-663-8060 Order 03-9-30 Issued and Served September 30, 2003 Order 2003-9-30, the Department grants the separate requests of ATA Airlines, Inc., Spirit Airlines, Inc. (Spirit), Colgan Air, Inc., and Chautauqua Airlines, Inc. to move the operation of slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport from the 2100 hour (9:00 p.m.) to various alternative times. Insofar as their claim to "exceptional circumstances," all of the applicants share certain characteristics. All were given priority standing and subsequently awarded DCA slots in the recent FAA slot lottery due to the FAA's determination that each was a new entrant by the FAA's regulatory definitions. As such, even with the award of the 2 100 hour slots, Spirit, Colgan, and Chautauqua have argued they have little or no flexibility to adjust schedules to effectively market services since the 2100 hour slots alone do not permit the establishment of a viable pattern of service. We agree that 2 100 hour slots have little or no utility to a carrier that has no other slots. While other alternatives may exist that could enable these carriers to offer viable service, none are as practical or sure as the approach they have pursued here--that of seeking authority under section 41714(d) to move 2100 hour slots to other available times. Moreover, if a grant of that authority is denied here, carriers may face the choice of either operating their service at a loss or relinquishing the slots to FAA, at least temporarily frustrating the purpose for which the FAA's slot lottery was instituted. Precisely because the flexibility of these limited slot holders is so constrained, their circumstances are exceptional. By: Michael Reynolds |
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