December 29, 2020 by ELECTRONIC MAIL the Honorable Arjun Garg
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National Air Carrier Association 1735 North Lynn Street, Suite 105 Arlington, VA 22209 T: +1.703.358.8060 December 29, 2020 BY ELECTRONIC MAIL The Honorable Arjun Garg Acting Deputy Administrator and Chief Counsel Federal Aviation Administration 800 Independence Avenue, SW Washington D.C. 20591 Re: Docket FAA-2020-0862: COVID-19 Related Relief Concerning Operations at Seven Airports for the Summer 2022 Season Dear Acting Deputy Administrator and Chief Counsel Garg: The National Air Carrier Association (NACA) appreciates the opportunity to submit these comments in response to FAA’s recent notice proposing to extend through Summer 2021 the existing waiver of the minimum slot usage requirement at the four IATA Level 2 and three IATA Level 3 airports in the United States (the Notice).1 NACA represents 18 Part 121 air carriers,2 including the nation’s four ultra-low cost carriers (ULCCs) – Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and Sun Country Airlines – and strongly supports the comments submitted separately by Allegiant and Spirit on December 28, 2020 and December 29, 2020, respectively. NACA agrees with Allegiant and Spirit that the FAA Notice proposing to extend the minimum slot usage waiver for the full duration of the Summer 2021 scheduling season would be unduly lenient to existing slot-holders, and that there is no public interest reason to to continue the current slot waivers past the end of March 2021. After correctly stating that “[t]he ultimate duration and severity of COVID-19 impacts on passenger demand in the United States and internationally remain unclear even as the distribution of a vaccine is underway in certain parts of the world,”3 the FAA notice simultaneously proposes that its slot waiver be extended to a date 10 months from now. It simply isn’t possible to determine with any specificity the level of air travel that far in advance. Notwithstanding this uncertainty, the FAA Notice proposes to allow continued hoarding of DCA and LGA slots in nonuse status for the full duration of the Summer 2021 scheduling season, which ends on October 30, 2021. 1 Notice of Proposed Extension of Waiver of the Minimum Slot Usage Requirement, COVID-19 Related Relief Concerning Operations at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, New York LaGuardia Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and San Francisco International Airport for the Summer 2021 Scheduling Season, Docket FAA- 2020-0862, published at 85 Fed. Reg. 83672, Dec. 22, 2020. 2 NACA Members include Allegiant Air, AmeriJet, Air Transport International, Atlas Air Worldwide, Everts Air Cargo, Frontier Airlines, iAero Airways, Kalitta Air, Lynden Air Cargo, Miami Air International, Northern Air Cargo, Omni Air International, Spirit Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, USA Jet Airlines, Western Global Airlines, World Atlantic Airlines, and XTRA Airways. 3 85 Fed. Reg. at 83675 col. 2. December 29, 2020 Page 2 of 2 The existence of a public health crisis does not justify the hoarding of public assets by any carrier when others are prepared to utilize at least some of those assets, benefiting the public. The FAA’s proposal, if adopted, would continue to confer a competitive advantage on incumbent carriers by providing a waiver from the use-or-lose rule for the entirety of the Summer 2021 scheduling season, which provide non-incumbent carriers little or nothing of value. Protecting these slots and peak-hour flights to help the dominant incumbent carriers that choose not to utilize them allows these carriers to keep fares high at public expense. In this respect, the FAA Notice does nothing to promote an effective and competitive airline industry, which is critical to the nation’s economic recovery. As Congress mandated in passing the Airline Deregulation Act, the FAA should place “maximum reliance on competitive market forces” to dictate operations.”4 If the FAA decides to grant relief for Summer 2021, NACA believes the FAA should adopt the middle ground proposed by Southwest Airlines in its comments dated December 16, 2020. In its comments, Southwest opposes the Worldwide Airport Slot Board proposal relative to DCA and LGA, and proposes extending the FAA’s current relief at DCA and LGA for an additional half season at most, through June 27, 2021. The dominant incumbent carriers at DCA and LGA, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, respectively, should not be allowed to hoard these public assets for the entire 2021 peak season when low-cost and new entrant carriers have expressed strong interest in utilizing the slots immediately. The availability of lower fares in these markets will be especially important to the traveling public as the national economy recovers from the pandemic. Consistent with the public interest, NACA respectfully requests that the FAA discontinue any waivers past the end of March 2021. Thank you for your consideration. Very Respectfully, George Novak President and CEO National Air Carrier Association 4 See 49 U.S.C. 40101(a)(6). .