§93.129 Additional operations.
(a) IFR. The operator of an aircraft may take off or land the aircraft under IFR at a designated high density traffic airport without regard to the maximum number of operations allocated for that airport if the operation is not a scheduled operation to or from a high density airport and he obtains a departure or arrival reservation, as appropriate, from ATC. The reservation is granted by ATC whenever the aircraft may be accommodated without significant additional delay to the operations allocated for the airport for which the reservations is requested.
(b) VFR. The operator of an aircraft may take off and land the aircraft under VFR at a designated high density traffic airport without regard to the maximum number of operations allocated for that airport if the operation is not a scheduled operation to or from a high density airport and he obtains a departure or arrival reservation, as appropriate, from ATC. The reservation is granted by ATC whenever the aircraft may be accommodated without significant additional delay to the operations allocated for the airport for which the reservation is requested and the ceiling reported at the airport is at least 1,000 feet and the ground visibility reported at the airport is at least 3 miles.
(c) For the purpose of this section a scheduled operation to or from the high density airport is any operation regularly conducted by an air carrier or commuter between a high density airport and another point regularly served by that operator unless the service is conducted pursuant to irregular charter or hiring of aircraft or is a nonpassenger flight.
(d) An aircraft operator must obtain an IFR reservation in accordance with procedures established by the Administrator. For IFR flights to or from a high density airport, reservations for takeoff and arrival shall be obtained prior to takeoff.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this subpart, effective April 1, 1986, slots may be bought, sold or leased for any consideration and any time period and they may be traded in any combination for slots at the same airport or any other high density traffic airport. Transfers, including leases, shall comply with the following conditions:
(1) Requests for confirmation must be submitted in writing to Slot Administration Office, AGC–230, Office of the Chief Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20591, in a format to be prescribed by the Administrator. Requests will provide the names of the transferor and recipient; business address and telephone number of the persons representing the transferor and recipient; whether the slot is to be used for an arrival or departure; the date the slot was acquired by the transferor; the section of this subpart under which the slot was allocated to the transferor; whether the slot has been used by the transferor for international or essential air service operations; and whether the slot will be used by the recipient for international or essential air service operations. After withdrawal priorities have been established under §93.223 of this part, the requests must include the slot designations of the transferred slots as described in §93.223(b)(5).
(2) The slot transferred must come from the transferor's then-current FAA-approved base.
(3) Written evidence of each transferor's consent to the transfer must be provided to the FAA.
(4) The recipient of a transferred slot may not use the slot until written confirmation has been received from the FAA.
(5)(i) Until a slot obtained by a new entrant or limited incumbent carrier in a lottery held under §93.225 after June 1, 1991, has been used by the carrier that obtained it for a continuous 24-month period after the lottery in accordance with §93.227(a), that slot may be transferred only by trade for one or more slots at the same airport or to other new entrant or limited incumbent carriers under §93.221(a)(5)(iii). This transfer restriction shall apply to the same extent to any slot or slots acquired by trading the slot obtained in a lottery. To remove the transfer restriction, documentation of 24 months' continuous use must be submitted to the FAA Office of the Chief Counsel.
(ii) Failure to use a slot acquired by trading a slot obtained in a lottery for a continuous 24-month period after the lottery, shall void all trades involving the lottery slot, which shall be returned to the FAA. All use of the lottery slot shall be counted toward fulfilling the minimum use requirements under §93.227(a) applicable to the slot or slots for which the lottery slot was traded, including subsequent trades.
(iii) Slots obtained by new entrant or limited incumbent carriers in a lottery may be sold, leased, or otherwise transferred to another entrant or limited incumbent carrier after a minimum of 60 days of use by the obtaining carrier. The transfer restrictions of §93.221(a)(5)(i) shall continue to apply to the slot until documentation of 24 months' continuous use has been submitted and the transfer restriction removed.
(6) The Office of the Secretary of Transportation must determine that the transfer will not be injurious to the essential air service program.
(b) A record of each slot transfer shall be kept on file by the office specified in paragraph (a)(1) of this section and will be made available to the public upon request.
(c) Any person may buy or sell slots and any air carrier or commuter may use them. Notwithstanding §93.123, air carrier slots may be used with aircraft of the kind described in §93.123 (c)(1) or (c)(2) but commuter slots may only be used with aircraft of the kind described in §93.0123(c)(2).
(d) Air carriers and commuter operators considered to be a single operator under the provisions of §93.213(c) of this subpart but operating under separate names shall report transfers of slots between them.
(e) Notwithstanding §93.123(c)(2) of this part, a commuter slot at O'Hare International Airport may be used with an aircraft described in §93.123(c)(1) of this part on the following conditions:
(1) Air carrier aircraft that may be operated under this paragraph are limited to aircraft:
(i) Having an actual seating configuration of 110 or fewer passengers; and
(ii) Having a maximum certificated takeoff weight of less than 126,000 pounds.
(2) No more than 50 percent of the total number of commuter slots held by a slot holder at O'Hare International Airport may be used with aircraft described in paragraph (e)(1) of this section.
(3) An air carrier or commuter operator planning to operate an aircraft described in paragraph (e)(1) of this section in a commuter slot shall notify ATC at least 75 days in advance of the planned start date of such operation. The notice shall include the slot number, proposed time of operation, aircraft type, aircraft series, actual aircraft seating configuration, and planned start date. ATC will approve or disapprove the proposed operation no later than 45 days prior to the planned start date. If an operator does not initiate operation of a commuter slot under this section within 30 days of the planned start date first submitted to the FAA, the ATC approval for that operation will expire. That operator may file a new or revised notice for the same half-hour slot time.
(4) An operation may not be conducted under paragraph (e)(1) of this section unless a gate is available for that operation without planned waiting time.
(5) For the purposes of this paragraph (e), notice to ATC shall be submitted in writing to: Director, Air Traffic System Management, ATM–1, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20591.
[Doc. No. 24105, 50 FR 52195, Dec. 20, 1985, as amended by Amdt. 93–52, 51 FR 21717, June 13, 1986; Amdt. 93–58, 54 FR 39293, Sept. 25, 1989; Amdt. 93–62, 56 FR 41208, Aug. 19, 1991; Amdt. 93–65, 57 FR 37314, Aug. 18, 1992; Amdt. 93–68, 58 FR 39616, July 23, 1993]
(a) Whenever a slot is required to be returned under this subpart, the holder must notify the office specified in §93.221(a)(1) in writing of the date after which the slot will not be used.
(b) Slots may be voluntarily returned for use by other operators by notifying the office specified in §93.221(a)(1) in writing.
(a) Whenever the FAA determines that sufficient slots have become available for distribution for purposes other than international or essential air service operations, but generally not more than twice a year, they shall be allocated in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(b) A random lottery shall be held to determine the order of slot selection.
(c) Slot allocation lotteries shall be held on an airport-by-airport basis with separate lotteries for air carrier and commuter operator slots. The slots to be allocated in each lottery will be each unallocated slot not necessary for international or Essential Air Service Program operations, including any slot created by an increase in the operating limits set forth in §93.123(a).
(d) The FAA shall publish a notice in theFederal Registerannouncing any lottery dates. The notice may include special procedures to be in effect for the lotteries.
(e) Participation in a lottery is open to each U.S. air carrier or commuter operator operating at the airport and providing scheduled passenger service at the airport, as well as where provided for by bilateral agreement. Any U.S. carrier, or foreign air carrier where provided for by bilateral agreement, that is not operating scheduled service at the airport and has not failed to operate slots obtained in the previous lottery, or slots traded for those obtained by lottery, but wishes to initiate scheduled passenger service at the airport, shall be included in the lottery if that operator notifies, in writing, the Slot Administration Office, AGC–230, Office of the Chief Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591. The notification must be received 15 days prior to the lottery date and state whether there is any common ownership or control of, by, or with any other air carrier or commuter operator as defined in §93.213(c). New entrant and limited incumbent carriers will be permitted to complete their selections before participation by other incumbent carriers is initiated.
(f) At the lottery, each operator must make its selection within 5 minutes after being called or it shall lose its turn. If capacity still remains after each operator has had an opportunity to select slots, the allocation sequence will be repeated in the same order. An operator may select any two slots available at the airport during each sequence, except that new entrant carriers may select four slots, if available, in the first sequence.
(g) To select slots during a slot lottery session, a carrier must have appropriate economic authority for scheduled passenger service under Title IV of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, as amended (49 U.S.C. App. 1371 et seq.), and must hold FAA operating authority under part 121 or part 135 of this chapter as appropriate for the slots the operator seeks to select.
(h) During the first selection sequence, 25 percent of the slots available but no less than two slots shall be reserved for selection by new entrant carriers. If new entrant carriers do not select all of the slots set aside for new entrant carriers, limited incumbent carriers may select the remaining slots. If every participating new entrant carrier and limited incumbent carrier has ceased selection of available slots or has obtained 12 slots at that airport, other incumbent carriers may participate in selecting the remaining slots; however, slots selected by non-limited incumbent carriers will be allocated only until the date of the next lottery.
(i) Slots obtained under this section shall retain their withdrawal priority as established under §93.223. If the slot is newly created, a withdrawal priority shall be assigned. That priority number shall be higher than any other slot assigned a withdrawal number previously.
[Doc. No. 24105, 50 FR 52195, Dec. 20, 1985, as amended by Amdt. 93–52, 51 FR 21718, June 13, 1986; Amdt. 93–58, 54 FR 39293, Sept. 25, 1989; Amdt. 93–65, 57 FR 37314, Aug. 18, 1992; 57 FR 47993, Oct. 21, 1992; Amdt. 93–78, 64 FR 53565, Oct. 1, 1999]
(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b), (c), (d), (g), and (l) of this section, any slot not utilized 80 percent of the time over a 2-month period shall be recalled by the FAA.
(b) Paragraph (a) of this section does not apply to slots obtained under §93.225 of this part during:
(1) The first 90 days after they are allocated to a new entrant carrier; or
(2) The first 60 days after they are allocated to a limited incumbent or other incumbent carrier.
(c) Paragraph (a) of this section does not apply to slots of an operator forced by a strike to cease operations using those slots.
(d) In the case of a carrier that files for protection under the Federal bankruptcy laws and has not received a Notice of Withdrawal from the FAA for the subject slot or slots, paragraph (a) of this section does not apply:
(1) During a period after the initial petition in bankruptcy, to any slot held or operated by that carrier, for:
(i) 60 days after the carrier files the initial petition in bankruptcy; and
(ii) 30 days after the carrier, in anticipation of transferring slots, submits information to a Federal government agency in connection with a statutory antitrust, economic impact, or similar review of the transfer, provided that the information is submitted more than 30 days after filing the initial petition in bankruptcy, and provided further that any slot to be transferred has not become subject to withdrawal under any other provision of this §93.227; and
(2) During a period after a carrier ceases operations at an airport, to any slot held or operated by that carrier at that airport, for:
(i) 30 days after the carrier ceases operations at that airport, provided that the slot has not become subject to withdrawal under any other provision of this §93.227; and
(ii) 30 days after the parties to a proposed transfer of any such slot comply with requests for additional information by a Federal government agency in connection with an antitrust, economic impact, or similar investigation of the transfer, provided that—
(A) The original notice of the transfer is filed with the Federal agency within 30 days after the carrier ceases operation at the airport;
(B) The request for additional information is made within 10 days of the filing of the notice by the carrier;
(C) The carrier submits the additional information to the Federal agency within 15 days of the request by such agency; and
(D) Any slot to be transferred has not become subject to withdrawal under any other provision of this §93.227.
(e) Persons having slots withdrawn pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section must cease all use of those slots upon receipt of notice from the FAA.
(f) Persons holding slots but not using them pursuant to the provisions of paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) may lease those slots for use by others. A slot obtained in a lottery may not be leased after the expiration of the applicable time period specified in paragraph (b) of this section unless it has been operated for a 2-month period at least 65 percent of the time by the operator which obtained it in the lottery.
(g) This section does not apply to slots used for the operations described in §93.217(a)(1) except that a U.S. air carrier or commuter operator required to file a report under paragraph (i) of this section shall include all slots operated at the airport, including slots described in §93.217(a)(1).
(h) Within 30 days after an operator files for protection under the Federal bankruptcy laws, the FAA shall recall any slots of that operator, if—(1) the slots were formerly used for essential air service and (2) the Office of the Secretary of Transportation determines those slots are required to provide substitute essential air service to or from the same points.
(i) Every air carrier and commuter operator or other person holding a slot at a high density airport shall, within 14 days after the last day of the 2-month period beginning January 1, 1986, and every 2 months thereafter, forward, in writing, to the address identified in §93.221(a)(1), a list of all slots held by the air carrier, commuter operator or other person along with a listing of which air carrier or commuter operator actually operated the slot for each day of the 2-month period. The report shall identify the flight number for which the slot was used and the equipment used, and shall identify the flight as an arrival or departure. The report shall identify any common ownership or control of, by, or with any other carrier as defined in §93.213(c) of this subpart. The report shall be signed by a senior official of the air carrier or commuter operator. If the slot is held by an “other person,” the report must be signed by an official representative.
(j) The Chief Counsel of the FAA may waive the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section in the event of a highly unusual and unpredictable condition which is beyond the control of the slot-holder and which exists for a period of 9 or more days. Examples of conditions which could justify waiver under this paragraph are weather conditions which result in the restricted operation of an airport for an extended period of time or the grounding of an aircraft type.
(k) The Chief Counsel of the FAA may, upon request, grant a waiver from the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section for a slot used for the domestic segment of an intercontinental all-cargo flight. To qualify for a waiver, a carrier must operate the slot a substantial percentage of the time and must return the slot to the FAA in advance for the time periods it will not be used.
(l) The FAA will treat as used any slot held by a carrier at a High Density Traffic Airport on Thanksgiving Day, the Friday following Thanksgiving Day, and the period from December 24 through the first Saturday in January.
[Doc. No. 24105, 50 FR 52195, Dec. 20, 1985, as amended by Amdt. 93–52, 51 FR 21718, June 13, 1986; Amdt. 93–65, 57 FR 37315, Aug. 18, 1992; Amdt. 93–71, 59 FR 58771, Nov. 15, 1994]
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | 14 CFR Part 93 – Sections relevant to OMB #2120-0524 |
| Author | Taylor CTR Dahl |
| Last Modified By | Dahl, Taylor CTR (FAA) |
| File Modified | 2014-07-08 |
| File Created | 2014-07-08 |