SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

This document provides routine notice to carriers serving capacity-constrained airports in the United States, including ORD, JFK, LAX, EWR, and SFO. In particular, this notice announces the deadline for carriers to submit schedules for the Winter 2026/2027 scheduling season.

General Information for All Airports

FAA has designated JFK as an IATA Level 3 airport consistent with the Worldwide Slot Guideline (WSG).^[1] FAA currently limits scheduled operations at JFK by Order that expires on October 28, 2026.^[2] The extension of the JFK Order as well as a similar order that applies to New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) is published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register .^[3]

FAA has designated EWR, LAX, ORD, and SFO as IATA Level 2 airports ^[4] subject to a schedule review process premised upon voluntary cooperation. The Winter 2026/2027 scheduling season is from October 25, 2026, through March 27, 2027, in recognition of the IATA Winter scheduling period.

FAA is primarily concerned about scheduled and other regularly conducted commercial operations during designated hours, but carriers may submit schedule plans for the entire day. The designated hours for the Winter 2026/2027 scheduling season are as follows:

• For EWR and JFK, from 0600 to 2300 Eastern Time (1000 to 0300 UTC);
• For LAX and SFO, from 0600 to 2300 Pacific Time (1300 to 0600 UTC); and
• For ORD, from 0600 to 2100 Central Time (1100 to 0200 UTC).

These hours are unchanged from previous scheduling seasons.

Carriers should submit schedule information in sufficient detail including, at minimum, the marketing or operating carrier, flight number, scheduled time of operation, frequency, aircraft equipment, and effective dates. IATA standard schedule information format and data elements for communications at Level 2 and Level 3 airports in the IATA Standard Schedules Information Manual (SSIM) Chapter 6 may be used. The WSG provides additional information on schedule submissions at Level 2 and Level 3 airports. Some carriers at JFK manage and track slots through FAA-assigned Slot ID numbers corresponding to an arrival or departure slot in a particular half-hour on a particular day of the week and date. FAA has a similar voluntary process for tracking schedules at EWR with Reference IDs, and certain carriers are managing their schedules accordingly. The primary users of IDs are U.S. and Canadian carriers that have the highest frequencies and considerable schedule changes throughout the season, and can benefit from a simplified exchange of information not dependent on full flight details. Carriers are encouraged to submit schedule requests at those airports using Slot or Reference IDs.

As stated in the WSG schedule facilitation at a Level 2 airport is based on the following: (1) Schedule adjustments are mutually agreed upon between the carriers and the facilitator; (2) the intent is to avoid exceeding the airport's coordination parameters; (3) the concepts of historic precedence and series of slots do not apply at Level 2 airports, although WSG recommends giving priority to approved services that plan to operate unchanged from the previous equivalent season at Level 2 airports; and (4) the facilitator should adjust the smallest number of flights by the least amount of time necessary to avoid exceeding the airport's coordination parameters. Consistent with the WSG, the success of Level 2 in the United States depends on the voluntary cooperation of carriers.

FAA considers several factors and priorities that are consistent with the WSG as it reviews schedule and slot requests at Level 2 and Level 3 airports, including (1) historic slots or services from the previous equivalent season over new demand for the same timings; (2) services that are unchanged over services that plan to change time or other capacity relevant parameters; (3) introduction of year-round services; (4) effective period of operation; (5) regularly planned operations over ad hoc operations; and (6) other operational factors that may limit a carrier's timing flexibility.

FAA seeks to maintain close communications with carriers and terminal schedule facilitators on potential runway schedule issues or terminal and gate issues that may affect the runway times. In addition to applying these priorities from the WSG, the U.S. Government has adopted a number of measures and procedures to promote competition and new entry at U.S. slot-controlled and schedule-facilitated airports.

Slot management in the United States differs in some respects from procedures in other countries. In the United States, FAA is responsible for facilitation and coordination of runway access for takeoffs and landings at Level 2 and Level 3 airports; however, the airport authority or its designee is responsible for facilitation and coordination of terminal/gate/airport facility access. The process with the individual airports for ( printed page 37778) terminal access and other airport services is separate from, and in addition to, FAA schedule review based on runway capacity.

Generally, FAA uses average hourly runway capacity throughput for airports and performance metrics in conducting its schedule review at Level 2 airports and determining the scheduling limits at Level 3 airports included in FAA rules or orders.^[5] FAA also considers other factors that can affect operations, such as capacity changes due to runway, taxiway, or other airport construction, air traffic control procedural changes, airport surface operations, and historical or projected flight delays and congestion.

Finally, FAA notes that the schedule information submitted by carriers to FAA may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The WSG also provides for release of information at certain stages of slot coordination and schedule facilitation. In general, once it acts on a schedule submission or slot request, FAA may release information on slot allocation or similar slot transactions, or schedule information reviewed as part of the schedule facilitation process. FAA does not expect that practice to change, and most slot and schedule information would not be exempt from release under FOIA. FAA recognizes that some carriers may submit information on schedule plans that are both customarily and actually treated as private. Carriers that submit such confidential schedule information should clearly mark the information, or any relevant portions thereof, as proprietary information (“PROPIN”). FAA will take the necessary steps to protect properly designated information to the extent allowable by law.

EWR General Information

FAA issued a Final Order (June 2025 Order) on June 10, 2025, limiting operations at EWR due to elevated delays and operational disruptions caused by air traffic controller staffing challenges, construction, congestion, and telecommunication issues.

On September 29, 2025, FAA issued an extension of the June 2025 Order through the end of the Summer 2026 scheduling season and increased the hourly operating limitations from 68 to 72.^[6] The staffing challenges persisted throughout the summer and could not be resolved prior to the start of the Winter 2025/2026 scheduling season or by the close of the Summer 2026 scheduling season.

FAA extended the existing operating limitations at EWR through the end of the Summer 2027 scheduling season, October 30, 2027, as published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register . This determination was made as staffing levels for Area C of the Philadelphia TRACON (PHL), which manages EWR, remain level and will not increase significantly prior to the start of the Winter 2026/2027 scheduling season. Carriers are reminded that FAA approval for runway access is separate from the approval process for gates or other airport infrastructure and both are essential for success at EWR. FAA expects that all carriers operating at EWR will respect the scheduling limits and work cooperatively with FAA in order to avoid unacceptable delays and other adverse operational impacts at the airport.

91 FR 37777