Meeting To Discuss Ways To Improve the Alaska Commuter and Small Certificated Air Carrier Data Collection Program

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 124 (Tuesday, June 29, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 34747-34748]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-16505]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Bureau of Transportation Statistics

14 CFR Part 298

[Docket No. OST-98-4043]
RIN No. 2105-AC71


Meeting To Discuss Ways To Improve the Alaska Commuter and Small 
Certificated Air Carrier Data Collection Program

AGENCY: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) collects financial 
and traffic data from various types of air carriers. DOT announces a 
forthcoming meeting to discuss ways to improve this program as it 
relates to Alaska small certificated and commuter air carriers. The 
meeting is being held jointly with the U.S. Postal Service.

DATES: The meeting will be held Thursday, July 22, 1999, 8 a.m. to 5 
p.m. and Friday, July 23, 1999, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Alaska time.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will take place in the US Postal Service 
Conference Room at the Anchorage Processing and Distribution Center, 
4141 Postmark Drive, Anchorage, AK 99502. Attendance is open to the 
interested public but limited to space available. If you plan to attend 
the meeting please contact Kevin Adams by July 8, 1999. Persons with a 
disability requiring special services, such as an interpreter for the 
hearing impaired, should contact Mr. Adams at least seven days prior to 
the meeting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin Adams, EAS & Domestic Analysis 
Division, X-53, Office of Aviation Analysis, Office of the Secretary, 
US Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street SW, Washington D.C. 
20590; by phone at (202) 366-1047; by e-mail at 
kevin.adams@ost.dot.gov; or by Fax at (202) 366-7638.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    49 U.S.C. 329(b)(1) requires the Department of Transportation to 
collect and disseminate information on civil aeronautics, other than 
that collected and disseminated by the National Transportation Safety 
Board. In meeting this responsibility, the Department collects traffic 
and financial data submitted under 14 CFR part 241 (Large Certificated 
Air Carriers) and 14 CFR part 298 (Commuter and Small Certificated Air 
Carriers). It also collects

[[Page 34748]]

certain other traffic and service quality data under 14 CFR parts 217, 
234, 250, and 374a.
    The Department in Docket No. OST-98-4043, Notice 98-18, ``Aviation 
Data Requirements Review and Modernization Program'' on its own 
initiative requested public comments from reporting carriers and 
aviation data users on the nature, scope, source, and means for 
collecting, processing, and distributing airline traffic, fare, and 
financial data. Specifically, the Department invited comments on 
whether existing airline traffic, fare, and financial data should be 
amended, supplemented, or replaced; whether selected forms and reports 
should be retained, modified, or eliminated; whether the Department 
should require all aviation data to be filed electronically; and how 
the aviation data system should be reengineered to enhance efficiency 
and to reduce costs for both the Department and the airline industry. 
It is the Department's preliminary position that its current aviation 
data systems may not provide sufficiently detailed data in some areas 
which are necessary to ensure that the Department fully meets its 
mandated aviation responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is 
the setting of the Alaska bush mail rates. The Department relies on 
data submitted by the Alaska small certificated and commuter air 
carriers on the Form 298-C reports to set the bush mail rates. While 
this meeting will be held as part of the Advanced Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking to review the Department's aviation data collection process, 
its focus will be on the data collection process for Form 298-C 
reports. A summary of the meeting will be included in the docket.
    DOT, the Postal Service, Alaska air carriers, and other interested 
entities will review and discuss possible revisions to 14 CFR part 298 
(the Department's Form 298-C reporting requirements). The meeting will 
assess how the Form 298-C data reporting system can be reengineered to 
enhance the usefulness of the data collected in facilitating the Alaska 
bush mail rate calculations while at the same time exploring 
alternatives for reducing costs for the Department, the Postal Service, 
and the airline industry. The meeting will be open to the public. We 
particularly solicit participation from those Alaska small certificated 
and commuter air carriers who currently transport or wish to transport 
mail for the U.S. Postal Service in Alaska.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on June 24, 1999.
Timothy E. Carmody,
Director, Office of Airline Information, Bureau of Transportation 
Statistics.
[FR Doc. 99-16505 Filed 6-28-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-FE-P