[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 37 (Friday, February 24, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11187-11188]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-4299]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
[Docket No. DOT-OST-2011-0170]
Request for Comments of a Previously Approved Information
Collection
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information
Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below is being forwarded to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comments. A
Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting
comments on the following information collection was published on
September 16, 2011 (76 FR 57795).
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before March 26, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Aleta Best, Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs (X-55), Office of the
Secretary, W86-498, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, (202) 493-0797.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Disclosure of Code Sharing Arrangements and Long-Term Wet
Leases.
OMB Control Number: 2105-0537.
Type of Request: Renewal of a Previously Approved Information
Collection.
Abstract: Codesharing is the name given to a common airline
industry marketing practice where, by mutual agreement between
cooperating carriers, at least one of the airline designator codes used
on a flight is different from that of the airline operating the
aircraft. In one version, two or more airlines each use their own
designator codes on the same aircraft operation. Although only one
airline operates the flight, each airline in a codesharing arrangement
may hold out, market, and sell the flight as its own in published
schedules. Codesharing also refers to the arrangements, such as when a
code on a passenger's ticket is not that of the operator of the flight,
but where the operator does not also hold out the service in its own
name. Such codesharing arrangements are common between commuter air
carriers and their larger affiliates, and the number of arrangements
between U.S. air carriers and foreign air carriers has also been
increasing. Arrangements falling into this category are similar to
leases of aircraft with crew (wet leases).
The Department recognizes the strong preference of air travelers
for on-line service (service by a single carrier) on connecting flights
over interline service (service by multiple carriers). Codesharing
arrangements are, in part, a marketing response to this demand for on-
line service. Often, codesharing partners offer services similar to
those available for on-line connections with the goal of offering
``seamless'' service (i.e., service where the transfers from flight to
flight or airline to airline are facilitated). For example, they may
locate gates near each other to make connections more convenient or
coordinate baggage handling to give greater assurance that baggage will
be properly handled. Codesharing arrangements can help airlines operate
more efficiently because they can reduce costs by providing a joint
service with one aircraft rather than operating separate services with
two aircraft. Particularly in thin markets, this efficiency can lead to
increased price and service options for consumers or enable the use of
equipment sized appropriately for the market. Therefore, the Department
recognizes that codesharing, as well as long-term wet leases, can offer
significant economic benefits.
Although codesharing and wet-lease arrangements can offer
significant consumer benefits, they can also be misleading unless
consumers know that the transportation they are considering for
purchase will not be provided by the airline whose designator code is
shown on the ticket, schedule, or itinerary and unless they know the
identity of the airline on which they will be flying. The growth in the
use of codesharing, wetleasing, and similar marketing tools,
particularly in international air transportation, had given the
Department concern about whether the then-current disclosure rules (14
CFR 399.88) protected the public interest adequately and led the
Department to adopt specific regulations requiring the disclosure of
code-sharing arrangements and long-term wet leases on March 15, 1999.
(14 CFR part 257)
These regulations required U.S. airlines, foreign airlines and
travel agents doing business in the United States, to notify passengers
of the existence of code-sharing or long-term wet lease arrangements.
It also required U.S. airlines, foreign airlines and travel agents to
tell prospective consumers, in all oral communications before booking
transportation, that the transporting airline is not the airline whose
designator code will appear on travel documents and identify the
transporting airline by its corporate name and any other name under
which that service is held out to the public.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 16,000, excluding travelers.
Estimated Number of Responses: 300 million (estimated number of
passengers who may be traveling on a codeshare or wet-lease ticket).
Annual Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: Annual reporting burden
for this data collection is estimated at 618,750 hours for all travel
agents and airline ticket agents, based on 15 seconds per phone call
and an average of 1.5 phone calls per trip, for the approximately 33%
of codeshare itineraries that involve personal contact. Most of this
data collection (third party notification) is accomplished through
highly automated computerized systems.
The estimated burden has changed from the previous collection based
on adjustments to the set of respondents and changes to the number of
annual airline passengers.
Frequency of Collection: Collection occurs at the time a passenger
books an airline ticket.
ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding the burden estimate, including
suggestions for reducing the burden, to the Office of Management and
Budget,
[[Page 11188]]
Attention: Desk Officer for the Office of the Secretary of
Transportation, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503.
Comments are invited on: Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the Department, including whether the information will have practical
utility; the accuracy of the Department's estimate of the burden of the
proposed information collection; ways to enhance the quality, utility
and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize
the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including
the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1:48.
Issued in Washington, DC, on February 17, 2012.
Patricia Lawton,
Departmental PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-4299 Filed 2-23-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P