DOT Proposes Rule To Require Airlines To Report Causes of Delays and Cancellations

Contact BTS 23-01 David Smallen 202-366-5568

Thursday, December 27, 2001 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today proposed a rule that would require the nation's largest airlines to file a monthly report detailing the causes of delays and cancellations.

DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, in a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Dec. 27 Federal Register, would require the major air carriers that file monthly on-time reports with BTS to collect and report the causes of airline delays and cancellations.

These airlines now report on the number and extent of delays but do not provide information on the specific causes of airline delays and cancellations. The proposed changes are designed to fill the data gaps for airline delays and cancellations and provide this information to the public and other interested parties.

"The additional data collected under the proposed rule would provide planners and decision-makers with more information to analyze the underlying causes of delays and cancellations," Dr. Ashish Sen, BTS Director, said. "On-time performance has improved in 2001 but the operators of the nation's aviation system must have information on the actual causes of delays and cancellations to reduce the problem in coming years when air traffic is likely to resume its rapid growth."

DOT formed the Air Carrier On-Time Reporting Advisory Committee in August 2000 to consider changes to the current on-time reporting system so that the public would have clear information about the nature and sources of airline delays and cancellations. This task force recommended the creation of a reporting framework for collecting information about the causes of airline delays and cancellations.

Earlier this year, BTS conducted a pilot program with four airlines to test the monthly reporting of causation. BTS based the proposed rule on the recommendations of the task force, the results of its pilot project and its outreach efforts to the aviation community.

The proposed rule recommends three categories for the causes of delays and cancellations:

• Air Carrier Responsibility—delays or cancellations for which the air carrier has control and responsibility, such as aircraft cleaning, aircraft damage, or awaiting the arrival of connecting passengers or crew.
• Extreme weather.
• National Aviation System (NAS)—delays and cancellations attributable to a broad set of conditions such as non-extreme weather, airport security and passenger screening problems, airport operations, heavy traffic volume, or air traffic control.

The reports currently required to be filed with BTS include delay and cancellation information for nonstop scheduled-service flights between points within the United States (including territories) by the 11 largest U.S. air carriers-those that have at least 1 percent of total domestic scheduled-service passenger revenues. These airlines account for more than 85 percent of domestic operating revenues. These monthly reports are summarized in DOT's monthly Air Travel Consumer Report.

Carriers would continue to report on operations to and from the 32 U.S. airports that account for at least one percent of the nation's total domestic scheduled-service passenger enplanements. However, all reporting airlines have voluntarily provided data for their entire domestic systems.

A flight is counted as "on time" if it arrives less than 15 minutes after the scheduled time shown in the carriers' computerized reservations systems. Cancelled and diverted operations are counted as late.

Based on the small number of enplanements handled by small air carriers, medium and large regional air carriers, and the potential burdens and costs faced by these carriers that are not now required to submit on-time flight performance reports, the NPRM excludes these carriers from the proposed rule.

To view a copy of the proposed rule, go to the Docket Management System website, http://dms.dot.gov/, and follow the instructions for viewing the documents in Docket No. OST 2000-8164. Comments must be received within 60 days of the NPRM's publication date.