DOT To Fill Small Airline And Cargo Data Gap

Contact BTS 20-02 David Smallen 202-366-5568

Tuesday, July 30, 2002 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today said that small certificated, commuter and all-cargo carriers must report data on their air traffic activity, as large passenger airlines are currently required to do.

A final rule published in today's Federal Register by DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and the Office of the Secretary of Transportation will require small certificated, commuter and all-cargo carriers to report on passenger and freight traffic, available capacity and seats, and number and duration of flights.

"The rule will improve analysis of the aviation system by giving planners and decision-makers more information," Dr. Ashish Sen, BTS Director, said. "We recognize that smaller carriers now carry millions of passengers a year and should be part of the primary reporting system."

The existing rule exempts carriers operating only planes of fewer than 60 seats and carriers providing only domestic, all-cargo service from the detailed reporting requirements. The new requirements make the data from these airlines compatible with data collected from large passenger airlines.

In addition to the new requirements for small certificated, commuter and all-cargo carriers, the rule makes the following changes:

• U.S. carriers must report detailed information for all their military, domestic all-cargo, and domestic charter flights.
• Foreign air carriers will be required to report on all flights to and from the United States, eliminating the small-aircraft reporting exclusion.
• The operating carrier must report joint-service operations, including code-sharing, wet-leasing and substitution-of-service operations.
• U.S. carriers will be required to submit total aircraft hours for each reported aircraft type, fuel consumed by aircraft type and aircraft days assigned to service.

BTS will distribute software to the carriers to ease the reporting burden.

To view a copy of the rule, go to the Docket Management System website, http://dms.dot.gov, and follow the instructions for viewing the documents in BTS Docket No. OST 98-4043.