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Summary

The Office of Inspector General is initiating an audit of the impacts of the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) tarmac delay rule. In 2010, DOT issued a rule that prohibits aircraft operating domestic flights from remaining on the tarmac for more than 3 hours without deplaning passengers, with some exceptions. In the Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Congress directed our office to assess the impact of DOT’s rules on carriers’ decisions to delay or cancel flights. The Office of the Secretary (OST) recently conducted a study on the rule’s impact as well. Our audit objectives are to (1) assess the effect of the tarmac delay rule on carriers’ decisions to delay or cancel flights; and (2) evaluate OST’s analysis of this issue.