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6302 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 28 / Tuesday, February 11, 1997 / NoticesE–1 Report of Nonscheduled PassengerEnplanements by Small CertificatedAir Carriers,F–1 Report of Financial Data,F–2 Report of Aircraft OperatingExpenses and Related Statistics,andT–1 Report of Revenue Traffic by On-Line Origin and Destination.Commuter air carriers must file thethree quarterly schedules listed below:A–1 Report of Flight and TrafficStatistics in Scheduled PassengerOperations,F–1 Report of Financial Data, andT–1 Report of Revenue Traffic by On-Line Origin and Destination.Commenters should address whetherBTS accurately estimated the reportingburden and if there are other ways toenhance the quality, utility and clarityof the information collected.DATES: Written comments should besubmitted by April 14, 1997.ADDRESSES: Comments should bedirected to: Office of AirlineInformation, K–25, Room 4125, Bureauof Transportation Statistics, Departmentof Transportation, 400 Seventh Street,S.W., Washington, DC 20590–0001.COMMENTS: Comments should identifythe OMB # 2138–0009 and submit aduplicate copy to the address listedabove. Commenters wishing theDepartment to acknowledge receipt oftheir comments must submit with thosecomments a self-addressed stampedpostcard on which the followingstatement is made: Comments on OMB# 2138–0009. The postcard will be date/time stamped and returned to thecommenter.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:Bernie Stankus, Office of AirlineInformation, K–25, Bureau ofTransportation Statistics, 400 SeventhStreet, S.W., Washington, DC 20590–0001, (202) 366–4387.SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:OMB Approval No. 2138–0009.Title: Report of Financial andOperating Statistics for Small AircraftOperators—Form 298–C.Form No.: 298–C.Type of Review: Extension of acurrently approved collection.Respondents: Small certificated andcommuter air carriers.Number of Respondents: 100Estimated Time Per Response: 16hours for small certificated 7 hours forcommuters.Total Annual Burden: 5,000 hours.Needs and Uses: Program Uses ofForm 298–C Data.Mail RatesThe Department of Transportation(DOT) sets and updates the Intra-AlaskaBush mail rates based on carrierexpense, traffic, and operational data.Form 298–C cost data, especially fuelcosts, terminal expenses, and line haulexpenses are used in arriving at ratelevels. DOT revises the established ratesbased on the percentage of unit costchanges in the carriers’ operations.These updating procedures haveresulted in the carriers receiving rates ofcompensation that more closely paralleltheir costs of providing mail service andcontribute to the carriers’ economicwell-being.Essential Air ServiceDOT also must determine acommunity’s eligibility as an essentialair service (EAS) point. If thecommunity qualifies as an EAS point, adetermination is made as to what levelof service the community is entitled andhow much, if any, compensation mustbe paid to air carriers that provide theservice.After DOT has determined that acommunity is eligible to receive EAS,DOT often has to select a carrier toprovide the service. Some of the carrierselection criteria are historic presence inthe community, reliability of carrierservice, financial stability of the carrier,and carrier cost structure.Carrier FitnessFitness determinations are made forboth new entrants and established U.S.domestic carriers proposing asubstantial change in operations. Aportion of these applications consists ofan operating plan for the first year (14CFR Part 204) and an associatedprojection of revenues and expenses.The carrier’s operating cost, included inthese projections, are compared againstthe cost data in the Form 298–C file fora carrier or carriers with the sameaircraft type and similar operatingcharacteristics. Such a review validatesthe reasonableness of the carrier’soperating plan.The quarterly financial submissionsby commuter air carriers are used indetermining each carrier’s continuingfitness to operate. Section 41738 of Title49 of the United States Code requiresDOT to find all commuters fit, willingand able to conduct passenger service asa prerequisite to providing such serviceto an eligible essential air service point.In making a fitness determination, DOTreviews three areas of a carrier’soperation: (1) The qualifications of itsmanagement team, (2) its disposition tocomply with laws and regulations, and(3) its financial posture. DOT mustdetermine whether or not a carrier hassufficient financial resources to conductits operations without imposing unduerisk on the traveling public. Moreover,once a carrier is operating as acommuter, DOT is required to monitorits continuing fitness.Industry AnalysisThe Secretary, Deputy Secretary andother senior DOT officials must be keptfully informed and advised of allcurrent and developing economic issuesaffecting the airline industry. This isaccomplished through the preparationof testimony given before Congressionalcommittees, briefing and status papers,speech preparation, and memorandarecommending decisions or listingavailable options.The program methodologies underthis program are as varied as the natureof the particular aviation policy issuesthat confront senior DOT officials. Inpreparing financial condition reports orstatus reports on a particular airline,financial and traffic data are analyzed.Briefing papers may use the sameinformation as well as airport activitydata and market data. In summary, thenature of a particular aviation issuedetermines the particular methodologyused to prepare the analysis.Safety AnalysisThe FAA evaluates the adequacy ofaviation safety regulations, standards,policies and procedures. Problem areasare identified and recommendations aredeveloped for appropriate solutions.Enplanement data are used inevaluating the safety status of carriers.Passenger-miles are used to calculatefatality and injury rates, while aircraftmilesare used in performing riskanalysis and comparative analyses withother traffic modes. Departure data areused to calculate accident/incidentrates, developing rates of near misses,and assessing the significance of theincident of operational errors.ForecastingTraffic schedules are used to deriveair carrier operations at non-towerairports. Historical aircraft departuredata are used to supplement andvalidate other sources of Terminal AreaForecasts (TAF). The aircraft operationsdata in the TAF are needed by theNational Plan of Integrated AirportsSystem (NPIAS) to prepare airportmaster plans. In addition, aircraftoperations forecast data in TAF are usedin developing benefit/cost ratios fortower establishment and towerdiscontinuance criteria, for supportingdecisions on the purchase of safety-