Action
Notice; publication of entire policy statement as amended.
Summary
This action publishes the entire Department of Transportation ("Department"), Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA"), "Policy Regarding Airport Rates and Charges" ("Policy") to reflect all deletions from and amendments to the policy to date. The Policy was originally published in the Federal Register on June 21, 1996 ("1996 Rates and Charges Policy"). In response to a subsequent petition for review, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a decision in 1997 that vacated the challenged provisions of the 1996 Rates and Charges Policy and the Secretary's supporting discussion in the preamble. In 2008, the Department and FAA adopted three amendments to the Policy, to allow operators of congested airports to use landing fees to provide incentives to air carriers to use the airport at less congested times or to use alternate airports to meet regional air service needs. The Federal Register notice publishing those amendments set out the amendments, but did not publish an entire version of the policy as amended. As a convenience for the public and for regulated entities, this notice publishes the entire Policy Regarding Airport Rates and Charges currently in effect in a single document. The FAA is not adopting or proposing any new amendments to the Policy in this notice.