On May 9, 2012, the Department of Transportation (DOT) published a Notice regarding the submission of tarmac delay contingency plans to DOT for approval. On February 14, 2012, President Obama signed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (the ‘‘Act’’) into law. Among other things, the Act requires U.S. carriers that operate scheduled passenger service or public charter service using any aircraft with a design capacity of 30 or more seats, to submit contingency plans for lengthy tarmac delays to the Secretary of Transportation for review and approval no later than May 14, 2012. Contingency plans may only be submitted to DOT through a web address published in the Notice.
Under the Act and existing DOT rules, U.S. carrier contingency plans must contain a provision that a passenger shall have the option to deplane an aircraft and return to the airport terminal when there is an excessive tarmac delay. An excessive tarmac delay is defined as 3 hours for domestic flights and 4 hours for international flights. There are certain exceptions to this rule including; (1) where an air traffic controller with authority over the aircraft advises the pilot in command that permitting a passenger to deplane would significantly disrupt airport operations; or (2) where the pilot in command determines that permitting a passenger to deplane would jeopardize passenger safety or security. The deplaning option also must be offered to a passenger if the flight in covered air transportation is diverted to a commercial airport other than the originally scheduled airport.
Under the Act, airport contingency plans must contain a description of how the airport operator, to the maximum extent practicable, will provide: (1) for the deplanement of passengers following excessive tarmac delays; (2) for the sharing of facilities at the airport in an emergency; and (3) a sterile area following excessive tarmac delays for passengers who have not yet cleared U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
DOT’s Enforcement Office has established a web address for the filing of contingency plans at http://filingtarmacdelaryplan.dot.gov. In order to use the tarmac delay plan filing system, covered U.S. airlines and airports will need to register on the web site before they can upload their plans to the system. The complete procedures for submitting a contingency plan is described in the Notice.
For further information or questions regarding contingency plans or the process for submitting them to DOT, please contact Ronce Almond at (202) 457-7790.