Notice2025-04476
Notice of Submission Deadline for Schedule Information for Chicago O'Hare International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, and San Francisco International Airport for the Winter 2025/2026 Scheduling Season
Primary source
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Published
March 19, 2025
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentFederal Aviation Administration
Abstract
Under this notice, FAA announces the submission deadline of May 15, 2025, for Winter 2025/2026 flight schedules at Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), and San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 52 (Wednesday, March 19, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 52 (Wednesday, March 19, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12931-12933]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-04476]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
Notice of Submission Deadline for Schedule Information for
Chicago O'Hare International Airport, John F. Kennedy International
Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Newark Liberty
International Airport, and San Francisco International Airport for the
Winter 2025/2026 Scheduling Season
AGENCY: Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA).
ACTION: Notice of submission deadline.
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SUMMARY: Under this notice, FAA announces the submission deadline of
May 15, 2025, for Winter 2025/2026 flight schedules at Chicago O'Hare
International Airport (ORD), John F. Kennedy International Airport
(JFK), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Newark Liberty
International Airport (EWR), and San Francisco International Airport
(SFO).
DATES: Schedules should be submitted by May 15, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Schedules may be submitted to the Slot Administration Office
by email to: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c2f5ef839583efb1aeadb6a3a6afabac82a4a3a3eca5adb4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3a0d177b6d7b174956554e5b5e5753547a5c5b5b145d554c">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Al Meilus, Manager, Slot
Administration and Capacity Analysis, AJR-G, Federal Aviation
Administration, 800 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20591;
telephone (202) 267-2822; email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2465480a69414d485157644245450a434b52"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="39785517745c50554c4a795f5858175e564f">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides routine notice to
carriers serving capacity-constrained airports in the United States,
including ORD, JFK, LAX, EWR, and SFO. In particular, this notice
announces the deadline for carriers to submit schedules for the Winter
2025/2026 scheduling season.
General Information for All Airports
FAA has designated JFK as an IATA Level 3 airport consistent with
the Worldwide Slot Guidelines (WSG).\1\ FAA currently limits scheduled
[[Page 12932]]
operations at JFK by order that expires on October 24, 2026.\2\
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\1\ FAA generally applies the WSG to the extent there is no
conflict with U.S. law or regulation. FAA recognizes the WSG has
been replaced by the Worldwide Airports Slot Guidelines (WASG)
edition 1, effective June 1, 2020, WASG edition 2, effective July 1,
2022, and most recently, WASG edition 3, effective April 1, 2024.
The WASG is published jointly by Airports Council International-
World, IATA, and the Worldwide Airport Coordinators Group (WWACG).
While FAA is considering whether to implement certain changes to the
Guidelines in the United States, it will continue to apply WSG
edition 9.
\2\ Operating Limitations at John F. Kennedy International
Airport, 73 FR 3510 (Jan. 18, 2008), as most recently extended 89 FR
41486 (May 13, 2024). The slot coordination parameters for JFK are
set forth in this Order.
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FAA has designated EWR, LAX, ORD, and SFO as IATA Level 2 airports
\3\ subject to a schedule review process premised upon voluntary
cooperation. The Winter 2025/2026 scheduling season is from October 26,
2025, through March 28, 2026, in recognition of the IATA Winter
scheduling period.
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\3\ These designations remain effective until FAA announces a
change in the Federal Register.
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FAA primarily is concerned about scheduled and other regularly
conducted commercial operations during designated hours, but carriers
may submit schedule plans for the entire day. The designated hours for
the Winter 2025/2026 scheduling season are: at EWR and JFK from 0600 to
2300 Eastern Time,\4\ at LAX and SFO from 0600 to 2300 Pacific Time,\5\
and at ORD from 0600 to 2100 Central Time.\6\ These hours are unchanged
from previous scheduling seasons.
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\4\ 1000 to 0300 UTC during Daylight Saving Time; 1100 to 0400
UTC for the remainder of the scheduling season.
\5\ 1300 to 0600 UTC during Daylight Saving Time; 1400 to 0700
UTC for the remainder of the scheduling season.
\6\ 1100 to 0200 UTC during Daylight Saving Time; 1200 to 0300
UTC for the remainder of the scheduling season.
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Carriers should submit schedule information in sufficient detail
including, at minimum, the marketing or operating carrier, flight
number, scheduled time of operation, frequency, aircraft equipment, and
effective dates. IATA standard schedule information format and data
elements for communications at Level 2 and Level 3 airports in the IATA
Standard Schedules Information Manual (SSIM) Chapter 6 may be used. The
WSG provides additional information on schedule submissions at Level 2
and Level 3 airports. Some carriers at JFK manage and track slots
through FAA-assigned Slot identification (ID) numbers corresponding to
an arrival or departure slot in a particular half-hour on a particular
day of week and date. FAA has a similar voluntary process for tracking
schedules at EWR with Reference IDs, and certain carriers are managing
their schedules accordingly. The primary users of IDs are United States
and Canadian carriers that have the highest frequencies and
considerable schedule changes throughout the season and can benefit
from a simplified exchange of information not dependent on full flight
details. Carriers are encouraged to submit schedule requests at those
airports using Slot or Reference IDs.
As stated in the WSG, schedule facilitation at a Level 2 airport is
based on the following: (1) Schedule adjustments are mutually agreed
upon between the carriers and the facilitator; (2) the intent is to
avoid exceeding the airport's coordination parameters; (3) the concepts
of historic precedence and series of slots do not apply at Level 2
airports, although WSG recommends giving priority to approved services
that plan to operate unchanged from the previous equivalent season at
Level 2 airports; and (4) the facilitator should adjust the smallest
number of flights by the least amount of time necessary to avoid
exceeding the airport's coordination parameters. Consistent with the
WSG, the success of Level 2 in the United States depends on the
voluntary cooperation of carriers.
FAA considers several factors and priorities that are consistent
with the WSG as it reviews schedule and slot requests at Level 2 and
Level 3 airports, including (1) historic slots or services from the
previous equivalent season over new demand for the same timings; (2)
services that are unchanged over services that plan to change time or
other capacity relevant parameters; (3) introduction of year-round
services; (4) effective period of operation; (5) regularly planned
operations over ad hoc operations; and (6) other operational factors
that may limit a carrier's timing flexibility.
FAA seeks to maintain close communications with carriers and
terminal schedule facilitators on potential runway schedule issues or
terminal and gate issues that may affect the runway times. In addition
to applying these priorities from the WSG, the U.S. Government has
adopted a number of measures and procedures to promote competition and
new entry at U.S. slot-controlled and schedule-facilitated airports.
Slot management in the United States differs in some respect from
procedures in other countries. In the United States, FAA is responsible
for facilitation and coordination of runway access for takeoffs and
landings at Level 2 and Level 3 airports; however, the airport
authority or its designee is responsible for facilitation and
coordination of terminal/gate/airport facility access. The process with
the individual airports for terminal access and other airport services
is separate from, and in addition to, FAA schedule review based on
runway capacity.
Generally, FAA uses average hourly runway capacity throughput for
airports and performance metrics in conducting its schedule review at
Level 2 airports and determining the scheduling limits at Level 3
airports included in FAA rules or orders.\7\ FAA also considers other
factors that can affect operations, such as capacity changes due to
runway, taxiway, or other airport construction, air traffic control
procedural changes, airport surface operations, and historical or
projected flight delays and congestion.
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\7\ FAA typically determines an airport's average adjusted
runway capacity or typical throughput for Level 2 airports by
reviewing hourly data on the arrival and departure rates that air
traffic control indicates could be accepted for that hour, commonly
known as ``called'' rates. FAA also reviews the actual number of
arrivals and departures that operated in the same hour. Generally,
FAA uses the higher of the two numbers, called or actual, for
identifying trends and schedule review purposes. Some dates are
excluded from analysis, such as during periods when extended airport
closures or construction could affect capacity.
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Finally, FAA notes that the schedule information submitted by
carriers to FAA may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). The WSG also provides for release of
information at certain stages of slot coordination and schedule
facilitation. In general, once it acts on a schedule submission or slot
request, FAA may release information on slot allocation or similar slot
transactions, or schedule information reviewed as part of the schedule
facilitation process. FAA does not expect that practice to change, and
most slot and schedule information would not be exempt from release
under FOIA. FAA recognizes that some carriers may submit information on
schedule plans that is both customarily and actually treated as
private. Carriers that submit such confidential schedule information
should clearly mark the information, or any relevant portions thereof,
as proprietary information (``PROPIN''). FAA will take the necessary
steps to protect properly designated information to the extent
allowable by law.
EWR General Information
Consistent with the WSG, carriers are asked for their voluntary
cooperation to adjust schedules to meet the targeted scheduling limits
in order to minimize potential congestion and delay. For the Winter
2025/2026 scheduling season, the voluntary, targeted hourly scheduling
limits remain at 77 operations and 41 operations per half-hour.\8\ To
help with a balance between arrivals and departures, the targeted
maximum number of scheduled arrivals or departures, respectively, is 41
in an hour and 22 in a half-hour. These targets
[[Page 12933]]
are expected to allow some higher levels of operations in certain
periods (not to exceed the hourly limits) and some recovery from lower
demand in adjacent periods. Consistent with general established
practice at EWR, FAA will accept flights above the limits if the
flights were operated as approved, or treated as operated, by the same
carrier on a regular basis in the previous corresponding season (i.e.,
Winter 2024/2025) and consistent with DOT's 2022 reassignment of 16
peak-hour runway timings.\9\ However, FAA does not intend to approve
requests for new flights unless they can be accommodated within the
targeted limits. FAA is seeking carriers' voluntary cooperation to get
scheduled operations down to the targeted scheduling limits.
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\8\ See 89 FR 43501 (May 17, 2024).
\9\ See Department of Transportation Order 2022-7-1, Docket DOT-
OST-2021-0103, served July 5, 2022, ``Reassignment of Schedules at
Newark-Liberty International Airport.''
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Carriers are reminded that FAA approval for runway times is
separate from the approval process for gates or other airport
infrastructure and both are essential for the success of Level 2 at
EWR. Schedule facilitation at Level 2 airports is designed to engender
collaboration and gain mutual agreement between the carriers and FAA
regarding schedules and potential adjustments to stay within the
performance goals and capacity limits of the airport and to mitigate
delays and congestion that would result in the need for Level 3 slot
controls. FAA expects that all carriers operating at EWR will respect
the targeted scheduling limits and work cooperatively with FAA in order
to avoid unacceptable delays and other adverse operational impacts at
the airport.
Issued in Washington, DC, on March 13, 2025.
Daniel J. Murphy,
Vice President, System Operations Services.
[FR Doc. 2025-04476 Filed 3-18-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P
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