The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- United States (Federal Aviation Administration; slot-controlled airports JFK, LGA, DCA)
- Level
- Federal
- Authority
- 14 C.F.R. § 93.227(j) (waiver of minimum usage for highly unusual and unpredictable conditions beyond the carrier's control); the JFK and LGA Orders' usage requirement waiver provisions
- Issued
- 2020-03-16 Mar. 16, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-03-11 ("Effective upon publication"; relief made available for the period Mar. 1 - May 31, 2020) (read as 2020-03-11)
- End
- 2020-05-31 (extended by 85 FR 21500 to Oct. 24, 2020) (read as 2020-05-31)
- In force
- Mar. 11, 2020 to May 31, 2020
- Quarters
- 2020 Q2
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Travel and quarantineOther
- Addressees
- U.S. and foreign air carriers holding slots or operating authorizations at JFK, LGA and DCA
- carriers at the IATA Level 2 airports ORD, EWR, LAX, SFO (schedule review)
- Functions reached
- OP airline schedules and capacity at the New York and Washington airports
- CB passengers, airport concessionaires and ground-handling contractors dependent on flight volumes
- SC air cargo belly capacity
- Collection
- Aviation and surface-transport regulators AGY-AVIATION-SURFACE
Operative words
"This notice announces a limited waiver of the minimum usage requirement that applies to Operating Authorizations or 'slots' at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), in light of the current impacts on air travel demand related to the outbreak of novel 2019 coronavirus.... The FAA will waive the minimum usage requirement as to any slot associated with a scheduled nonstop flight between JFK, LGA, or DCA, respectively, and other points that is canceled as a direct result of Coronavirus-related impacts."
Enforcement
Slot withdrawal for failure to meet the 80 percent minimum usage requirement (14 C.F.R. § 93.227(a); JFK and LGA Orders), waived for COVID-19 cancellations
Notes
The FAA's contemporaneous finding that COVID-19 was causing mass flight cancellations at the nation's busiest airports; the waiver permitted carriers to cancel schedules without losing slots, which is why schedules collapsed at JFK, LGA and DCA in March-May 2020.