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AGENCY:

Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Secretary (OST).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13, this notice announces that the Information Collection Request, abstracted below, is being forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget for extension of approval of currently approved ICR-2106-0036, Foreign Air Carrier Application for Statement of Authorization. Earlier, a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period was published (73 FR 74223, December 5, 2008). The agency did not receive any comments to its previous notice.

DATES:

Written comments should be submitted by June 18, 2009.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

George Wellington, (202) 366-2391, Office of International Aviation, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Room W86-125, Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

Comments: Comments should be sent to OMB: Attention DOT/OST Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, or oira_submission@omb.eop.gov and should identify the associated OMB Approval Number 2106-0035 and Docket DOT-OST-2008-0374.

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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

OMB Approval No.: 2106-0035.

Title: Foreign Air Carrier Application for Statement of Authorization.

Form No.: Form OST 4540.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Foreign Air Carriers.

Number of Respondents: approximately 100.

Estimated Time per Response: 2.25 hours per application.

Total Annual Burden: 1,000 hours.

Abstract: Applicants use Form OST 4540 to request statements of authorization to conduct numerous types of operations authorized under Title 14, CFR Part 212. The form requires basic information regarding the carrier(s) conducting the operation, the party filing the form, the operations being conducted, the number of third- and fourth-freedom flights conducted in the last twelve-month period, and certification of reciprocity from the carrier's homeland government. DOT analysts will use the information collected to determine if applications for fifth-freedom operations meet the public interest requirements necessary to authorize such applications.

Burden Statement: We estimate that the industry-wide total hour burden for this collection to be approximately 1,000 hours or approximately 2.25 hours per application. Conservatively, we estimate the compilation of background information will require 1.75 hours, and the completion and submission of OST Form 4540 will require thirty (30) minutes.

Reporting the number of third- and fourth-freedom operations conducted by an applicant carrier will require collection of flight data, and detailed analysis to determine which flights conducted by the carrier are third- and fourth-freedom. Applicants should be able to use data collected for the Department's T-100 program to provide this information (under this program, carriers are required periodically to compile and report certain traffic data to the Department, as more fully described in the Docket referenced in footnote 1 below). The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) provide carriers with a computer program that allows them to compile and monitor, among other things, flight origin and destination data, to be used in making the carriers' T-100 submissions.^[1] We estimated that carriers will require 1.25 hours per application ^[2] to compile and analyze the data necessary to disclose the number of third- and fourth-freedom flights conducted within the twelve-month period preceding the filing of an application.

Foreign carriers will also have to provide evidence that their homeland Start Printed Page 23465government will afford reciprocity to U.S. carriers seeking authority for the similar fifth-, sixth- and seventh-freedom operations. Carriers may cite certifications submitted by carriers from the same homeland if that homeland issued such certification within the preceding six-month period. Approximately 100 carriers from roughly 30 distinct homelands use OST Form 4540 to apply for statements of authorization annually. We estimate that one foreign carrier from any given homeland will expend roughly 4 hours every six months to obtain certification from its homeland governments.^[3] We have apportioned 30 minutes to each application to account for the time required to obtain certifications from homeland governments.

We have no empirical data to indicate how much time is required for a person to complete OST Form 4540; however, anecdotal evidence reveals that respondents spend thirty (30) minutes or less completing the form and brief justification. In some cases, respondents spend a limited amount of time, less than ten (10) minutes, reviewing the form before sending it via facsimile or email to the Department. In the interest of providing a conservative estimate so as to not understate the burden hours, we estimate the hour burden for completing OST Form 4540 as thirty (30) minutes.

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