CAUSES OF DELAYS AND CANCELLATIONS TO BE REPORTED

CAUSES OF DELAYS AND CANCELLATIONS TO BE REPORTED    The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has proposed a rule that would require the nation’s largest airlines to file a monthly report detailing the causes of delays and cancellations.
   DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, in a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Dec. 27 Federal Register, would require the major air carriers that file on-time reports with BTS to collect and report the causes of airline delays and cancellations.
   The DOT said that these airlines now report on the number and extent of delays, but do not provide information on the specific causes of airline delays and cancellations.
   “The additional data collected under the proposed rule would provide planners and decision-makers with more information to analyze the underlying causes of delays and cancellations,” said Dr. Ashish Sen, director of BTS. “On-time performance has improved in 2001, but the operators of the nation’s aviation system must have information on the actual causes of delays and cancellations to reduce the problem in the coming years when air traffic is likely to resume its rapid growth.”
   DOT formed the Air Carrier On-Time Reporting Advisory Committee in August 2000 to consider changes to the current on-time reporting system so that the public would have clear information about the nature and sources of airline delays and cancellations. Earlier this year, BTS conducted a pilot program with four airlines to test the monthly reporting of causation. BTS based the proposed rule on the recommendations of the task force, the results of its pilot project and its outreach efforts to the aviation community. A flight is considered “on time” if it arrives less than 15 minutes after the scheduled time.
   'The proposed rule recommends three categories for the causes of delays and cancellations: Air carrier responsibility, extreme weather, and the National aviation system, which takes into account a broad set of conditions from the aviation arena.
   A copy of the proposed rule is on the Docket Management System Web site, www.dms.dot.gov, after following instructions for viewing the documents in Docket No. OST 2000-8164.