<B> Washington Wire</B>
By Barbara Cook, Washington Correspondent
<B>Cities Apply For Slots</B>
The cities of Baton Rouge, La., and Huntsville, Ala., have applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation for slots at Chicago O'Hare airport, hoping to duplicate the success of Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C., and Savannah/Hilton Head, Ga., which were recently designated as the first communities to receive slots. Normally, the landing and takeoff rights at the nation's four slot-controlled airports are granted to the airlines, not the cities. In the initial order granting rights to the South Carolina and Georgia communities, DOT described the slot allocation as an experiment to allow the cities to obtain needed service.
The city of Huntsville argued that beginning June 1, American Eagle will terminate nonstop service to Montgomery, Ala., and has agreed to serve Huntsville if DOT makes the slots available. Baton Rouge officials said the award of four slots will provide their city with "the means to attract a carrier to fill the service void to Chicago."
Filing separately, startup applicant New Air strongly disagreed with the notion that a community should be awarded access to a slot-controlled airport. In order to thrive, new entrant carriers must be able to compete on a level playing field with established carriers, it told DOT.
<a name="2"><B>FAA Proposes Baggage Security Upgrade</B>
The FAA has proposed stepping up security procedures requiring airlines using aircraft with 61 seats or more on domestic flights to use automated baggage screening procedures. FAA administrator Jane Garvey pointed out that the domestic airline industry over the past year voluntarily implemented the Computer Assisted Passenger Screening, which eliminates the majority of passenger baggage from consideration and allows airlines to concentrate on only those automatically selected by the system. For the most part, passengers won't know whether CAPS selected their checked bags, because the security measures nearly always take place behind the scenes, the FAA said. Although air carriers with scheduled operations using aircraft of less than 61 seats will not be required to use CAPS, many regional airlines have implemented the automated screening program and more may do so in the future, the agency said. The U.S. Department of Justice already has reviewed CAPS and determined the criteria it uses are not discriminatory by race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion or gender, nor by such passenger traits as names or modes of dress.
<a name="3"><B>DOT Renews Stand On Love Field</B>
The U.S. Department of Transportation has reaffirmed its December 1998 decision that found federal law preempts local restrictions proposed by the city of Fort Worth on air service at Dallas Love Field. The department ruled that airlines may operate flights within Texas, and to Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Alabama, Kansas and Mississippi as specified by the federal Wright and Shelby amendments, but may not operate beyond those states. Carriers also may operate largely unrestricted service from Love Field using aircraft with no more than 56 seats, DOT said.
<a name="4"><B>FAA Focus On Fatalities Bears Fruit</B>
FAA administrator Jane Garvey told an aviation conference recently that she is "more confident than ever" that the agency will meet its goal of reducing fatal commercial aviation rates by 80 percent by 2007. More airlines are planning to start Flight Operations Quality Assurance to collect, analyze and share data, Garvey said. Today, 230 aircraft collect FOQA data, and an additional 350 aircraft are being equipped for FOQA this year.