Airport-ControiOed or Common-Use Arrangements

Airport-controlled or common-use arrangements are completely under the control of the airport authority. The airport may assign gate and facil­ity usage on a temporary, per-turn basis or for a short-term duration. These types of arrangements have been popular in Europe and other foreign regions for some time. The concept has gained popularity to the point that it has acquired the acronym C. U.T. E., or Common Use Terminal Equipment, to describe what is being increas­ingly seen as the best way for an airport to orga­nize its gates and check-in counter facilities.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has even issued a recommendation (No. 1797) favoring common-use systems as a means of efficient and cooperative use of available ter­minal facilities worldwide.

Various proprietary contractors have devel­oped expertise in assisting airports in setting up these common-use arrangements so that, rather than being blocked off, the available facilities can be distributed as needed to different airlines. These facilities include check-in counters, gates, holding rooms, and electronic equipment. The systems control and integrate all components necessary to the carrier, including computers, displays, and boarding pass printers and readers.

Two airports have all airport-controlled gates—Miami International with 121 gates and Phoenix Sky Harbor with 84.

■ DOT Interest in Airport

Praetices-Unfair Competition

Prior to 2001, the Department of Transporta­tion’s authority over the gate practices of com­mercial-service airports was severely limited.6 While the DOT had jurisdiction over the gate practices of airlines, constitutional principles pre­vented interference in policies and practices of state-owned airports.

With the passage of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for 21st Century (AIR-21) in 2001, the DOT was given authority to require certain large and medium hub airports to submit competition plans as a condi­tion of receiving federal grant monies and as a condition for authority to impose PFCs at their airports. These airports (including those at which competition among the airlines was threatened by airline domination, gate control, and other anti­competitive practices) were required to provide the DOT detailed information concerning their gate practices. The DOT has used its authority to approve or disapprove these competition plans as a means to insure that gate practices at those airports are fair. This includes insuring broader access to gates by new entrant airlines.

Airline gate practices continue to be moni­tored by the DOT to insure that airline control of gates does not unduly impede competition. This authority can compel an airline to surrender con­trol of airport gates, or prevent tying arrangements involving subleases by one airline to another, where, for example, the lease requires the use of the lessor airlines’ ground forces by the lessee airline. So too may the DOT apply its authority to situations where an airline, with market power, exercises its contractual rights under a Mil clause to block the construction of facilities for competi­tors merely to maintain its own monopoly power.