Title 49 — TransportationRelease 119-73
§41903 Duty to provide certain transportation of mail
Title 49 › Subtitle SUBTITLE VII— - AVIATION PROGRAMS › Part PART A— - AIR COMMERCE AND SAFETY › Subpart subpart ii— - economic regulation › Chapter CHAPTER 419— - TRANSPORTATION OF MAIL › § 41903
Summary
Air carriers certified to carry mail within Alaska must have the facilities and services needed and must carry mail on the routes their certificate allows when the U.S. Postal Service requires it and under Postal Service rules. The Secretary of Transportation can set a maximum mail load for a flight, schedule, or aircraft type in Alaska. If the Postal Service gives a carrier more mail than that limit on a schedule required under section 41902(c), the carrier must, as close to the schedule as the Secretary allows, provide whatever space and services it reasonably can and carry the mail.
Full Legal Text
Title 49, §41903
Transportation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Subject to subsection (b) of this section, an air carrier authorized by its certificate to transport mail by aircraft between places in Alaska shall—
(1)provide facilities and services necessary and adequate to provide that transportation; and
(2)transport mail between the places authorized in the certificate for transportation of mail when required, and under regulations prescribed, by the United States Postal Service.
(b)The Secretary of Transportation may prescribe the maximum mail load for a schedule or for an aircraft or type of aircraft for the transportation of mail by aircraft between places in Alaska. If the Postal Service tenders to an air carrier mail exceeding the maximum load for transportation by the carrier under a schedule designated or required to be established for the transportation of mail under section 41902(c) of this title, the carrier, as nearly in accordance with the schedule as the Secretary decides is possible, shall—
(1)provide facilities sufficient to transport the mail to the extent the Secretary decides the carrier reasonably is able to do so; and
(2)transport that mail.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
Pub. L. 103–272, § 1(e) Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 41903(a)49 App.:1371(l).Aug. 23, 1958, Pub. L. 85–726, §§ 401(l), 405(c), (d), 72 Stat. 757, 761. 49 App.:1375(d). 49 App.:1551(a)(4)(A) (related to 49 App.:1371(l), 1375(d)).Aug. 23, 1958, Pub. L. 85–726, 72 Stat. 731, § 1601(a)(4)(A) (related to §§ 401(l), 405(c), (d)); added Oct. 4, 1984, Pub. L. 98–443, § 3(c), 98 Stat. 1703. 41903(b)49 App.:1375(c). 49 App.:1551(a)(4)(A) (related to 49 App.:1375(c)). 49 App.:1551(b)(1)(E).Aug. 23, 1958, Pub. L. 85–726, 72 Stat. 731, § 1601(b)(1)(E); added Oct. 4, 1984, Pub. L. 98–443, § 3(e), 98 Stat. 1704. In subsection (a), before clause (1), the words “Subject to subsection (b) of this section” are added for clarity because subsection (b) limits the effect of this section. The words “transport mail by aircraft in foreign air transportation or between places in Alaska” are substituted for “the transportation of mail” in 49 App.:1371(l) and “the transportation of mail by aircraft” in 49 App.:1375(d) because 49 App.:1551(a)(4)(A) provides that 49 App.:1371(l) and 1375(d) no longer apply to interstate or overseas air transportation (except transportation of mail between 2 places in Alaska). Clause (2) is substituted for “shall transport mail whenever required by the United States Postal Service” in 49 App.:1371(l) and the text of 49 App.:1375(d) for clarity and to eliminate unnecessary words. The text of 49 App.:1371(l) (last sentence) is omitted as surplus because section 41901 of the revised title specifies how the rates of compensation are determined. In subsection (b), before clause (1), the words “transportation of mail by aircraft in foreign air transportation or between places in Alaska” are added because 49 App.:1551(a)(4)(A) provides that 49 App.:1375(c) no longer applies to interstate or overseas air transportation of mail (except transportation of mail between 2 places in Alaska). Pub. L. 103–272, § 4(k)(1) Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 4190349 App.:1551(a)(8).Aug. 23, 1958, Pub. L. 85–726, 72 Stat. 731, § 1601(a)(8); added Oct. 4, 1984, Pub. L. 98–443, § 3(c), 98 Stat. 1704; Sept. 30, 1988, Pub. L. 100–457, § 346 (related to § 1601(a)(8) of Federal Aviation Act of 1958), 102 Stat. 2155. 49 App.:1551(b)(3).Aug. 23, 1958, Pub. L. 85–726, 72 Stat. 731, § 1601(b)(3); added Oct. 4, 1984, Pub. L. 98–443, § 3(f), 98 Stat. 1704; Sept. 30, 1988, Pub. L. 100–457, § 346 (related to § 1601(b)(3) of Federal Aviation Act of 1958), 102 Stat. 2155. section 4(k) reflects
Amendments
to the restatement required by section 1601(a)(8) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (Public Law 85–726, 72 Stat. 731), as added by section 3(c) of the Civil Aeronautics Board Sunset Act of 1984 (Public Law 98–443, 98 Stat. 1704), and section 1601(b)(3) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (Public Law 85–726, 72 Stat. 731), as added by section 3(f) of the Civil Aeronautics Board Sunset Act of 1984 (Public Law 98–443, 98 Stat. 1704). section 1601(a)(8) provides that the authority under 49 App.:1371(l) and (m) and 1375(b)–(d) as those sections relate to transportation of mail by aircraft between places in Alaska (restated in section 41107 and 41901–41903 of the revised title) ceases on
January 1, 1999. section 1601(b)(3) transfers the authority for prescribing rates for transportation of mail between places in Alaska from the Secretary of Transportation to the Postal Service effective
January 1, 1999.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2008—Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 110–405 struck out “in foreign air transportation or” before “between places in Alaska” in introductory provisions. 1999—Pub. L. 106–31 repealed Pub. L. 103–272, § 4(k). See 1994 Amendment note below. 1994—Pub. L. 103–272, § 4(k)(1), which directed the amendment of this section by substituting “foreign air transportation” for “foreign air transportation or between places in Alaska” in introductory provisions of subsecs. (a) and (b), effective Jan. 1, 1999, was repealed by Pub. L. 106–31, § 6003, effective Dec. 31, 1998.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2008 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 110–405 effective Oct. 1, 2008, see section 2(c) of Pub. L. 110–405, set out as a note under section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service.
Effective Date
of 1999 Amendment Pub. L. 106–31, title VI, § 6003, May 21, 1999, 113 Stat. 113, provided that the amendment made by section 6003 is effective Dec. 31, 1998.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
49 U.S.C. § 41903
Title 49 — Transportation
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73