§42301 Emergency Contingency Plans

Summary

Airlines and many airport operators must send emergency contingency plans to the Secretary of Transportation within 90 days. Each airline must file a plan for every airport it flies to and every airport where it controls flights. Plans must explain how the airline will give passengers food, water, working restrooms, comfortable cabin temperatures, and access to medical help during long delays. Plans must explain how gates and facilities will be shared in an emergency. Plans must let passengers get off the plane after an excessive tarmac delay, and say how the carrier will begin returning the plane to a safe disembarkation point within 3 hours for interstate flights or 4 hours for foreign flights after the main door is closed. Passengers may not deplane if an air traffic controller or the pilot says it would disrupt operations or endanger safety. Airport operators’ plans must also cover helping people deplane after long tarmac delays, sharing gates, and creating a sterile area for passengers who have not cleared Customs. Carriers must update their plans every 3 years and airports every 5 years. The Secretary must review plans or updates within 60 days or they are treated as approved. Approved plans must be made public (for example, on the operator’s website). Within 30 days after any excessive tarmac delay, the airline must send a written report to the Aviation Consumer Protection Division. Definitions: commercial airport (large, medium, small hub, or nonhub), covered air transportation (passenger flights on planes with 30 or more seats), tarmac delay (when passengers are stuck on a plane before takeoff or after landing), excessive tarmac delay (over 3 hours interstate, over 4 hours foreign).