49 U.S.C. § 47528 — Prohibition on operating certain aircraft not complying with stage 3 noise levels

(a) Prohibition. Except as subsection (b) or (f) or section 47530 provide, after December 31, 1999, a person may operate a civil subsonic turbojet aircraft (with a non-experimental airworthiness certificate) weighing more than 75,000 pounds to or from a U.S. airport only if the Secretary of Transportation finds the aircraft complies with the stage 3 noise levels. (b) Waivers. (1) If, by July 1, 1999, at least 85 percent of an air carrier's or foreign air carrier's aircraft comply with the stage 3 noise levels, the carrier may apply for a waiver of subsection (a) for its remaining aircraft. The application had to be filed by January 1, 1999 (or, for a foreign air carrier, within 15 days of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act's enactment) and had to include a plan, with firm orders, to bring all its aircraft into compliance by December 31, 2003. (2) The Secretary may grant the waiver if it would serve the public interest, considering its effect on airline industry competition and small community air service. (3) A waiver may not allow stage 2 aircraft to keep operating in the United States after December 31, 2003. (c) Schedule for Phased-In Compliance. The Secretary must establish, by regulation, a schedule for phasing in compliance with subsection (a), running from November 5, 1990, to before December 31, 1999, with interim compliance dates. The schedule must be based on (1) a detailed economic analysis of how the stage 2 phaseout date affects airline industry competition, including the ability of air carriers to grow capacity consistent with the industry's projected growth, the impact on competition in the airline and air cargo industries, the impact on nonhub and small community air service, and the impact on new entry into the industry; and (2) an analysis of how aircraft noise affects people living near airports. (d) Annual Report. Starting with calendar year 1992, (1) each air carrier must submit to the Secretary an annual report on its progress toward complying with this section, and (2) the Secretary must submit to Congress an annual report on industry-wide progress toward that compliance. (e) Hawaiian Operations. (1) "Turnaround service" means a flight between places only in Hawaii. (2)(A) A carrier may not operate, in Hawaii or between Hawaii and a place outside the 48 contiguous States, more heavy stage 2 aircraft (over 75,000 pounds) than it operated there on November 5, 1990. (B) A carrier that provided turnaround service in Hawaii on that date using such aircraft may count every heavy stage 2 aircraft it owned or leased on that date, whether or not it was actually operating that aircraft then. (3) A carrier may provide Hawaiian turnaround service using heavy stage 2 aircraft only if it already provided that service on November 5, 1990. (4) A carrier operating stage 2 aircraft under this subsection may fly them to or from the 48 contiguous States on a nonrevenue basis to (A) perform maintenance (including major alterations) on aircraft operated within the limits of paragraph (2)(B), or (B) conduct operations within those same limits. (f) Aircraft Modification, Disposal, Scheduled Heavy Maintenance, or Leasing. (1) The Secretary must still let someone operate a stage 2 aircraft in nonrevenue service, after December 31, 1999, through U.S. airspace or to or from a mainland airport, in order to (A) sell, lease, or use it outside the 48 contiguous States; (B) scrap it; (C) get it modified to meet stage 3 noise levels; (D) get scheduled heavy maintenance or major changes done at a mainland maintenance facility; (E) deliver it to a lessee or return it to a lessor; (F) prepare, park, or store it before doing any of those things; or (G) divert it to another mainland airport for weather, mechanical, fuel, air traffic control, or other safety reasons while doing any of the above. (2) Within 30 days of this subsection's enactment, the Secretary had to establish and publish a procedure to carry this out, using categorical waivers, ferry permits, or other means. (g) Statutory Construction. Nothing in this section changes or affects any FAA determination made, or to be made, on applications under part 161 of title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations that were pending as of November 1, 1999.