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Audit Reports

Date

Growth of Domestic Airline Code Sharing Warrants Increased Attention

Requested By
Requested by the Ranking Members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Subcommittee on Aviation
Project ID
AV2013045
File Attachment

On February 14, 2013, we issued a report regarding the Office of the Secretary’s (OST) and the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) oversight of domestic airline code share agreements. The number of code share agreements—in which a mainline air carrier contracts with a smaller regional carrier to provide flights to its hub airports—has grown rapidly in recent years, raising questions about both the oversight and consumer awareness of these agreements.

We found that OST and FAA are not required to review most domestic code share agreements. While OST is required to assess the potential economic impacts of certain agreements, the number of agreements that fall under the criteria for review is limited. We also found that some confusion still exists for consumers about which airline is operating their flight because carriers, travel agencies, and advertisers all disclose this information differently. Finally, as a safety regulator, FAA is not required to review any domestic code share agreements and does not voluntarily do so. FAA also does not have specific procedures to advance the Agency’s commitment of ensuring an equivalent level of safety between mainline air carriers and their code share partners. Instead, the Agency relies on its oversight of individual carriers to ensure the safe operation of passenger flights. We made five recommendations to enhance OST and FAA monitoring of domestic code share relationships and to increase code share transparency for consumers. In a joint response, OST and FAA concurred with two recommendations and partially concurred with three. We are requesting that the Agencies provide additional information or reconsider their response for two recommendations.

Recommendations

Closed on
No. 1 to OST
Determine how the Department could take a more active role in reviewing domestic code share agreements between mainline carriers and their regional partners (such as developing a more formal process for identifying which domestic agreements to review), and develop and implement an action plan for doing so.
Closed on
No. 2 to OST
Assess whether consumer compliants should be attributed to a mainline and/or operating carrier instead of the mainline code share brand" in thee Air Travel Consumer Report."
Closed on
No. 3 to OST
Increase sampling of travel agents for code share disclosure to improve compliance with current OST regulations.
Closed on
No. 4 to FAA
Publish best practices guidance for safety-sharing practices among Part 121 air carriers and their code share partners.
Closed on
No. 5 to FAA
Review code share agreement performance metrics, such as financial incentives for on-time performance, to ensure they do not have unanticipated or adverse impacts on safety.