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Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

OCT 2 5 2010 

Mr. Richard A. Rasmussen 

15263 Club Course Drive 

Bath, MI 48808 

Dear Mr. Rasmussen: 

Thank you for your letter of October 6 to Secretary LaHood supporting Sun Country 

Airlines to serve Lansing, Michigan, in the ongoing slot-exemption proceeding at Ronald 

Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The Secretary has asked that I respond to 

your letter directly. 

As you know, the U.S. Department of Transportation commenced a proceeding on 

August 30 to reallocate two DCA slot exemptions that are currently being used by 

Republic Airline, Inc. (Republic). Republic has been using these two slot exemptions for 

DCA - Kansas City service. These slot exemptions may be used to serve any medium 

hub or smaller airport within the 1,250-mile perimeter of DCA. 

We have received a total of five proposals, briefly outlined below: 

• Sun Country to serve Lansing with 129- or 162-seat aircraft; 

• Republic Airline, Inc., branded as Frontier Airlines, to continue to serve Kansas 

City, Missouri, with 99-seat regional jet aircraft; 

• Southwest Airlines Co., to serve Kansas City utilizing 137~seat aircraft; 

• US Airways, Inc., to serve Pensacola, Florida, utilizing 76- or 86-seat regional jet 

aircraft, depending on the season; and 

• Air Tran Airways, Inc., to serve either Fort Myers or Sarasota, Florida, utilizing 

either 117- or 137-seat aircraft. 

As the slot exemption proceeding is competitive and is cun'ently under review by the 

Department, I am sure you understand that I cannot comment on the merits of the 

proposals. I assure you, however, that the Department will fully consider all of the 

proposals, and make its award based on the selection criteria detailed in the governing 

statutes. 
Mr. Richard A. Rasmussen 

Page 2 

As is our nonnal practice, I am placing a copy of your letter and my response in Docket 

DOT-OST-2000-7182 as a contact outside the record of this proceeding. I appreciate 

your interest in obtaining access to the Nation's capital. If I can provide further 

information or assistance, please feel free to call me. 

'erely yours, 

A' 

isan L. Kurland 

'Assistant Secretary for 

'lation and International Affairs 
October 6, 2010 

The Honorable Raymond L. LaHood 

Secrctaiy of Transportation 

United States Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Re: Sun Country Airlines Application - E>OT-OST-2000-7182 

Dear Secretary LaHood: 

I am the retired CEO of an insurance company in Lansing, Michigan and have been active in 

our community for several decades. Part of that civic involvement has been to serve on the 

Board of Directors of the Mid-Michigan Business Travel Coalition, which is an organization 

of members of our regional business community that is dedicated to improving air service to 

the Capital Region International Airport in Lansing, Michigan. 

The merger of large airlines has had an extremely damaging impact on air service to our area. 

As the state capital and home of a major research university, Michigan State University, the 

demand for direct service to Washington DC has been at the top of our agenda for a number 

of years. We did have successful service to DC with Independence Air that was discontinued 

due to that airlines bankruptcy. We continue to have the demand and the Sun Country 

Airlines service would fulfill that need. 

I urge you to give approval to this application and help us serve the demonstrated needs of our 

community. Thank you for your consideration. 

Richard A. Rasmussen