## u.s. Department ofTransportation Office of the Secretary ofTransportation 

### The Honorable David Dewhurst Lieutenant Governor ofTexas Austin, TX 78711-2068 Dear Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst: Assistant Secretary


### April 20, 2012 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington. DC 20590 

## 0 1 I q



### Thank you for your letter to Secretary ofTransportation Ray LaHood, supporting the application ofSouthwest Airlines for two beyond-perimeter slot exemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). Southwest's application proposes to serve Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Texas, with one round trip per day from DCA. Secretary LaHood asked me to respond to your letter. Under authority granted in the FAA Modernization and Reform·Act of2012, the ----------------lJ.S. Department ofTransportation will be awarding to new entrant or limited incumbent carriers atotal ofeight slot exemptions at DCA, which would support four daily round trips. We received Southwest's application on March 12. Othertimely applications were received from Air Canada, proposing one round trip to Vancouver, British Columbia; Alaska Airlines, one round trip to Portland, Oregon, and one round-trip to San Diego; FrontierAirlines, one round trip to Colorado Springs and beyond to San Diego; JetBlue Airlines, one round trip to SanJuan, Puerto Rico, and one round trip to Austin, Texas; Sun Country Airlines, one round trip to Las 

### Vegas; and Virgin America, Inc., two round trips to San Francisco. As the matteris still 

### pending, Icannot comment on the merits ofthe points raised in your letter. However, Ican assure you that all applications the Department received will 

### be given full and fair consideration and will be evaluated against the selection criteria specified in

### the statute. The Department's action on this matter is being administered through a public docket, which allows all interested parties the opportunity to comment. Following our normal practice, I am placing acopy ofyour letter and this response in docket number DOT-2012-0029. Iappreciate your interest in this matter. Sincerely yours,

Susan L. Kurland Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs

# David Dewhurst The Capitol Austin, Texas 78711-2068 512-463-0001 

### Lieutenant Governor ofTexas President ofthe Senate

The Honorable Ray LaHood Secretary ofTransportation U.S. Department ofTransportation 1200 NewJersey Avenue, S.E. Washington, DC 20590
Dear Secretary LaHood: Apri13, 2012 1-800-441-0373 Fax: 512-936-6700 Dial 711 for Relay Calls

As the Lieutenant Govemor ofTexas, I write to strongly suppOl't Texas-based SouthwestAirlines' (Southwest's) application for two**beyond~perimeter** slot exemptions at Ronald Reagan WashingtonNational 

### Airpmt (DCA). With these slot exemptions, Southwest plans to initiate the first ever**capital~to-capital** nonstop service betweenDCA and Austin-Bergstrom International Aitport (ABIA). Southwestproposes using its new Boeing 737-800 aircraft, offering 175 seats in eachdirection.
Southwest is the world's largest low-cost air carrier and the largest carrier in the United States interms ofpassengers. Southwest's large domestic networkfrom ABIAincluding 52 daily nonstop flights to 19 cities, including the Texas cities ofDallas, El Paso, Harlingen, Houston and Lubbock- combined with a 40-yearhistory oflowering airfares and stimulatingpassengertraffic, will ensure that these slotexemptions are putto the highest and bestuse andthatthe public benefits are maximized to the greatest extent possible.
Led by its vibrant high-tech industry, Austin is hometo dozens ofcorporate headquarters and trade associations, many ofwhichhave regular businessbeforethe federal government. Also, with approximately 77,000 origin and destination passengers traveling betweenAustin and DCA annually, Austin is the fourth largest beyondperimeter market without nonstop DCA service today.The Honorable Ray LaHood April3, 2012 Page 2
Significantly, Austin-DCA isthe most over-priced ofthe top ten largest beyondperimetermarkets without existing nonstop service. Cun-ent fares between Austin and DCA are 57% higher than Southwest's average fare for the same distance. Therefore, Southwest's lowfares in this market will produce major consumer and stimulate additional consumer demand for airtravel.
For these reasons, I strongly support Southwest's application for capital-to-capital nonstop service between ABIA and DCA. Such service is long overdue and would provide significant competitive and economic benefits to the Austin metropolitan area. Thank you for your consideration ofmy views inthis matter. Sincerely,

David Dewhurst Lieutenant Governor



## ....