U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

Office ot the Secretary 

ofTransportation 

AUG 2 7 2014 

Ms. Mintha E. Roach 

President and CEO 

Knoxville Utilities Board 

P.O. Box 59017 

Knoxville. TN 37950 

Dear Ms. Roach: 

Assistant Secretary 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, OC 20590 

Thank you for your letter, addressed to Secretary Foxx, supporting the proposal submitted by the 

Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority for a grant under the U.S. Department of 

Transportation's Small Community Air Service Development Program. Secretary Foxx asked 

that I respond to you on his behalf. 

The Small Community Air Service Development Program was established to help smaller 

communities address air service deficiencies, particularly issues related to high airfares and 

insufficient service. Under the statute, the Department may make a maximum of 40 grant 

awards each year, although no more than four may be to communities in the same State. To 

provide communities with latitude in developing solutions to their air service deficiencies, the 

statute provides flexibility in the types of air service development projects that can be funded. 

On June 30, the Department issued an order setting a deadline of July 31 for applications. As 

these grant requests are pending before the Department, I cannot comment on the merits of any 

particular proposaL I assure you, however, that the Department will give full and fair 

consideration to all proposals that have been properly filed. 

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

DOT -OST-2014-0 113 as a contact outside the record of this matter. I appreciate your interest in 

this program. 

Sincerely yours, 

Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 
Knoxville Utilities Board 

August 15, 2014 

The Honorable Anthony Foxx, Secretary 

United States Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

RE: Docket DOT-OST-2014-0113 

Dear Secretary Foxx: 

I am writing you in support of the application of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority 

and the Competitive Airfare Partnership for the 2014 Small Community Air Service 

Development Grant program. I hope you will give favorable consideration to this proposal. 

The Knoxville Utilities Board is the provider of electric, gas, water, and wastewater services 

to over 400,000 customers in the greater Knoxville area. Part of our mission is to support 

growth in the communities we serve, and we are very engaged with the local economic 

development entities that regularly recruit businesses to the area. One factor that has a 

sizeable impact on our ability to recruit large companies to the area is the cost of air travel. 

Knoxville's grant application seeks to address this issue by increasing airline competition at 

McGhee Tyson Airport. If the grant application is approved, Knoxville will be able to recruit 

and provide startup marketing support for new low-fare airline service at our airport. 

Lowering the cost of air travel for the long term will be an important enhancement to our 

marketability for attracting and retaining businesses in our community. 

Thank you for the opportunity to express my support for this project. I hope you will give it 

your fullest consideration. 

Sincerely, 

lftw~~ 

Mintha E. Roach 

President and CEO 

lrj[iii{IJ:IfiJ•ffW Electricity • Gas • Water • Wastewater 

P.O. Box 59017 ·Knoxville, TN 37950-9017 • (865) 524-2911 • www.kub.org