u.s. Department of 

Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

Mr. Scott Coffman 

Airport Manager 

Middle Georgia Regional Airport 

1000 Terminal Drive 

Macon, GA 31297 

Dear Mr. Coffman: 

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1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

I would like to update you on the Essential Air Service situation at Macon, Georgia and give you 

an opportunity to submit any comments if you wish. As you know, on April 26, 2012, Pacific 

Wings L.L.C., d/b/a Georgia Skies, filed a 90-day notice of its intent to suspend its subsidy-free 

service at Macon. In response, the Department issued Order 2012-5-25, on May 24, 2012, to 

solicit proposals from all interested air carriers to provide service at Macon. In response to that 

Order, we received two proposals. 

Copies of the proposals are attached and may be accessed online through the Depattment' s 

Dockets Management System at: http://www.regulations.gov/ by entering "DOT-OST-2007-

28671" in the "Enter Keyword or ID" field, so I will only briefly summarize the proposals here. 

Sun Air Express, LLC d/b/a Sun Air International, proposes to offer four daily round trips per 

weekday, and two daily round trips on Saturday and two on Sunday (24 a week) between Macon 

and Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport utilizing a nine-passenger twin-engine Piper 

Chieftain aircraft, for an annual subsidy of $1,946,266. The Department recently found Sun Air 

fit to conduct scheduled passenger operations as a commuter air carrier, and it is currently 

working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to finalize that operating authority. 

American Aviation Group, Inc. d/b/a Twin Air Calypso proposes to offer six daily round trips 

(42 a week) between Macon and Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport utilizing an eightpassenger single-engine Cessna Caravan aircraft, for an annual subsidy of $1,555,825. Twin Air 

Calypso currently has an application pending before the Department for authority to conduct 

scheduled passenger operations as a commuter air carrier. That application can be accessed 

online through the Department's Dockets Management System by entering "DOT-OST-2011-

0143" in the "Enter Keyword or ID" field. 

Also, I wish to remind you that the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Public Law 

No: 112-95) amended 49 U.S.C. §41731(a)(l)(B) changed the definition of "eligible place" for 

the purpose of receiving EAS. The amendment states that to be eligible, a community must 

maintain an average of 10 enplanements or more per service day, as determined by the Secretary, 
during the most recent fiscal year beginning after September 30, 2012.1 The legislation exe1:npts 

locations in Alaska and Hawaii and communities that are more than 175 driving miles from the 

nearest large or medium hub airport. As Macon is only about 81 miles from the Atlanta airport, 

the community must meet the 10-enplanement-a-day threshold for EAS to continue after 

FY2013, barring a waiver from the Secretary. 

In the most recent fiscal year for which data are available, FY2011 (October 2010-September 

2011), Pacific Wings generated a total of 1,988 passengers (inbound and outbound), or an 

average of about 3 enplanements per day.2 The community should also be aware that the 

Department will continue to monitor Macon's eligibility to receive EAS in light of these new 

requirements throughout the life of any executed contract. The Department may cancel a 

contract for any community receiving EAS if enplanements remain below 10 per day during 

FY2013. 

I want to give you an opportunity to submit any formal comments for the record before 

submitting a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International 

Affairs. We request that you submit any comments you may have as soon as possible, but in any 

case no later than August 1, 2012. We will carefully consider your comments before submitting 

a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. If you have any questions or if you 

find that you need additional time to draft your comments, please let me know. 

Please send your comments to the Department at the following email address: EAS@dot.gov or 

by fax to 202-366-7838. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 

scott.faulk@dot.gov or 202-366-9967. 

Sincerely, 

~~· 

Scott Faulk 

Essential Air Service Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1 The Secretary also has authority to waive the I 0 passenger requirement, on an annual basis, if the community can 

demonstrate that the reason the location averages fewer than I 0 passengers per day is due to a temporary decline in 

enplanements. See 49 U.S.C. §41731(e). 

2 Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics; Form 41, Schedule T -I 00. Daily averages are based on one-half of 

the O&D passengers. divided by 313 service days (314 during leap years).