U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

Mr. David Torgler 

Town Manager of Hayden, Colorado 

178 West Jefferson A venue 

P.O. Box 190 

Hayden, CO 81639 

Dear Mr. Torgler: 

Assistant Secretary 

AUG 25 l0f4 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washmgton, DC 20590 

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

Yampa Valley Regional Airport for a grant under the U.S. Department of Transportation's Small 

Community Air Service Development Program. Secretary Foxx asked that l respond to you on 

his behalf. 

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

communities address air service deficiencies, patticularly 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-2014-0113 as a contact outside the record ofthis matter. Iappreciate your interest in 

this progran1. 

Sincerely yours, 

u I 

u 

Susan L. Kurland 

Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 
July 31, 2014 

Mr. Anthony Foxx, 

Secretary of Transportation 

United States Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, Southeast 

Washington D.C. 20590 

Reference: DOT-OST-2014-0113 Small Community Air Service Development Program 2014 

Dear Mr. Secretary, 

I am writing this letter to express my very strong support for the Small Community Air Service 

Development (SCASD} Grant application of the Yampa Valley Regional Airport (YVRA}, which serves 

Hayden and Steamboat Springs and much of northwestern Colorado. 

I am alarmed by the poor air service YVRA and the region receives outside of the winter ski season. As 

the Grant application notes, only one airline offers air service from April to December and flight 

frequencies are limited and airfares are extremely high, well above national averages, well above those 

at Denver and often well above those at other Colorado airports as well. Too many people living and 

working near the YVRA drive three hours (each way) to Denver International Airport due to the high 

airfares charged by the off-season carrier at YVRA. This is a costly, time consuming and 

environmentally unfriendly way to travel and we can do much better at retaining passengers from NW 

Colorado if there were competition between airlines for passengers to choose from at the YVRA. 

The Airport's Grant application is for a modest $400)000, matched by $300,000 in local funding. The 

purpose of the Grant is to recruit.a second airline to provide service. outside of winter, and thus provide 

some schedule options and airfare competition in NW Colorado during that period. 

The Airport and Routt County and their community partners, including the City of Steamboat Springs, 

Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation, the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association <mdthe lMO, 

have a well thought out plan for recruiting a second carrier, but some community financial support of 

that carrrer will be needed to bring in new competition. 

This seems to me to be a perfect use for the SCASO Grant program, as it is intended to aid smaller cities 

with higher fares and limited competition. 

I urge you to give this Grant applic~tion your fullest consideration. 

Sincerely, 

Town 

D~~ Manager 

178 West Jefferson Avenue • P.O. Box 190 • Hayden, CO 81639-0190 

(970) 276-3741 • Fax (970) 276-3644 

n'WW.townotbaydtm.org