DOT - OST - 8-C)OQ.. - lQ.O \'-\ 

[X)T -OST - 90°&- cB\ T 

U.s. Department of 

Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

Rebecca J. Cronkhite 

Statewide Aviation Planner 

May 27, 2010 

Department of Transportation and Public Facilities 

4111 Aviation Avenue 

P.O. Box 196900 

Anchorage, AK 99519 

Dear Ms. Cronkhite, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

I would like to update you on the essential air service (EAS) situation at Excursion Inlet 

and Kake, and give you an opportunity to offer any comments on the record before we 

submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International 

Affairs. As you know, Alaska Juneau Aeronautics, Inc., d/b/a Wings of Alaska, Inc. 

(Wings), is the current EAS provider at those communities, receiving subsidies of 

$34,659 for Excursion Inlet and $314,659 for Kake, and their contract expires 

August 31, 2010. In anticipation of that, we issued Order 2010-4-6, April 9, 2010, 

soliciting proposals from carriers interested in providing subsidized EAS for a new, twoyear period, beginning September 1,2010. In response to our request, two carriers 

responded: Air Excursions LLC (Air Excursions) submitted a proposal to serve Kake 

only, and Wings submitted a proposal to maintain status-quo service at Excursion Inlet 

and Kake. 

You should have received a copy of the proposals from each carrier, and they can be 

accessed at www.regulations.gov by entering the numbers DOT-OST-2002-12014 for 

Excursion Inlet and DOT -OST -2008-0217 for Kake in the search block. As a result, we 

will only briefly summarize them here. 

Air Excursions has proposed one service option using 9-seat Piper PA-31 Navajo aircraft 

operating two round trips each day (14 a week) during the 21-week peak summer period 

and one round trip each day (7 a week) over a Kake-Juneau routing for an annual subsidy 

of $213,405 for the first year, and $229,939 for the second year. 

Wings has proposed one service option each for Excursion Inlet and Kake. The service 

to Excursion Inlet would provide three weekly nonstop round trips during the 16-week 

peak season and one weekly nonstop round trip during the remaining 36-week off-peak 

season to Juneau using Cessna 207 aircraft for an annual subsidy of $33,919. The service 

to Kake would be two daily round trips (14 a week) during the 21-week peak season 

(April-September) and one daily round trip (7 a week) during the 31-week off-peak 

season to Juneau using Cessna 208 aircraft for an annual subsidy of $438,627. In 
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addition, Wings has proposed to substitute Cessna 207 aircraft on the Kake-Juneau route, 

when weather and loads allow, which would result in a reduction of subsidy by 45 

percent for each Cessna 207 flight. (During 2009, Wings operated approximately 53 

percent of the Kake flights with the Cessna 207 aircraft.) Nevertheless, the mmual 

subsidy request is based on Wings operating the Cessna 208 aircraft, and will use this 

aircraft whenever weather or loads require it. 

The schedules that the carriers have proposed are illustrative only and they may make 

schedule changes to reflect changing conditions, e.g., to better meet shifting connecting 

bank times at the hub. However, the Department does expect a subsidized air can'ier to 

maintain well-timed and well-spaced flights in order to ensure full compensation. 

We request that you review the proposals and submit any comments you may have as 

soon as possible, but no later than June 30. We will carefully consider your comments 

before we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. 

Please send your comments via e-mail to EAS@dot.gov or by fax to 202-366-7638. If 

you have any questions, please feel free to contact Michael Martin of my staff at 

michael.f.martin@doLgov or 202-366-6494. 

Sincerely, 

cc: Haines Borough elected officials 

City of Kake elected officials 

1!2f{;;i:ndhifl 

Essential Air Service Division 

j/ ~ Office of Aviation Analysis