Order 2014-1-20

Served: January 31, 2014

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 31st of January, 2014

Essential Air Service at

FORT DODGE, IOWA

MASON CITY, IOWA

Under 49 U.S.C. 41731 et seq. 

DOCKET DOT-OST-2001-10682

DOCKET DOT-OST-2001-10684

ORDER REQUESTING PROPOSALS ON AN EXPEDITED BASIS

Summary

By this Order, the Department is requesting proposals no later than February 21, 2014, from 

carriers interested in providing Essential Air Service (EAS) at Fort Dodge and/or Mason City, 

Iowa. The communities will be without air service effective February 1, 2014, so carriers’ 

proposals should specify when they will be able to inaugurate service. We anticipate that the 

selection period will be a typical two year period from the start of service.

Background

By Order 2011-11-30, November 23, 2011, the Department selected Great Lakes

Aviation, Ltd. (Great Lakes) to provide 18 and 24 nonstop round trips per week with 19-

seat Beech 1900 aircraft between Fort Dodge and Mason City, respectively, and 

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP). The selection was to extend for a twoyear period beginning when Great Lakes inaugurated EAS at each of the six 

communities1 through the end of the 24th month thereafter.2 The Order also set the 

annual subsidy rates at Fort Dodge and Mason City to be $1,798,693 and $1,174,468,

respectively. Because Great Lakes had difficulty starting service, Order 2012-6-23, 

June 26, 2012, established May 31, 2014, to be the termination date for Great Lakes’ 

service at Fort Dodge and Mason City, as well as the four other communities. 

On January 27, 2014, Great Lakes announced that, effective February 1, 2014, it will be 

terminating all service at Fort Dodge and Mason City, Iowa, Devils Lake and Jamestown, 

North Dakota, Thief River Falls, Minnesota, and Ironwood, Michigan, due to a severe 

 1 The six communities were Fort Dodge and Mason City, Iowa; Brainerd and Thief River Falls, Minnesota; 

Iron Mountain, Michigan; and Watertown, South Dakota.

2 Because the carrier did not at the time operate to Minneapolis, its proposals were predicated on having a 

six-community system of operations at that hub.
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pilot shortage. Each of these six communities is served to Minneapolis. Great Lakes 

stated it is suspending its service because it would be:

“....in the best interest of our customers, communities, and employees to 

suspend service from these communities until we are able to rebuild our staff of 

pilots in order to provide reliable service. We deeply regret and apologize for 

this inconvenience.”

Great Lakes did not indicate if or when it would resume service. 

As the two communities are guaranteed EAS, and Great Lakes will soon terminate that 

service, we are requesting proposals from carriers interested in providing service at Fort 

Dodge and/or Mason City, with or without subsidy. The EAS subsidy will begin when, 

pursuant to Department Order, the selected carrier inaugurates service. Carriers should 

state in their proposals when they anticipate being able to inaugurate service, because that 

may be a carrier-selection criterion. 

We note that 49 U.S.C. § 41731(a)(1)(B) provides that communities enplaning fewer than 

ten passengers per day based on traffic for the year ended September 30, 2013, are not 

eligible for EAS support, barring a waiver from the Secretary. The Department is 

working towards implementation of that provision, and we anticipate addressing that 

matter in the near future. In the meantime, these two communities will soon be without 

their required EAS. As developments on the ten enplanement provision proceed, we will 

keep potential applicants and the communities fully informed and will take appropriate 

action. 

Request for Proposals3

As the end of the current rate terms approach and in light of termination of the required 

service by Great Lakes, we are requesting proposals from carriers interested in providing 

EAS at Fort Dodge and Mason City, Iowa, with or without subsidy, for the period 

beginning when the carrier can inaugurate service pursuant to Department Order. 

Carriers should file their proposals by February 21, 2014. Staff will then docket the 

proposals, thereby making them public. Shortly afterwards, we will provide copies of all 

timely filed proposals to the communities and request community comments by a 

specified date.4 We will give full consideration to all proposals filed in a timely manner.5 

Interested carriers should prepare their proposals with every expectation that their initial 

proposals will also be their final and only proposals. We retain the discretion to negotiate 

proposals with carriers when we deem it desirable. We also retain the discretion to reject 

outright all unreasonable or unrealistic proposals and, if necessary, solicit a new round of 

proposals. However, we anticipate that negotiation or rejection will remain only 

occasional exceptions to the rule.

 3 Applicants should be aware of the provisions of 49 U.S.C. § 41731(a)(1)(B), the ten enplanement rule, 

discussed above, when preparing their proposals. Staff will be available to answer any questions.

4 Normally we provide a 30-day period to comment. We anticipate shortening that to a three-week period.

5 Carriers should not expect the Department to accept late filings. In cases where a carrier proposes to 

provide EAS without subsidy and we determine that basic EAS, required by 49 U.S.C. § 41732, can be 

reliably provided without such compensation, we typically do not proceed with the carrier-selection case. 

Instead, we simply rely on that carrier’s subsidy-free service as proposed.
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We are here providing interested carriers with some basic information to serve as 

guidance when they prepare their proposals, but we will not prescribe a precise format for 

their proposals. We expect proposals to adequately describe the service being proposed 

and the annual amount of subsidy being requested. The applicants can make their own 

judgments as to the level of detail they wish to present; however, we recommend that 

they include information concerning proposed schedules and projected block hours. In 

addition, applicants are urged to provide financial data supporting their subsidy requests, 

including information on their projected expenses and revenues. We strongly encourage 

clear, well-documented proposals that will facilitate their evaluation by the communities

and the Department.6 

As always, we will formally solicit each community’s views on any service options we 

receive before making a long-term, carrier-selection decision. The communities and air 

carriers are encouraged to work together, in advance of the due date for proposals, to 

craft service patterns that are both desirable to the communities and meet the operational 

needs of the airlines, as carriers cannot amend their proposals after the due date. 

We encourage proposals that meet the communities’ requirements in an efficient manner. 

With specific respect to Fort Dodge, the Department expects proposals consisting of three 

nonstop round trips each day (a total of 18 per week) to Minneapolis, Chicago O’Hare, or 

another large or medium hub airport with numerous connections to the national air 

transportation system using 19-seat aircraft. At Mason City, we expect four nonstop or 

one-stop round trips each day (a total of 24 per week), also to a large or medium-hub 

airport using 19-seat aircraft. For service using larger aircraft, two nonstop or one-stop 

round trips each weekday and weekend (a total of 12 per week) would be sufficient to 

accommodate recent traffic levels at each community. If smaller aircraft are 

contemplated (e.g. 9-seat aircraft), additional frequencies will be considered, although we 

would expect the service to be nonstop from each community to the hub airport. We 

encourage proposals that meet those requirements in an efficient manner. Carriers are 

also welcome to propose more than one service option, if they choose. They need not 

limit themselves to the requirements specified above if they envision other, potentially 

more attractive service possibilities – different hubs, for example – with subsidy 

requirements that remain competitive.

 

6 In selecting a carrier to provide subsidized EAS for an eligible place not in Alaska, 49 U.S.C. § 41733(c) 

(1) directs us to consider five factors: (1) service reliability; (2) contractual and marketing arrangements 

with a larger carrier at the hub; (3) interline arrangements with a larger carrier at the hub; (4) community

views; and (5) whether the carrier has included a plan in its proposal to market the service. In addition, the 

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, Public Law No. 113-76, provides that when selecting a carrier to 

provide EAS, the Department may consider the relative subsidy requirements, thus codifying a factor that 

we have considered since the inception of the program.. Interested carriers should also be aware that our 

general provisions governing EAS will be included in the selection Order as part of our authorization of 

subsidy for the selected service. Appendix C of this Order contains those general provisions.
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Filing Format

Carrier proposals should be submitted to the Department with all materials merged into a 

single document. In addition, because the document will be published on 

www.regulations.gov, each page should be formatted to be viewed online.

Historical Traffic

In order to assist carriers in making traffic and revenue projections, we have included 

historical traffic for the communities in Appendix B for the most recent annual periods. 

Other Carrier Requirements

The Department is responsible for implementing various Federal statutes governing lobbying 

activities, drug-free workplaces, and nondiscrimination.7 Consequently, all carriers receiving 

Federal subsidy to support EAS must certify that they are in compliance with Department 

regulations regarding drug-free workplaces and nondiscrimination, and those carriers whose 

subsidies exceed $100,000 over the life of the rate term must also certify that they are in 

compliance with the regulations governing lobbying activities. Because the Department is 

prohibited from paying subsidy to carriers that do not submit these documents, the selected 

carrier will be required to submit them in order to receive subsidy. Interested carriers 

requiring more detailed information regarding these requirements, as well as copies of the 

certifications, should contact the Office of Aviation Analysis at (202) 366-5903. The 

Department is prohibited from paying subsidy to carriers that do not submit these documents.

Community Comments

Civic officials and the State are welcome to submit comments on the proposals at any time. 

As noted earlier, we will provide a summary of the proposals to the civic parties and ask 

them to submit their final comments shortly after February 21, 2014, the due date for carrier 

proposals.

This Order is issued under authority delegated in 49 CFR Part 1.25a(b) and re-delegated 

to the Director, Office of Aviation Analysis.

ACCORDINGLY,

1. The Department requests proposals from carriers interested in providing EAS at Fort 

Dodge, Iowa, and/or Mason City, Iowa. Carriers should submit proposals, with subsidy if 

necessary, by February 21, 2014. Proposals should be emailed to EAS@dot.gov, with the 

title “Proposal(s) to Provide EAS at Fort Dodge and/or Mason City” 8;

2. These Dockets will remain open until further Order of the Department; and

3. We will serve this Order on the service list for these Dockets.

 

7 The certifications are available on the web at

http://www.dot.gov/policy/aviation-policy/small-community-rural-air-service/essential-air-service.

8 Questions regarding filings may be directed to Kevin Adams at 202-366-1047 or Kevin.Adams@dot.gov.
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Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of this Order under the 

Department’s Regulations, 14 CFR Part 385.31, must file such petitions within seven (7) 

days after the date of service of this Order. 

This Order will be effective immediately, and the filing of a petition for review shall not 

preclude its effectiveness.

By: 

TODD M. HOMAN

Director

Office of Aviation Analysis

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available at

http://www.regulations.gov
Appendix A

Nonstop Great Circle Miles

Fort Dodge (FOD) and Mason City (MCS) 61

Fort Dodge to Des Moines (DSM) 75

Mason City to Minneapolis (MSP) 119

Fort Dodge to Omaha (OMA) 123

Mason City to Chicago (ORD) 288
Appendix B-1

Fort Dodge, Iowa (FOD), Scheduled Passenger Service, T-100

Passengers Departures Completion

Year Month Origin Dest O&D Performed Scheduled Factor

2010 12 888 812 1,700 114 124 91.94%

2011 1 763 767 1,530 124 124 100.00%

2011 2 717 654 1,371 106 112 94.64%

2011 3 911 987 1,898 123 124 99.19%

2011 4 747 733 1,480 118 120 98.33%

2011 5 951 948 1,899 121 124 97.58%

2011 6 983 984 1,967 120 120 100.00%

2011 7 990 992 1,982 123 124 99.19%

2011 8 853 890 1,743 124 124 100.00%

2011 9 905 922 1,827 120 120 100.00%

2011 10 824 810 1,634 124 124 100.00%

2011 11 897 883 1,780 120 120 100.00%

YE 11/30/2011 10,429 10,382 20,811 1,437 1,460 98.42%

2011 12 1,000 963 1,963 119 124 95.97%

2012 1 948 924 1,872 105 108 97.22%

2012 2 847 788 1,635 98 53 184.91%

2012 3 1,031 1,054 2,085 101 106 95.28%

2012 4 549 595 1,144 136 142 95.77%

2012 5 445 440 885 165 170 97.06%

2012 6 357 399 756 154 162 95.06%

2012 7 135 122 257 90 92 97.83%

2012 8 267 331 598 203 231 87.88%

2012 9 246 245 491 210 220 95.45%

2012 10 276 292 568 219 232 94.40%

2012 11 248 253 501 214 224 95.54%

YE 11/30/2012 6,349 6,406 12,755 1,814 1,864 97.32%

2012 12 265 272 537 209 228 91.67%

2013 1 235 240 475 207 232 89.22%

2013 2 192 193 385 188 208 90.38%

2013 3 295 337 632 201 228 88.16%

2013 4 205 212 417 149 165 90.30%

2013 5 242 233 475 144 170 84.71%

2013 6 231 230 461 155 160 96.88%

2013 7 266 244 510 161 170 94.71%

2013 8 251 263 514 157 168 93.45%

2013 9 188 205 393 153 162 94.44%

2013 10 208 169 377 149 170 87.65%

2013 11 198 190 388 122 156 78.21%

YE 11/30/2013 2,776 2,788 5,564 1,995 2,217 89.99%

Note: Great Lakes replaced Mesaba on the 11th of April, 2012.
Appendix B-2

Mason City, Iowa (MCW), Scheduled Passenger Service, T-100

Passengers Departures Completion

Year Month Origin Dest O&D Performed Scheduled Factor

2010 12 1,279 1,188 2,467 140 162 86.42%

2011 1 1,176 1,135 2,311 151 156 96.79%

2011 2 1,013 928 1,941 129 144 89.58%

2011 3 1,191 1,274 2,465 158 162 97.53%

2011 4 904 916 1,820 146 152 96.05%

2011 5 991 995 1,986 148 160 92.50%

2011 6 896 869 1,765 114 120 95.00%

2011 7 968 869 1,837 122 124 98.39%

2011 8 938 921 1,859 124 124 100.00%

2011 9 858 804 1,662 120 120 100.00%

2011 10 806 748 1,554 124 124 100.00%

2011 11 809 765 1,574 115 118 97.46%

YE 11/30/2011 11,829 11,412 23,241 1,591 1,666 95.50%

2011 12 877 845 1,722 115 124 92.74%

2012 1 637 643 1,280 102 108 94.44%

2012 2 818 735 1,553 96 100 96.00%

2012 3 852 874 1,726 106 106 100.00%

2012 4 469 523 992 168 181 92.82%

2012 5 429 419 848 215 232 92.67%

2012 6 399 463 862 215 222 96.85%

2012 7 451 450 901 226 230 98.26%

2012 8 366 419 785 283 293 96.59%

2012 9 377 360 737 272 280 97.14%

2012 10 359 364 723 277 294 94.22%

2012 11 363 342 705 265 284 93.31%

YE 11/30/2012 6,397 6,437 12,834 2,340 2,454 95.35%

2012 12 343 359 702 261 290 90.00%

2013 1 256 246 502 239 296 80.74%

2013 2 223 220 443 225 264 85.23%

2013 3 234 291 525 242 290 83.45%

2013 4 237 276 513 209 225 92.89%

2013 5 253 278 531 207 232 89.22%

2013 6 311 343 654 208 220 94.55%

2013 7 333 356 689 221 232 95.26%

2013 8 292 304 596 213 230 92.61%

2013 9 259 295 554 190 212 89.62%

2013 10 287 290 577 197 224 87.95%

2013 11 205 246 451 147 202 72.77%

YE 11/30/2013 3,233 3,504 6,737 2,559 2,917 87.73%

Note: Great Lakes replaced Mesaba on the 11th of April, 2012.
Appendix C

Example of General Terms and Conditions for Essential Air Service

The carrier understands that it may forfeit its compensation for any flights that it does not 

operate in conformance with the terms and stipulations of the rate Order, including the 

service plans outlined in the Order and any other significant elements of the required 

service, without prior approval. The carrier understands that an aircraft take-off and 

landing at its scheduled destination constitutes a completed flight; absent an explanation 

supporting subsidy eligibility for a flight that has not been completed, such as certain 

weather cancellations, only completed flights are considered eligible for subsidy. In 

addition, if the carrier does not schedule or operate its flights in full conformance with the 

Order for a significant period, it may jeopardize its entire subsidy claim for the period in 

question. If the carrier contemplates any such changes beyond the scope of the Order

during the applicable period of this rate, it must first notify the Office of Aviation 

Analysis in writing and receive written approval from the Department to be ensured of 

full compensation. Should circumstances warrant, the Department may locate and select 

a replacement carrier to provide service on these routes. The carrier must complete all 

flights that can be safely operated; flights that overfly points for lack of traffic will not be 

compensated. In determining whether subsidy payment for a deviating flight should be 

adjusted or disallowed, the Department will consider the extent to which the goals of the 

program are met and the extent of access to the national air transportation system 

provided to the community.

If the Department unilaterally, either partially or completely, terminates or reduces 

payments for service or changes service requirements at a specific location provided for 

under this Order, then, at the end of the period for which the Department does make 

payments in the stipulated amounts or at the stipulated service levels, the carrier may 

cease to provide service to that specific location without regard to any requirement for 

notice of such cessation. Those adjustments in the levels of subsidy and/or service that 

are mutually agreed to in writing by the Department and carrier do not constitute a total 

or partial reduction or cessation of payment.

Subsidy contracts are subject to, and incorporate by reference, relevant statutes and 

Department regulations, as they may be amended from time to time. However, any such 

statutes, regulations, or amendments thereto shall not operate to controvert the foregoing 

paragraph.

Funds may not be available for performance under this Order beyond [DATE]. The 

Government’s obligation for performance under this Order beyond [DATE], is subject to 

the availability of funds from which payment for services can be made. No legal liability 

on the part of the Government for any payment may arise for performance under this 

Order beyond [DATE], until funds are made available to the Department for 

performance. If funds are not made available for performance beyond [DATE], the 

Department will provide notice in writing to the carrier. 

All claims for payment, including any amended claims, must be submitted within 90 days 

of the last day of the month for which compensation is being claimed. For example, 

claims for service provided in July must be filed by October 31; August claims must be 

submitted by November 30, and so on.