County of Jefferson 

Office of th e Count y Administrato r 

Historic Courthouse 

195 Aisenal Street, 2"^ Pl<x>r 

Watertown, MY 13601-3567 

Pbone: (315) 785-3075 Fax; (315) 785-5070 

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March 2, 2011 

Demiis J. DeVany, Chief 

Essential Air Sei-vice Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

U. S. Dept. of Transpoi'tation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. 

Washington, D. C. 20590 

RE; EAS Community Response 

Docket DOT-OST-1997-2842 

Dear Mr. DeVany: 

With a sincere hope that the age old adage "the third time is the chann", it gives me great pleasure 

to provide your office with some very well thought out community feedback relative to the awarding 

of a contract for the next commercial air service carrier to serve the Watertown International Airport 

under the banner of the Essential Air Service (EAS) Program. On behalf of both the Jefferson 

County Aiiport Advisory Committee and the entire Board of Legislators, I thank you for providing 

us the opportunity to weigh in on this final decision making step that is required under the EAS 

solicitation program that commenced for the third time on January 7, 2011. Your assistance and 

patience in helping to steer this onginally unforeseen lengthy request for proposal process, that 

initially began late last spring, has been very much appreciated. The end result of all of this 

collective effort, however, promises to now result in the delivery of a quality air transportation 

service not experienced in our region in many years. 

After careful review of each of three very creditable & competitive proposals that covered a wide 

range of commercial airline service to differing destination points, utilizing a variety of air plane 

types & passenger size, we have detennined that for several very important reasons one of those 

airlines, given the similarity of its own business plan to the continuing development of our airport's 

master plan, really stands above the other two. It, therefore, gives me great pleasure to advise the 

U. S. Department of Transportation that Jefferson County is unanimously endorsing the EAS 

proposal submitted by American Eagle Airlines. 

With this third consecutive round of competitive solicitations solely focused on the Watertown 
International Aiiport/'Northem New York market, the chance to "gi'ow" our air transport program 

really took a major leap in a very positive direction. The end result is that a competitive round of 

commercial airline proposals were received. Each of the three airlines provided several unique 

benefits to our community. Looking towards this community's immediate future, however, we could 

not overlook the fact that American Eagle was able to provide both our military and civilian travel 

market with the opportunity to fly directly on a legacy canier with a 44 seat regional jet to a major 

market at Chicago's 0 Hare International Aiiport. The ease of purchasing very reasonably priced 

tickets, the ability to easily fly to almost any destination within the countiy, along with the 

accompanying national marketing program that would be available immediately to this region, were 

other vei-y strong factors that weighed heavily in favor of this particular airline. From a teclinical 

standpoint, of the thiee airlines submitting a proposal under the guidelines of the EAS program, 

American Eagle also stands as the most qualified air carrier of the tliree. While we certainly consider 

ourselves very fortunate to have had the chance to explore the future of commercial airline service 

at our aiiport with all three carriers, and are most appreciative of their interest in the greater 

Waterlown region, clearly with all important factors considered American Eagle became the 

commercial air cairier of choice. 

Your endorsement of American Eagle Airlines, through the awarding of a two year EAS contract to 

that veiy creditable operation, is hereby requested. It is this particular commercial airline that is able 

to offer our region and the increasing number of airport customers that will no doubt fly out of our 

transportation facility the best opportunity prosper in the coming years. 

Should you have any questions regarding our recommendation, I would be happy to respond. Thank 

you, again, for your continuing assistance and support of Jefferson County's Watertown International 

Airport. 

Respectfully submitted, 

c 

Robert F. Hagemann,^nT 

County Administrator 

Jefferson County Legislators 

County Airport Manager 

Michael Martin, US DOT