Order 2012

- 8

- 37 Served: August 30, 2012



### UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 30 t h day of August , 20 1 2

ORDER REQUESTING PROPOSALS

Summary By this O rder, the Department is requesting proposals from carriers interested in providing essential air service (EAS) at Dicki nson
, North Dakota

, for a new contract period, beginning February 1, 20 1 3

, with or without subsidy. (See Appendix A for a service area map )

. Carriers should file their proposals no later than Septem ber 28

, 20 1 2

.

Background By Order 20 10

- 1 1

- 16

, Novem ber 16, 2010 , the Department selected Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. (Great Lakes)

, operating as both a Frontier Airlines and United Airlines

code

- share partner, to provide subsidized EAS at Dicki nson through January 3 1, 20 1 3

. Under that O rder

, Great Lakes provide s Dicki nson with three nonstop round trips to

Denver each weekday and each weekend with allowable service to an upline community on six of the eighteen weekly round trips , utilizing 30

- seat Embraer Brasilia aircraft for an annual subsidy rate of $ 2, 019

, 02 7

. Great Lakes has historically operated the service

over a Williston

- Dickinson

- Denver routing , although Williston is not an EAS community

.

Request for Proposals

As the end of the current contract approaches, we ar e here requesting proposals from carriers interested in providing service at Dicki nson
, with or without subsidy, for the two

year period beginning February 1 , 20 1 3

. Carriers should file their proposals no later than September 28

, 20 1 2 . At the end of that period, our staff will docket proposals, thereby making them public, and direct each carrier to serve a copy of its proposal on the civic parties and other applicants. Shortly afterwards, we will provide a summary of the Essential Air Service at

DICKI NSON, NORTH DAKOTA

Under 49 U.S.C. 41731 et seq

. D ocket DOT

- OST

- 199 5

- 697- 2

-

proposals to the communit y and ask them to submit their final comments. We will give full consideration to all proposals that are timely filed. 1

Interested carriers should prepare their proposals with every expectation that their initial proposals will represent the ir final and only proposals. However, we retain the discretion to negotiate proposals with carr iers when we deem it desirable . We also retain the discretion to reject outright all unreasonable or unrealistic proposals and re

- solicit a new round of propos als. However, negotiation and rejection are only occasional exceptions to

the rule.

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 f or 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, they might wa nt to include proposed schedules as well as supporting data for their subsidy requests, such as projected block hours, revenues and expenses. We strongly encourage clear, well

documented proposals that will facilitate their evaluation by the affected comm unit y and the Department. 2

With specific respect to Dicki nson
, historically, Great Lakes has provided subsidy

- free

service at Williston upline from Dickinson over a Williston

- Dickinson

- Denver routing. Williston is also a relatively strong traffic

- generat ing community. If carriers propose serving both communities over the historical itinerary, we would consider proposals consisting of t hree round trips a day with 30

- seat aircraft or four round trips a day utilizing 19

- seat aircraft

. C arriers may i ncorporate Williston service into the subsidy

calculations in one of two ways. The first is simply to provide a subsidy requirement

estimate of the D ickinson

- D enver nonstop turnaround service with the caveat that the applicant be permitted to serve Willis ton upline. Th e second is to provide a cost

estimates of the full W illiston

- Dickinson

- Denver service. In the latter case, carriers should demonstrate that the addition of the incremental expenses and revenues associated

with the D ickinson

- W illiston segme nt does not in crease the required subsidy amount

, because that would effectively result in subsidy for Williston service which would not be

1 Carriers should not expect the Department to accept late fillings. In cases where a carrier proposes to provide essential air service without subsidy and we determine that service can be reliably provided without such compensation, we typically do not proc eed with the carrier

- selection case. Instead, we simply rely on

that carrier’s su bsidy

- free service as proposed.

2 In selecting a carrier to provide subsidized essential air service, 49 U.S.C. § 41733(c) (1) directs us to to consider four factors: (a) sche duled service reliability; (b) contractual and marketing arrangements with a larger carrier to ensure service beyond the hub; (c) interline arrangements that the applicant has made with a larger carrier at the hub; and (d) community views, giving substanti al weight to the views of the elected officials representing the users. In addition, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, Public Law 110

- 161, provides that when selecting a carrier to provide EAS, the Department may consider the relative subsidy req uirements, thus codifying a factor that we have considered since the inception of the program.- 3

-

acceptable, as Williston is not an EAS community

. 3 If carriers propose to serve Dickinson by itself, we expect two or three round trips a day with 30

- seat aircraft or three

or four round trips with 19

- seaters.

We encourage proposals that meet Dickinson’s EAS 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 th e above described requirements if they envision other, potentially more attractive service possibi lities (e.g., utilization of larger aircraft, additional flights or service to diff erent hubs) with subsidy requirements that remain competitive.

New Filing Procedures Carrier proposals should be submitted to the Department with all materials compiled int o a single document. In addition, because the document will be published on http://www.regulations.gov/ , each page should be formatted to be viewed online and for easy printing.

Service and Traffic History

Great Lakes has served Dickinson and Williston sin ce 2002

. Because carriers may well include Williston in the routing

, we have included h istorical traffic for both communities in Appendix B. During the year ended December 31, 20 11

, Dickinson averaged 59 .4 enplanements a day , Williston 81.8

. We note that traf fic has increase d fivefold from

2003 to 20 11 , and so we expect that the prospective subsidy requirement would decrease.

Other Carrier Requirements The Department is responsible for implementing various Federal statutes governing lobbying activities, drug

- free workplaces, and nondiscrimination. 4 Consequently, all carriers receiving Federal subsidy for essential air service must certify that they are in compliance with Department regulations regar ding 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, all carriers that plan to submit proposals involving subsidy should be aware that the selected carrier will be required to complete the required

3 P.L. 112

- 95 defines an EAS community as one that received subsidized EAS “at any time during the period between September 30, 2010, and September 30, 2011...” Therefore, Williston is not an EAS community.

4 The regulations applicable to these areas are: (1) 49 CFR Part 20

-- New restrictions on lobbying; (2) 49 CFR Part 21

-- Nondiscrimination in federally

- assisted programs of the Department of Transportation

-- Effectuation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; 49 CFR Part 27

-- Nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities receiving or benefiting from Federal financial assistance; and 14 CFR Part 382

-- Nondiscrimination on th e basis of disability in air travel; and (3) 49 CFR Part 29

-- Government

- wide debarment and suspension (non

- procurement) and government

wide requirements for drug

- free workplace (grants).- 4

-

certifications. Interested carr iers requiring more detailed information regarding these requirements should contact the Office of Aviation Analysis at (202) 366

- 5903. 5 Community and State Comments The community and State are welcome to submit comments at any time. We encourage
prospect ive applicants to contact the communit y before they submit their proposals so that they can tailor them to the communit y ’ s needs, as they will not be able to amend them after the due date. As noted earlier, we will provide a summary of the proposals to

th e civic parties and ask them to submit their final comments shortly after September 28

, the deadline for carrier proposals.

This order is issued under authority delegated in 49 CFR Part 1.56a(f) and re

- delegated to the Director, Office of Aviation Analysi s.

ACCORDINGLY,

1. We request that ca rriers interested in providing Essential Air S ervice at Dickinson, North Dakota, submit their proposals, with or without subsidy requests, no later than September 28, 2012

. The proposals should be e

- mailed to: EAS@dot.gov with the title “Proposal to Provide Essential Air Service at Dickinson, North Dakota

, Docket DOT

OST

- 1995

- 697 ”; 6

2. This docket will remain open until further order of the Department; and

3. We will serve copies of this O rder on the community and the parties listed in Appendix D.

Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of this order under the Department’s Regulations, 14 CFR Part 385.50, must file such petitions within ten (1 0) days after the date of service of this order.

5 The certifications are also available on the web at http://ostpxw eb.dot.gov/aviation/index.html.

6 Questions regarding filings in response to this order may be directed to Brian Swanson at (202) 366

- 5392

or brian.swanson@dot.gov

.- 5

-

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.govAppendix A



### DICKINSON, NORTH DAKOTA

AND SURROUNDING COMMUNITIESAppendix B Page 1 of 2

Historical Enplanements 1 Dickinson, North Dakota

Year Ended Origin &

Destination Passengers Annual

Enplanements 2 Average Enplanements

Per Service

Day 3

31-Dec-99 7,393 3,697 11.8

31-Dec-00 8,188 4,094 13.0

31-Dec-01 6,979 3,490 11.1

31-Dec-02 6,151 3,076 9.8

31-Dec-03 7,908 3,954 12.6

31-Dec-04 10,226 5,113 16.3

31-Dec-05 9,784 4,892 15.6

31-Dec-06 10,840 5,420 17.3

31-Dec-07 15,248 7,624 24.4

31-Dec-08 17,797 8,899 28.3

31-Dec-09 17,808 8,904 28.4

31-Dec-10 20,670 10,335 33.0

31-Dec-11 37,170 18,585 59.4

Notes:
1. Source: Order 2005-1-9, Docket DOT-OST-1995-697 and US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Form T-100. 2. Origin-destination passengers divided by two. 3. Average annual enplanements divided by 313 effective annual service days, except for annual period ended 12/31/2000, 2004 and 2008 (314 effective annual service days).Appendix B Page 2 of 2

Historical Enplanements 1 Williston, North Dakota

Year

Ended Origin &

Destination Passengers Annual
Enplanements 2 Average Enplanements

Per Service
Day 3

31-Dec-03 7,990 3,995 12.8
31-Dec-04 10,500 5,250 16.7
31-Dec-05 10,507 5,254 16.8
31-Dec-06 12,843 6,422 20.5
31-Dec-07 16,272 8,136 26.0
31-Dec-08 23,588 11,794 37.6
31-Dec-09 22,094 11,047 35.3
31-Dec-10 31,476 15,738 50.3
31-Dec-11 51,213 25,607 81.8

Notes: 1. Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Form

T-100. 2. Origin-destination passengers divided by two. 3. Average annual enplanements divided by 313 effective annual service days, except for annual period ended 12/31/2004 and 2008 (314 effective annual service days).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

outl ined 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 supporti ng 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 wi th 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 these rates, 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 c arrier 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 cons ider 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 t otal 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 are not currently available for performance under this solicitation beyond [DATE] . The Department’s obligation for perform ance under this solicitation beyond [DATE] is cont ingent upon the availability of appropriated funds from which payment for services can be made. No legal liability on the part of the Department for any payment may arise for performance under this order beyond [DATE] , until funds are made available to th e Department for performance. If funds are not made available for performance beyond [DATE] , the carrier will receive notice in writing by the Department.

All claims for payment must be submitted within 60 days of the last da y of se rvice provided

under this order.Appendix D

SERVICE LIST

Air Choice One Airlines, Shane Storz Delta Air Lines, Stephen A. Hedden Pacific Aviation Group, Craig Garrick

Air Greco/Wings Air Dorado Jets Pacific Aviation Group, Ron Rye

Air Sunshine, Inc. Dorado Jets, Mark McKenna Pacific Wings, Frank Ford

Air Sunshine, Mirmohammad Adili Era Aviation, Lori Goodman Pacific Wings, Greg Kahlstorf

Air West, Inc., John Raatz Executive Airlines, Kate Soled Penn Air, Danny Seybert

Air Wisconsin, Annette Daly Ex pressJet, Jon Lindlief Penn Air, Scott Bloomquist

Air Wisconsin, Jim Rankin ExpressJet, Roger Weston Pinnacle Airlines, Jennifer Gammill

Airline Associates, Bill Mishk Frontier Airlines, Daniel Shurz Pinnacle Airlines, Megan Rosia

Alaska Airlines, Jeff Cole Frontier Flying, Bob Hajducovich Pinnacle Airlines, Phil Reed

Alaska Airlines, Sandy Sinick Frontline Aviation Planemasters, Inc., John Kessler

American Airlines, Carl Nelson Gem Air, Dan Schroeder Planemasters, Inc., Paul Berliner

American Eagle, Gary Foss Gem Air, JoAnn Wolters Planemasters, Inc., Todd DeSimone

American Eagle, Robert Emrich Great Lakes Airlines, Chuck Howell RAA, Faye Balck

American Eagle, Patrick Swift Great Lakes Airlines, Doug Voss Raytheon, Mike Schiedt

Aviation Express, B rad Shriner Homeland Security, Bill Ragan Rectrix, Aviation, Scott LaForge
Aviation Technologies/Charter Air Transport, Jim Gallagher Homeland Security, David Bernier Saab Group, Polly Prelinger

Bemidji Aviation, Arlen Rinkenberger Horizon Air, Jennifer Thompson Scenic, Mary Schneider

Bemidji Aviation, Cori Rude Horizon Air, Mike McQeen Scenic, Mitzi Daines

Cape Air, Andrew Bonney Horizon Air, Jeff Cole Seaborne Airlines, Shawn Lewis

Cape Air, Dan Wolf ICEPR, Luis Irizarry SeaP ort Airlines

, EAS Mailbox

Cape Air, J. Flaherty Intrepid Internatl Air, Rick Eyk SeaPort Airlines. Rob McKinney

Capital Aviation, Mike Colgan Island Air Charters, Linda House Shuttle America, Jerry Balsano

Chautauqua, Josh Pascoe Jet Air, Daniel Wolford Silver Airways, Darrell Richardson

Classic Aviation, Tony Henderson Kenmore Air, Tim Brooks Silver Airways, Mickey Bowman

Colgan Air, Kevin Scott McCall Aviation, Dan Scott SkyWest, Brad Rawson

Colgan Air, Mike Colgan McCall Aviation, Michelle SkyWest, Eric Christensen

CommutAir, Andy Price Mesaba, John Spanjers SkyWest, Michael Thompson

CommutAir, Joel Raymond Mesaba, Max Shemesh Sovereign Air, Bob Karns

Consultant, Jeff Hartz Michigan DOT, Matt Brinker Tailwind International, Michele

Wilkinson

Consultant, Mike Mooney Midstar Airlines, Jeffrey Fonner Tatonduk, Robert Everts

Consultant, Robert Silverberg Republic Air Line , Greg Aretakis Tatonduk, Robert Ragar

Consultant, Ron McNeil MN Aviation, Jose Maldonado Tradewind, Eric Zipkin

Continental, Bruce Keiner Multi Aero, Darnea Transport Azumah, Joel Anabilah

Azumah

Continental, Dan Weiss Multi Aero, Shane Storz Trans States, Fred Oxley

Continental, Lorry Halloway Northern Air Cargo, David Karp Trans States, Gerry Wigmore

Delta Air Lines Anthony Canitano Nor thern Air Cargo, Eric Van Andel Trans States, Warren Crotty

Delta Air Lines, Dan Shuman NYDC, Henok Araya United, Alicia Gabriel

Delta Air Lines, Dana Debel OST, Brian Swanson United, James Starnes

Delta Air Lines, Jeff Davidman OST, Brooke Chapman US Airways, Benjamin Slocum

Delta Air Lines, Jeff Morgan OST, Dennis DeVany US Airways, Howard Kass

Delta Air Lines, Joe Esposito OST, Kevin Adams US Airways, Jason Reisinger

Delta Air Lines, Kristal Murphy OST, Kevin Schlemmer Warbelows Air Ventures, Art

Warbelow
Delta Air Lines, Sally Veith OST, Michael Martin DIK, Matthew Remyse

Delta Air Lines, Sascha Vanderbellen OST, Scott Faulk City of Dickinson

, Dennis Johnson