U.S. Department ofTransportation Office of the Secretary ofTransportation



### Mr. GeoffRodgers Chairman, Los Alamos County Council 1000 Central Avenue, Suite 350 Los Alamos, NM 87544

DearMr. Rodgers: Assistant Secretary


## AUG 

## 0 82014 : !·. 1200 New Jersey !\venue. SE Washington. DC 20590



### I am responding on behalfofSecretary ofTransportation Anthony Foxx to your letter of April28, 2014, forwarded to the Department by Senators Udall and Heinrich. I am keenly aware ofthe importance ofscheduled air service to America's rural communities. The Small CommunityAir Service Development Program (SCASDP) was designed for communities to engage in various strategies to initiate or improve air service. I am pleased to hear ofthe success that Los Alamos has had with SCASDP and New Mexico Airlines in bringing air service to your community.

In your letter, you state that you seek designation as an eligible point for the Essential Air Service Program (EAS). In the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of2012 (Public LawNo. I 12-95), signed into lawby President Obama on February 14,2012, Congress explicitly limited eligibility under the EAS program to those communities that were receiving subsidized EAS between September 30, 2010 and September 30, 2011 (inclusive). As Los Alamos was not receiving subsidized EAS during that timeframe, the Department has no authority to include Los Alamos in the EAS program.
The Department has received Los Alamos' application to participate in the Air Transportation to Noneligible Places (ATNEP) Program (49 U.S.C. § 41736). This program allows a state or local government to propose to the Secretary that compensation be providedto an air carrier in order to provide airtransportation to a place that would otherwise be ineligible tor such compensation. The program provides for 

### 50'% ofthe required subsidy to be paid by the Department with the remaining 50% to be provided by the state, local government, or other private party. ln order to be approved, the Secretary will have to find the application reasonable, taking into account the traffic generatingpotential ofthe location, the cost to the government, and the distance to the nearest hub airport. I can assure you that we will give careful consideration to Los Alamos' application.



### 510-140621-016

### I appreciate your concerns inthis area. Please feel free to contactme ifI canbe offurther assistance. ·
Sincerely yours,

SusanL. Kurland Assistant Secretary for Aviation and InternationalAffairs 2

# \initnt**~tatcs ~mate** 

TheHonorable Anthony Foxx Secretary US DepartmentofTransportation 1200New Jersey Ave, SE Washington, DC 20590

Dear Secretary Foxx: WASHINGTON, DC 20510



### May 7, 2014

We write to share the enclosed letterwereceivedfrom 

### Mr. GeoffRodgers, Chairmanofthe Los Alamos County Council, regarding eligibility for inclusion in the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. We respectfully request that you lookinto this matterandrespond directly to Chairman Rodgers. We also request thatDOTworkwithrepresentatives ofthecounty to explore other possible subsidy orcost-sharing optionsto provide commercial air serviceto Los Alamos County. Through apartnership withNewMexico Airlines, the county currentlyprovides commercial air service between Los Alamos and Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 

### his letter, Mr. Rodgers indicates ridership has 

### grown 100%overthe pastyear, and the county believes continued air service is critical to economic development inthe areaand maintaining alink

### betweenthe community andthe national air

### transportation system. Thankyou foryourconsiderationofourrequestand foryourwillingnesstoworkwith

### usto improvetheeconomicvitalityofourNew Mexico communities. Please do nothesitateto contact ourstaff, Sabrina De Santiagowith

### SenatorUdall and DanAlpertwith

### SenatorHeinrich, if

### you havequestionson this

### matter.

# u~ TomUdall United States Senator Sincerely,

Martin Heinrich United States Senator

# LOSALAMOSCOUNTY

The Honorable Tom Udall US Senate 1000CentralAllllllua, Suila3$0 • LosAlamos, NM 87544 Phone (505) 663-1750 Fax(505) 652-8079 Websl!s: www.losl!lam9s!Jm.us

April 28, 2014

110 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC, 20510
Dear Senator Udall, COUNTY COUNCIL CouncilChair GeoffRodiJers Coonc1J'lic8-CMir Kristin Henderson Councilom Ftana1S M. Baffil'l(}

Stewn GifTBnS Dallidlzraelevflz

RickReiss PateSheehey COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR HarryBurgess

:: .. 

### -·-
0 Thank you for your steady support of Los Alamos County and the greater community of North1?m New Mexico. We are pleased to share that almost one year ago our county in partnership with New Mexico Airlines launched commercial air service between Albuquerque and Los Alamos. The travel distance to and from Albuquerque was causing us to lose out on the many community benefits of business and governmenttravel afforded by effective commercial transportation service.
With that in mind, we launched commercial air service. A $49 one way ticket will get the traveler to Albuquerque in 20 minutes versus the 90 minute drive. The County originally received a USDOT grant for $272,000 and has invested over $365,000 In county funds to help us through the startup phase. The estimated annual subsidy needed at this time is $480,000, or approximately $96 per passenger. In partneririg with New Mexico Airlines we chose a cost-effective platform, three daily flights on its nine-passenger Cessna Caravan operating at a nominal cost above the reasonable ticket price. We started by filling 2-3 seats perflight. Over the past year we have grown ridership by nearly 100% and have experienced almost 100% user satisfaction with the service, including positive comments and steady use from federal employees at the highest levels of Los Alamos National Laboratory management. We are closing the gap toward financial sustalnability, but not fast enough to avoid going back to our council for additional startup funds. And; as this process unfolds, Laboratory employees and other business travelers Including federal contractors are demanding additional daily flights to and from Los Alamos.
The economic impact of these existing and proposed flights on the community is substantial, including significant savings to the federal government in travel time and expense for their employees and contractors. It is estimated that the current investment of $640,000 in startup funds for year one returned over $1.2 million in direct, indirect and induced economic impact to Los Alamos, including a substantial benefitto the national lab itself.
As the attached briefing indicates Los Alamos had federally funded commercial air service ten years before the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, and decades before airline deregulation. In fact, Loa Alamos as a community clearly met the guidelines for Essential Air Service designation, but since federallysubsidized service was already in place, our carrier, Ross Aviation, had no need for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity which was a critical factor used to determine EAS eligibility. Several communities were added to the EAS roles after 1978 and before EAS was further restricted in 2012, and yet Los Alamos stands as a key example of the 

### type of community that should be designated as eligible for essential airservice, but it is not.The ability of the Los Alamos community to grow our economy in the face of federal and local spending decline is predicated in part on the ability to maintain our commercial air service, which also returns significant benefits to the federal installations at Los Alamos. In addition, the existing Los Alamos commercial air service program has proven, within the first year, to be very cost-effective and impactful in a positive way to the local economy, while also overwhelmingly supported by the community and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
In summary, Los Alamos County respectfully requests our federal delegation direct their staff to engage with the appropriate contacts at USDOT and FAA to designate Los Alamos as officially eligible for inclusion In the federal Essential Air Service program. The attached brief and data charts provide supporting documentation to this effort. I will be pleased to answer any questions as they may arise.
We greatly appreciate your support for the economic vitality of Los Alamos in the form of Essential Air Service designation bythe US Department of Transportation. Sincerely,

# ~~o/ Chairman, Los Alamos County Council

Enclosure
Cc: Los Alamos County Council Harry Burgess, County Administrator