The Honorable Ray LaHood 

Secretary of Transportation 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey A venue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Dear Secretary Lai-Iood, 

WASHtNGTON, DC 20:HO 

June 6~ 2012 

We are writing on behalf of the community of Alpena, Michigan, regarding Essential Air Service 

(EAS) at Alpena County Regional Airport. 

As you know, the Department of Transportation has received four bids to provide Alpena EAS 

service. The community has reviewed the bids and determined which airline they feel is the best 

fit for the region. We ask that the Department give the enclosed letter from the community 

strong consideration in selecting a replacement to Delta Airlines. 

Thank you for your attentipn to this matter. 

Sincerely, 

Senator Debbie Stabenow Senator Carl Levin 
City of Alpena 

May 30,2012 

Mr. Dennis DeVany 

Chief, Essential Air Service Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, D.C. 20590 

Reference DOT-OST-2009-0300 

Dear Dennis, 

This letter is the formal response of the City of Alpena . to the Department's request for our 

comments regarding air carrier bids to provide Alpena EAS received by May 15, 2012. 

I will begin by thanking the Department for having faith in our ability to draw carrier interest in 

our air service market. We are overjoyed to have worked with SkyWest Airlines and for that 

carrier to decide to bid to provide Delta branded regional jet service at our airport. 

The SkyWest Airlines bid is supported by the Mayor of Alpena, the Chairman of the Alpena 

Board of Commissioners, the Chairman of the Alpena County Regional Airport Committee, the 

Airport Manager, the Executive Director of the Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce, and the 

Target Alpena Director of Economic Development. All have been directly involved with this 

entire process. 

SkyWest is one .of the largest regional airlines in the nation, consistently profitable and well 

known to provide excellent customer service and reliable flight operations. Furthermore, 

SkyWest proposes to provide Alpena with service to Detroit and Minneapolis under the Delta Air 

Lines brand and code, which is what we currently have. With Delta branded regional jets we 

have seen record traffic demand and could potentially generate 25,000 total O&D in 2012. 

We recognize that the SkyWest service pattern is different than what we currently have, with a 

single trip to DTW and a single trip to MSP compared to the current twice daily DTW service. 

We understand from SkyWest that the current proposal is based on the current availability of 

aircraft and we understand that the schedule proposal contained in the bid document may 

change. 
Nevertheless, our endorsement of SkyWest as our replacement carrier Is very strong. There is 

simply no comparison between that proposal; a network branded and coded regional jet 

operated by a large, well regarded regional airline to major hub airports including our traditional 

hub of Detroit, and the other proposals submitted for Department consideration. 

We believe that SkyWest's bid is clearly the best bid. It preserves true network carrier service at 

Alpena and the carrier forecast projects the most passengers. It offers us the best chance to 

grow our traffic and eventually reduce or eliminate subsidies entirely. 

With regard to the other proposals, while we appreciate the Interest of each carrier in our 

market, we decline and reject each proposal for reasons outlined bel~w. 

Air Choice One- This carrier submitted a five option bid package in our last round of bidding. At 

that time we submitted to the Department a lengthy response letter outlining a host of very 

significant concerns regarding the proposal package. Briefly, our concerns outlined in that letter 

were: 

~ Three proposals using single engine 9-seat Caravan aircraft on a 306 mile flight to ORD 

where the block time would exceed two hours. These are rejected out of hand. 

~ Two proposals using 7-seat Piper Navajo aircraft on the same 306 mile saga to ORD, 

again with block times exceeding two hours. Our letter outlined in great detail serious 

flaws in the carrier's block time and payload assumptions for this aircraft type at such a 

long distance. · · · · 

~ The carrier lacks any ticket and bag agreements and the Department itself is concerned 

enough about this situation to have granted Air Choice One only a one year award at 

two cities near Chicago, with a stipulation to the carrier that it must make progress on 

T&B's by early 2013 or face a re-bid of those routes. 

~ The three round trip Navajo bids of the carrier would generate a total of less than 12,000 

annual seats; given the significant payload restrictions that aircraft type would take trying 

to operate 306 miles to ORD. This cannot be a serious proposal for a market generating 

around 25,000 annual passengers currently. 

~ Even the four round trip Navajo bids would only generate less than 16,000 annual seats. 

Given how clear we made our concerns reQarding the earlier Air Choice One bids, we were 

surprised to see the carrier bid again and the first five options of the new bid are identical to 

those we clearly rejected earlier. The carrier has added an option for Jetstream turboprop 

aircraft in its latest bid package in options 4 to 7. However, the carrier has no Jetstream aircraft 

in operation, no experience operating the aircraft type, and no operating certificate under which 

to operate them at full capacity. 

We appreciate the carrier's relentless interest in Alpena. The carrier's proposals are at best illsuited to the Alpena market. Chicago O'Hare is too far away for Caravans and Navajos, the 

carrier has no ticket and bag agreements, and a definite lack of understanding of how long it 

takes a small plane to ·make the flight to Chicago, which may call into question for the 

Department, the soundness of the carrier's cost projections and therefore its entire bid proposal. 

=====AlPENA===== MICHI4AN'S AllvtNSHCRE 
ADI, Aerodynamics, Inc and Public Charters- We appreciate the interest of this partnership of 

air service companies in our market. The operating partner, ADI, does not have the requisite 

authority to operate Part 121 at this time. The partnership between the operating carrier and 

Public Charters is unclear to us and how our air service would be sellable to the general public 

uncertain. This combination of concerns causes us to reject the bid. We thank the two carriers 

for their interest. 

Sovereign Air, Inc.- This carrier has no FAA operating authority and beyond that no ticket and 

bag agreements. The carrier's proposal envisions B1900D or Jetstream 32 aircraft operating 

between Alpena and Detroit with a block time of 41 minutes. Regional jets take about an hour 

and the Mesaba SF340s took about 1 :15 when they flew here. Such a huge error in the bid 

document calls into question the entire cost structure of the proposal. We appreciate the 

carrier's interest in Alpena but reject the bid. 

In summary, we again thank the Department for working with us and giving us the time needed 

to find a strong replacement carrier in SkyWest. We wholeheartedly endorse that carrier and Its 

bid to replace Delta. We appreciate the interest in our market expressed by the other airlines but 

reject each of the other bids for reasons outlined above. 

Best 

~ 

regards, 

Matthew J. Waligora 

Mayor of Alpena