U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

Office of the Secretory 

of Transportation 

Mr. Mark E. Hanna 

Executive Director 

Springfield Airport Authority 

1200 Capital Airport Drive 

Springfield, IL 62707 

Dear Mr. Hanna: 

Assistant Secretary 

AUG 25 20!4 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Thank you for your letter, addressed to Secretary Foxx, supporting the proposal submitted by 

Springfield Airport Authority for a grant under the U.S. Department of Transportation's Small 

Community Air Service Development Program. Secretary Foxx asked that 1 respond to you on 

his behalf. 

The Small Community Air Service Development Program was established to help smaller 

communities address air service deficiencies, particularly issues related to high airfares and 

insufficient service. Under the statute, the Department may make a maximum of 40 grant 

awards each year, although no more than four may be to communities in the same State. To 

provide communities with latitude in developing solutions to their air service deficiencies, the 

statute provides flexibility in the types of air service development projects that can be funded. 

On June 30, the Department issued an order setting a deadline of July 31 for applications. As 

these grant requests are pending before the Department, I cmmot comment on the merits of any 

particular proposal. I assure you, however, that the Department will give full and fair 

consideration to all proposals that have been properly filed. 

As is our standard practice, I am placing a copy of your letter and this response in Docket 

DOT-OST-2014-0113 as a contact outside the record of this matter. I appreciate your interest in 

this program. 

Sincerely yours, 

Susan L. Kurland 

Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 
July 29,2014 

Honorable Anthony Foxx 

Secretary 

US Department ofTransportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. 

Washington, D.C .. 20590 

RE: Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport (SPI), Springfield IL 

Mark E. Hanna, A.A.E., Executive Director 

Springfield Airport Authority 

Small Community Air Service Development Program Application 

Docket DOT-OST-2014-0113 

Dear Secretruy Foxx: 

Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport located in Springfield, IL has realized a significant 

decline in network airline service as measured in terms of available seats and number 

of daily flights operated during the past decade. Moreover, Springfield's domestic 

average fare was recently measured to be over 18% higher than the national average. 

These circumstances have resulted in the market experiencing high volumes of 

passengers lealdng to alternative facilities. This gradual decline in network air carrier 

service is contradictozy to the region's healthy economy and growing population base. 

The Springfield Airport Authority, owner and operator of Abraham Lincoln Capital 

Airport, maintains an excellent working relationship with the City of Springfield, 

Sangamon County and the Greater Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. The 

public-private partnership and collaborative spirit that exists among these entities and 

countless others has resulted in numerous success stories benefiting our community. 

It is with these partnerships that we bring this application to curb passenger leakage, 

increase passenger activity on our incumbent network air carriers and improve the 

general awareness of the local airport: throughou.t our community. 

We are proposing a detailed two year air service community engagement plan with 

specific core elements that are designed to increase awareness to a broad and diverse 

audience. This plan will use new and traditional methods to achieye the goal of 

increasing passenger enplanements on its incumbent network air carriers at a rate of 

no less than three percent per quarter as compared to the same period the previous 

year. It is felt that we must continue to grow our local passenger base within our 

catchment area to keep strong demand in place as airlines seek to purge 50 seat 

regional aircraft from their fleets in the near future. This pl?TI- will help position our 

community to be able to meet the demand necessary to fill larger regional aircraft as it 

is anticipated they will be deployed to regional markets in coming years. 

1200 Capital Airport Drive • Springfield, Illinois 62707 

217-788-1060 • 217-788-8056 (Fox) • www.flyspi.com 

.I 
Honorable Anthony Foxx 

July 29,2014 

Page2 

The Springfield Airport Authority has an excellent track record of being able to quickly 

implement projects that have received grant funding, successfully achieve project 

goals and close them out in a timely fashion. Should we be awarded a grant, we will 

be able to begin the implementation of our plan immediately. We thank you in 

advance for your favorable consideration of this application.