Williams, Renee (OST) 

From: 

Sent: 

To: 

Subject: 

Leslie Myrbeck [Leslie.Myrbeck@capeair.com] 

Wednesday, August 25, 20105:06 PM 

Undisclosed recipients 

DOT-OST-2003-14822 letter of support for Cape Air - Lebanon, NH 

I appreciate the opportunity to forward to you the below letter of support for Cape Air air service for Lebanon Airport. 

Sincerely, 

Leslie Myrbeck 

Cape Air 

Ph.508862-9764 

From: Afahy@unitedafa.org [mailto:afahy@unitedafa.org] 

Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 12:16 PM 

To: Ed Larocque 

Subject: Ed, I hope this is the type of letter you were looking for. 

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To whom it may concern, l;y 92~ EAS, or essential air service, is only proven essential when it is actually used for transportation in aRd o~f the city or 

town it is intended to aid with air travel. The Cape Air service in Lebanon, NH, has proven thatis R6f only essential, but 

reliable, pleasant, convenient, and quite practical. 

I am an employee with a major airline, and I am based in Boston, MA. I live 22 miles from the Burlington, VT, airport, 

and I am writing this letter in praise of the service that Cape Air provides to the region of central VT, and NH. I travel to 

Boston every single week, and for many years I was able to fly from Burlington to Boston on an assortment of carriers with 

multiple flight times. When 9/11 happened, it changed the structure or airline travel around the world, in both service, and 

choice. Burlington lost all service to Boston a few years ago, and I then began the tedious and lengthy drive back and 

forth between work and home. Options dwindled, choices depleted, not just for me obviously, but for thousands of 

travelers between Boston, the major transportation hub of New England, and the VT, and NH regions as a whole. 

There were other option for passengers, one of course being drive, which adds to congestion, hazards in weather, cost 

of time, and then the parking expense at ones destination. One option was bus, which was more comfortable, but added 

time, and money over the cost of driving, and for some not a viable option. There was service from Lebanon, to La 

Guardia airport in New York, but having used this myself, it was often delayed or canceled due the heavy air traffic on the 

New York City air corridor. However, the biggest drawback was that LaGuardia has limited runway length, and so flights 

overseas, and to paints farther than Denver we impossible without changing planes once again in another hub airport, 

such as Atlanta, or Chicago, causing even more chance of a delay in reaching a desired destination. Then, in November, 

2008 a wonderful thing occurred. Cape Air was awarded the service out of Lebanon, NH, to Boston, and many things 

nice things began to change, 

1: Service. Cape Air being a one person operation at the Lebanon Airport, you would expect rushed check in, rushed 

boarding, mis-placed bags, and surly attitude by an overworked customer service representative. Quite the contrary, as a 

first hand witness I see Cape Air empoyees in LEB great customers warmly, greet repeat customers, (of which there are a 

great number) by name. Slowly and calmly explain things to uncertain travelers. Assist passengers on and off the small 

stairs to the aircraft, load and unload bags, direct passengers through security, offer coffee to the early risers, and many 

other kind gestures all calmly, efficiently, courteously, and friendly, over and over and over again. 

2 Flights. Cape Air in new England. utilizes an aircraft that is a perfect size for the markets it serves. The Cessna 402 is 

not the most roomy of planes, but is is more than satisfactory for flights of anywhere from 20 minutes, to just over an 

hour. The passengers, even the most nervous of people sit within feet of the pilots gaining an instant rapport with these 

men and women that are friendly by nature, and all business while flying through some of the weather we can experience 

in New England in both summer and winter. The flights, in almost all instances for me at least, are punctual, within a few 

minutes, and more often than not, on time or ahead of schedule in arriving and leaving Boston and Lebanon. I have had a 

total of 4 flights that I was hoping to ride on cancel in the last two years of almost weekly ridership, and not a single flight 

was due to mechanical issue. It was always snow, or fog, and many of the times it was foggy in Lebanon, Cape Air would 

attempt the flight from Boston, and more often than not, be rewarded for persistence by having the airport clear enough to 

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land at arrival time. It is always a safe feeling being on one of these airplanes, and I recommend it always as a sight 

seeing tool to friends and family, especially in October. 

3 Tourism and Economy: Being a stand by traveler, I have witnessed the flights between Boston and Lebanon become 

more and more full over time. Half the time now I am forced to drive because these flights are frequently full. Full of 

tourists, families, and people in business that bring their dollars and their business to the Lebanon area. These dollars 

turn into more tax revenue, more industry, and more jobs for the people of Vermont and New Hampshire. Now with new 

flights to White Plains, New York, with limo service to Manhattan, even more passengers, and more revenue are finding 

their way to this beautiful area because of the ease of travel between these cities. Living in Northern Vermont, I know 

many people that drive to LEB to fly to Boston, rather than all the way to Boston. The parking fees alone make up the 

difference of the comfortably priced 45 minute flight to Boston. In a perfect world the drive is near 2 hours, but I have 

done it at times of traffic and or bad weather that have taken me over 5 hours, not a nice thought after a Trans-Atlantic 

flight, or facing one to Asia. 

4 Safety: If Cape Air were not run with safety at the forefront of everything they do, then people would not fly a 8 or 9 

passenger aircraft. Period. People do fly because even the apprehensive ones feel safe, and they are safe, and they do 

return because they are comfortable and trust this little New England Airline with their lives, as I do every week without 

even a second thought! 

5 Job: Cape Air in Lebanon gives employment to 4 people that work on the ground, and a number of pilots also living and 

paying taxes here that I am not sure of, being a great positive the the business community of this region. They buy Jet 

Fuel, which allows the LEB airport to employ more people, and TSA to hire more people, and so on. 

Although I personally would love to see more seats available to Boston, it is for purely selfish reasons, and I am thrilled 

every time I see a Cape Air plane with 7 or 8 or 9 people going to and from LEB to BOS. I am happy for the area when I 

see another plane load of passengers arriving from White Plains. It is even more gratifying when these people take local 

cabs, to local hotels, or rent cars from locally owned car rental companies to drive to Stowe to rent local skis and buy lift 

tickets on local slopes attended to by local tax payers. 

So, when the subsidy is up for renewal, I strongly and emphatically recommend that this airport, and this region keep 

Cape Air as its' carrier to and from Boston. The options grow daily for single flight connection service to more and more 

airports around the world as Logan airport, and the airlines that serve it expand to destinations not reachable not stop 

from LaGuardia, Manchester, or even Montreal. Cape Air to me has proven to be a deserving carrier that earns it right to 

remain here on a daily basis. I hope that the choices Cape Air give to NH and VT remain, as the carrier retains EAS 

status again. 

Should anyone have any questions, feel free to email or cali me. 

Thank You. 

Andrew Fahy 

Association of Flight Attendants -CWA, AFL-CIO 

Council 27- BOS 

Vice President 

(617) 671-5912 

AFahy@unitedafa.org 

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