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ULSL Department of 1200 New jersey Avenue, SE 

Transportation Washington, DC 20590 

Office of the Secretary 

ofTionsportation 

r— 1 

June 25, 2010 -4 

CD 

VIA EMAIL 5 

-'-C3 

The Honorable Heidi Davison . ; § 

Mayor 

City of Athens 

301 College Avenue 

Athens, Georgia 30601-2770 

Dear Mayor Davison: 

I would like to update you on the essential air service situation at Athens and Macon and give 

you an opportunity to submit comments, if you wish. 

As you know, in anticipation of the end of the current contract on September 30, 2010, by 

Order 2010-5-33, issued May 28, 2010, the Department solicited proposals from air carriers 

interested in providing essential air service at Athens and Macon. In response to that order, 

we received proposals from the incumbent, Pacific Wings, LLC d/b/a Georgia Skies (Georgia 

Skies), Alaska Juneau Aeronautics, Inc. d/b/a SeaPort Airlines (SeaPort) (Athens only), 

Gulfstream International Airlines, Inc. (Macon only). Charter Air Transport, Inc., and 

Sovereign Air, Inc. 

Because of the large number of applicants and service/subsidy options, rather than describe 

them in narrative form, we included an attachment that summarizes them in that form. In 

addition to our attached summary, the proposals, as well as Order 2010-5-33, can be viewed 

online at www.regulations.gov. by doing a search on Docket DOT-OST-2002-11348 or 

DOT-OST-2007-28671. 

Please note that proposed schedules are illustrative and the carriers may make schedule 

changes to reflect changing conditions. The Department expects subsidized air carriers to 

maintain well-timed and well-spaced flights to ensure full compensation. 

My purpose in writing to you at this time is to give you an opportunity to submit any final 

comments you might have on the proposed service. We request that you review this 

information as expeditiously as possible and submit any comments you may have as soon as 

possible, but in any case no later than July 16, 2010. We will carefully consider your 

comments before we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a final decision. 
If you have questions, or if you find that you need additional time to draft your comments, 

please let us know. 

Please submit your comments to me at: EAS@dot.gov 

In addition, we would appreciate if you would email your comments to 

dennis.devanv@dot.gov and renee.williams@dot.gov. You should also send a copy of your 

comments to all applicants. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Renee 

Williams of my staff at 202-366-1058. 

Identical letters have been sent to the Mayor of Macon, as well as the Managers of Athens 

Ben Epps Airport and Middle Georgia Regional Airport. 

Sincerely, 

'Dennis J. DeVany,^hief 

EAS & Domestic Analysis Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 
ATTACHMENT 

Summary of Proposals for Athens and Macon, GA 

Carrier 

Pacific Wings 

SeaPort 

Gulfstream 

Charter Air Transport 

Sovereign Air 3/ 

Options 

Athens 

Macon 

Athens 

Athens 

Macon 

Macon only 

Athens only 

Macon/Athens 

Macon/Athens 

Athens 

Macon 

Subsidv 

$1,051,386 

$1,386,306 

$1,004,979 1/ 

$1,028,049 2/ 

$2,733,975 

$1,492,700 

$1,315,062 

$2,011,728 

$2,500,457 

$670,749 

$571,949 

Hub 

ATL 

ATL 

BNA 

BNA 

MCOn-PA 

ATL 

ATL 

ATL 

ATL 

ATL 

ATL 

Round Trips Per Week 

12 nonstop 

26 nonstop 

12 nonstop 

12 nonstop 

6 nonstop to each hub 

11 nonstop* 

11 nonstop* 

11 nonstop & one-stop* 

11 nonstop & one-stop* 

21 nonstop 4/ 

14 nonstop 

Aircraft 

Cessna 208B (9 seats) 

Cessna 208B (9 seats) 

PilatusPC-12(9seats) 

PllatusPC-12(9seats) 

Beech 1900D (19 seats) 

Jetstream 32 (19 seats) 

Jetstream 32 (19 seats) 

Jetstream 32 (19 seats) 

Embraer EMB-120 (30 seats) 

King Air (9 seats) 

King Air (9 seats) 

1/ First year rate. 

2/ Second year rate. 

3/ Sovereign Air does not have the requisite authority from either 

the Federal Aviation Administration or the Department to perform its 

proposed service, although it has applied for such authority. 

4/ Sovereign's schedule shows 19 round trips per week, however 

subsidy calculations appear to be based on 21 round trips per week. 

One non-subsidized r/t to Hilton Head per week.