BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

__________________________________________ 

)

Essential Air Service at )

)

Altoona, Pennsylvania ) OST-2002-11446

Johnstown, Pennsylvania ) OST-2002-11451

 ) 

Under 49 U.S.C. §41731 et seq. )

__________________________________________ 

SUN AIR INTERNATIONAL PROPOSAL 

TO PROVIDE SUBSIDIZED ESSENTIAL AIR SERICE

By Order 2014-2-6, the Department requested proposals from carriers interested in providing 

Essential Air Service to the communities of Altoona and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Pursuant to 

that order, Sun Air Express, LLC. (“Sun Air”) cordially submits this proposal to provide 

subsidized air service to those communities. 

Correspondence with regard to this document should be addressed to:

David Hackett

Chief Executive Officer

Sun Air Express, LLC.

d/b/a Sun Air International

3201 Griffin Road, Suite 202

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33312

Telephone: 954-660-9865

Fax: 954-894-0367

E-Mail: dhackett@gosunair.com

Bid Summary

Sun Air hereby offers proposals to provide service to the communities of Altoona and Johnstown, 

Pennsylvania from Pittsburgh International Airport. 

Sun Air proposes to operate high frequency, low fare service to Pittsburgh using 8-passenger 

Piper Chieftain aircraft. Sun Air’s management believes that this model is uniquely suited to 

restoring passenger traffic at these airports after years of decline. Convenient flights times and 

low local fares can offer a superior alternative to low-frequency service via larger aircraft under 

traditional code-share arrangements. Capacity is restricted to 8 passengers instead of the 

traditional 9 seats due to the airline’s policy of including First Officers on its’ scheduled flights.
Sun Air is prepared to make substantial investments, both operationally as well as in the sales and 

marketing area, to aid the communities in recovering their air passenger demand potential. Sun 

Air’s management believes strongly that the combination of affordable fares, more frequent 

flights and consistently reliable operations are critical ingredients to providing the air service that 

these communities need.

Sun Air’s operating plans are based upon having multiple back-up aircraft and an ample 

availability of reserve flight crews. Since Sun Air’s current management took over operations 

late last year, the airline’s operational performance has ranked among the best in the airline 

industry. Flights in the Hagerstown, MD and Lancaster, PA communities served from IAD have 

not had a single controllable flight cancellation so far in 2014. 

Both of Sun Air’s proposals are for a four-year period, which the company believes is necessary 

relative to the size of its’ planned investment in these communities. They are stand-alone 

proposals, meaning one or both may be accepted.

Flights will be displayed in all the major travel agent systems, and also available for booking on 

the company’s web site. Interline connections are available with most U.S. major airlines via Sun 

Air’s contracted distribution capabilities. 

The respective subsidy amounts for each city pair are listed in Schedule 1 included herein.

EAS Eligibility Discussion

Both Altoona and Johnstown have seen declines in passenger volumes associated primarily with 

inconvenient schedules and unreliable operations. Altoona’s passenger enplanements are 

significantly less than 50% of what they were 10 years ago, causing it to exceed the Department’s 

$200 per passenger subsidy limitation. 

While there are varied reasons for the enplanement declines, the driving factors include: 

 Higher fares

 Inadequate local marketing

 The introduction of “one-stop” service vs non-stop

 Insufficient frequency of service and 

 Consistently poor reliability by the operating carrier.

The U.S. regional airline industry has experienced a significant increase in the average size of 

aircraft operated, which has left smaller communities with fewer choices and fewer flights. 

Additionally, those few remaining regional airlines that operate under traditional code-share 

arrangements with major U.S. carriers are often subject to forced cancellations in times of 

inclement weather, when they would otherwise be able to operate. To the extent weather limits 

gate access at the large hubs, the major carriers will dictate that the regional airlines operating 

small aircraft be cancelled first. And thus a self-perpetuating cycle results: regional airline code 

share flights are the first to be cancelled, and the customers quickly learn that these small 

communities cannot be relied upon for consistent service, causing lower passenger enplanements. 

Small communities need access to reliable air service. It is a crucial component of their 

economic development initiatives.

Marketing resources earmarked for the new routes by Sun Air are substantially above those 

historically spent. Sun Air will be actively involved with the local communities (including on the 

PIT side) and has already identified co-op marketing funds to support the initiatives. While it 
may take some time for the communities to see the major reversal of enplanement trends, the 

need is clearly there and the Department should support efforts to achieve those important goals. 

The Pennsylvania Air Service Committee recently contracted for one of the country’s leading 

aviation consulting firms to complete a comprehensive study of whether regional service into and 

out of PIT would be viable, referred to as the “PIT Connector” project. The enplanement 

forecasts incorporated in that study are in line with the levels projected by Sun Air, without 

taking into consideration our plans to operate more than twice the frequency of flights (with 

smaller aircraft) than the study assumed. Discussions with the local communities have 

confirmed there is significant demand for re-establishing links to PIT, even in light of the 

elimination of USAirways’ former hub, due to the convenience, pricing and reliability 

improvement available to the communities.

Service Proposal

Sun Air’s proposed weekly frequencies are shown below. Each community would have at least 

one overnight aircraft to enable an early morning departure and evening arrival. Flight schedules 

throughout the rest of the day would be spread out, and would be finalized in cooperation with the 

respective community. None of the markets envision one-stop or through flights...all are nonstop. 

Proposed Flight Frequencies, Round Trip to and from Pittsburgh International Airport:

Altoona: 29 Weekly round trips, with five during the weekdays and two each weekend day.

Johnstown: 36 Weekly round trips, with six during the weekdays and three each weekend day.

Local fares would be set for effectiveness of “add-on” prices to flights from PIT, generally in the 

$29 to $59 range each way. These fares would allow all PIT Connector flights to be priced very 

attractively to the passengers, taking advantage of low fares in PIT relative to other regional 

higher-cost hubs. Additionally, the low local fares increase the choices available regarding which 

airline they connect with in PIT vs the traditional code-share model of single-airline itineraries.

Interline connections are available through major travel systems, including the ability for 

through-checking of baggage. Sun Air is in the process of installing enhanced baggage storage 

features on its aircraft which will substantially improve its capacity for checked baggage handling 

that meets all relevant TSA requirements. Previously, the company’s aircraft have had 

limitations on baggage capacity, particularly with respect to large hard-sided bags that did not fit 

in the existing storage facilities.

About Sun Air International

Sun Air Express, LLC d/b/a Sun Air International is a Fort Lauderdale, FL based commuter air 

carrier currently serving markets in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and Texas.

The airline has operated charters and limited scheduled service within Florida and the Bahamas 

for a number of years. New management was brought in near the end of 2013, and since that 

time has focused on improving operations and initiating a range of marketing activities.

Operational improvements at the airline have been significant. For the Year to Date period, Sun 

Air is operating at 100% controllable completion factor (percentage of scheduled flights that are 

completed, excluding weather) in its northern operations and over 98% in Texas.
SCHEDULE 1

Annual Projected Operations

AOO-PIT JST-PIT

Passenger Revenue $ 556,362 $ 682,479 

Flight Operations

 

1,021,610 

 

1,054,488 

Maintenance

 

527,872 

 

710,438 

Sales & Service

 

888,622 

 

1,025,996 

Aircraft Ownership

 

146,000 

 

185,000 

Other Expenses

 

230,000 

 

280,000 

Total Operating 

Costs

 

2,814,103 

 

3,255,922 

Operating 

Profit/(Loss) $(2,257,742) $(2,573,443)

Profit Element (5%)

 

(140,705)

 

(162,796)

Subsidy Required $(2,398,447) $(2,736,239)

ASMs

 

2,893,550 

 

2,190,240 

RPMs

 

1,591,453 

 

1,248,437 

Load Factor 55.0% 57.0%

Block Hours

 

2,794 

 

2,738 

Annual Departures

 

2,941 

 

3,650 

Available Seats

 

23,525 

 

29,203 

Enplaned Passengers

 

12,939 

 

16,646 

Average Segment Fare $43 $41
In conclusion, Sun Air believes that its proposal will provide excellent levels of service to the 

communities, and ensures that they have proper access to the national air transportation network,

offering cost-effective options that meet the requirements of the Essential Air Service Program.

 

Respectfully Submitted: April 17, 2014

______________________

David F. Hackett

Chief Executive 

Sun Air Express, LLC

d/b/a Sun Air International