U.S. Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary Office of the Secretary ofTransportation 

### April 13, 2012



### The Honorable Ann 

### Rivers Washington House ofRepresentatives Olympia, WA 98504-0600 DearMs. Rivers:**~G**

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### Thank you for your letter to Secretary ofTransportation Ray LaHood, supporting the application ofAlaska Airlines, Inc. for two beyond-perimeter slot exemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). Alaska's application proposes to serve Portland International Airport with one round trip perday from DCA. Secretary LaHood has asked me to respond to your letter. Under authority granted in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of2012, the U.S. Department ofTransportation will be awarding to new entrant or limited incumbent carriers atotal ofeight slot exemptions at DCA, which would support four daily round trips. We received Alaska's application, which also proposes one daily round trip to San Diego, on March 12. Other timely applications were received from AirCanada, proposing one round trip to Vancouver, British Columbia; Frontier Airlines, one round trip to Colorado Springs and beyond to San Diego; JetBlue Airlines, one round trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and one round trip to Austin, Texas; Southwest Airlines, one round trip to Austin and San Diego beyond; Sun Country Airlines, one round trip to Las Vegas; and Virgin America, Inc., two round trips to San Francisco. As the matteris still pending, Icannot comment on the merits ofthe points raised in your letter. However,

### 'I can assure you that all applications the Department received will be given full and fair consideration and will be evaluated against the selection criteria specified in the statute.

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## ·**Susan,L~.Kutland Assist~t** **$ecreta~y.for**

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### Aviation 

## and.International

## AffairsMarch 22, 2012

The Honorable Ray LaHood U.S. Department ofTransportation 1200 NewJersey Ave, SE Washington, DC 20590 Re: Alaska Airlines' application for POX-DCA; Docket No. DOT-OST-2012-0029. Dear Secretary LaHood: This letter is in support ofthe application ofAlaska Airlines to provide one daily roundtrip flight between Reagan Natic::mal Airport (DCA) and Partland international Alr13ort (POX). As a state legislator representing southwest Washington and whose home is a scant twenty minutes from 

### POX, Iam aware that the Portland-Vancouver resion is**t~le** 

### seeond largest rnarket 

## to Washington DC, in terms of passengers per day, withoiJt nonstop servlc;e to DCA. It is the ideal candidate for such service. Nonstop service from Oregon/southwest Washingtcm I$ limited to just a single dally flight between POX 

### and Washington Dulles (lAD). With t'lonstop service from PDX to DCA, Oregon/southwest Washington residents, like myself, will benefit from enhanced competition and no longer be foreed to use less convenient and more time-consuming service to reach our nation's capital. Alaska Airlines and its regional sister carrier, Horizon Air, have a large hub presence at 

### POX, operating an annual average of tl'lore than 640 flights per week to 33 destinations. As a l'eault, Ala$ka's nonstop flight would also improve service levels to Washington, DC for the Oregon cities of Eugene, Medford nnd Redmond, In addition to the greater Portland

..Vancouver region. Importantly, Aliiska has a strong customer service focus, reliable operational performance and financial strength. In sum, we**~re** fortunate to have regular access to the best performing airline In the country. These qualities make Alaska the ideal carrier to provide Oregon/southwest Washington residents with their first nonstop $ervice to DCA. As astrong supporter of business, I respectfully urge you to grant Alaska Airlines' application to provide · PDX

..QCA service. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely,

Representative Ann Rivers 18th Legisl(ltlve District



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