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# 0**U.S.~of** Tr'Cfnsportatton Office of1he Secretary of Transportcrtion



### Mr. Ford Fuchigami Deputy Director ofTransportation Hawaii Department ofTransportation 869 Punchbowl Street**Honolul~** 

### HI 96813-5097

Dear Mr.**Fuchigami~** April U • 2012



### 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) to serve San Diego International Airport with one round trip per 

### day from DCA. Secretary LaHood asked that I 

### respond to 

### your letter.
Under authority granted i.n the FAA M.odemization and Reform Act of2012.the U.S. Department ofTransportation 

### wUI be**awardi~g** to 

### new entrant or litn1te4 incumbent carriers a total ofeight slot exemptions atDCA, which would support four daily round trips.

We received Alaska's application, which also proposes one daily round trip to Portland,**Oregon~** 

### on Mareh 

### 12. Other timely appllcations**~re** 

### received from Air Canada, proposing one round trip to Vancouver, British 

### Columbia; Frontier Airlines, one round trip 

### to C<>lorado Springs and beyond to San .Diego; JetBlue Airlines, one round trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and ane round trip to**Austi~** 

### Texas; Southwest Airlines, one round trip to 

### Austin and San Diego beyond; Sun Country**Airline~** 

### one round trip to 

### Las Vegas; and Virgin America, Inc•• two round trips to San 

### Francisco.

As the matter is still pending, I cannot comment on the me.rits, 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,

### Page 2, 

### Fuchigami

The Department's action on this matter is 

### being administered through a 

### public docket, which aUows all**in~rested** 

### parties the opportunity to comment. Following our normal p(actice, I 

### am placing aeopy ofyour Jetter and this response in docket number DOT-2012-0029.


### I 

### appreciate your interest 

### in. this 

### matter.

1•**II~ ftiDIIII~IIS**  ' 

### Sincerely yours,



### ,susan L. Kurland Assistant SecreJary for Aviation and International Affairs,l NEll ABERCROMBIE "'**ao{lsR.~o~** GlSNIII M.. Ol<lM.OTG OJru!C'I'OR



## 'the**:a~•l~J¥4zl,l~i&r ~~od,,**  Secretary STATE OF HAWAII**DEPA~TIIIiENT** OF TRANSPORTATION**~~9** PUNCHBOWL STREET HONOLULU,**HAWAIJ96613~t$097** Match 22,2012



### U.S. DepartmentefTransp.ottation 12:QO New**J~rsey** Avenl.l'e. S.E. Wasfiingl:on, D:C. 20590 · 

## ··---Dear.:Secieiary LaHooci:·--**p~~y** 01\'ll¢\Oi$ JAOI$T •.tlurAY. FORti**~;fiJCHI~I ~P,'I'GiRVNE** **J~lliNelJAAl!;t\KI** IN Rl!PLYReFI!R TO: 12.004

I mn writing in strong supp.01t 6fAlaska Airlines' application to provide daily nonstop service betWeen SanDieg<J (SAN) and Reagan Washington National Airport(DCA).
Alaska AirUnes will et1hance its proposecl. nonstop. San Diego-DCA service by**or~ginating a~dtermlnati'!'lg**  the flight ill Honolulu (HNL). This will provide residents ofthe state ofHawai'lWith'acunvenient connection to our nation's capitaL**~herefore,** not Gll1ywill**citi~ens** afthe greatet• San Diego area benefit from 

### a nonstop 

### San Diego•DCA flight. butatso thereside1J:tSi:lnd visitors ofalltheJ:Iawaiian l$lan4$.
ftis our understandjng that there are. 3,52,000 annual**pass~ngers**..**trav.~.ling** betwe.en San Diego and Washingtan, D.C. In addition, there are more than 123.p00 annual passengers traveling between Honolulu and Washingtol), 

### p,c;,**u~irtg** single' or double conne(}ting flights; AJaskaAirlb1es' proposal to
serve San Diego-DCA with a flight otiginating and terminating in :Honolulu fulfills the significant need .of both.$anDJegoand Honolulu for DCA Set-vice.
Since first entering the Hawai'i market in2007, Alaska**AirUn~** has steadily grown its West Coast-to,. Hawai'i service andthis,·summer will operate.l:S4 weekly flights.**Importantly~** Alaska has done its part to ensure that airfares remain reasonableforboth Hawani's residents and visitors. In fact, accordingto DOT d,ata,**Al~ka.** had the lowestfares, on average,. :betweeil the West Coast and 

### Hawai 'i of1:1ny airline for the last six quarters, ending September 30, 2011. ln addition, Alaska's: lowfru>eS helped to stimulate**>>'0::~t\i:~l~~~tl\~oa¢:to.&wai~ittavel** mtn'ket·('dnroutes Al8$ka**serv~s)** by,

..on

...**a\{e~tage,** an**6tsti~1a~e.d;B:;VJ.** 

### pt}rcent,**ac~otding** to JDOT 

### data.
Alaskahas .clearly**mad~** a commitment to our state and, as such, 

### is well positioned 

### to operate aHonoluluSan Diego-DCA flight Also, Alaska Aidines was one.ofonlyafewcan·rersthatpassedthetaxsavings 9i1to 

### its customers durit1g last stnmner's partial shutdown ofthe FAA and Japse in federal ait transportation taxes. That decision is a testamentto its strong customer service values.
We respectfully urge the Department ofTr.ansportation's full review ofAlaska Airlines' application to providethe firstnonstop San Piego

...DCAfliglit. Thankyou for your consideration. Aloha,

. 510-120402-035