i. ..,.. ·::;. 

0 

U.S.~of 

Tr'Cfnsportatton 

Office of 1he Secretary 

of Transportcrtion 

Mr. Ford Fuchigami 

Deputy Director ofTransportation 

Hawaii Department of Transportation 

869 Punchbowl Street 

Honolul~ HI 96813-5097 

Dear Mr. Fuchigami~ 

April U • 2012 

Thank you for your letter to Secretary of Transportation. Ray LaHood, supporting the application 

of Alaska 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 of eight slot exemptions at DCA, 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, of the 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 a eopy 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. Department efTransp.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 af the 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, according to 

DOT d,ata, Al~ka. had the lowestfares, on average,. :betweeil the West Coast and Hawai 'i of 1:1ny 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 of the FAA and Japse in federal ait 

transportation taxes. That decision is a testament to its strong customer service values. 

We respectfully urge the Department ofTr.ansportation's full review of Alaska Airlines' application to 

providethe firstnonstop San Piego ... DCAfliglit. Thankyou for your consideration. 

Aloha, 

. 510-120402-035