o ,>-v;Mi/-ulUl'l 

U S, DepeNtment o f 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

ThmsportOtlo n _ Washington, DC 20590 

Off ice Of the SecfBtary 

of Transportation 

April 27, 2010 

The Honorable William Byrne 

Mayor of the City of Morgantown 

389 Spruce Street 

Morgantown, West Virginia 26505 

Dear Mayor Byrne: 

I would like to update you on the essential air service situation at Beckley, 

Clarksburg/Fairmont, Morgantown, and Parkersburg, West Virginia, and give you an 

opportunity to submit any comments if you wish. In anticipation of the end of Colgan 

Air's current contract on July 31, 2010, the Department issued Order 2010-2-16, 

March 12, 2010, to solicit proposals from all interested air carriers to provide service at 

all four communities, including yours. In response to that order, we received proposals 

from three carriers: Colgan Air, Inc. d/b/a United Express (Colgan), Gulfstream 

International Airlines (Gulfstream), and Charter Air Transport. 

We have directed each carrier to serve its proposal(s) on you; in addition, copies 

of the proposals may be accessed online through the Department's Dockets Management 

System at: http://www.regulations.gov/by entering "DOT-OST-1997-2761 (Beckley), 

DOT-OST-2005-20734 (Parkersburg), DOT-OST-2005-20735 (Morgantown), or DOTOST-2005-20736 (Clarksburg/Fairmont) in the "Enter Keyword or ID" field, but we have 

summarized the proposals in the attachment provided. 

My purpose in writing to you at this time is to request £iny final conmients you 

might have on the carriers' service and subsidy proposals before we submit a 

recommendation on the carrier-selection issue to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and 

International Affairs. 

Please note that the average passenger fares shown in each proposal do not 

necessarily reflect the average local fare Morgantown passengers would actually pay, but, 

rather, reflect a prorated portion of the total ticket price, e.g., the MorgantownWashington, D.C. portion of a Morgantown-Washington, D.C.-San Francisco ticket that 

the subsidized carrier would realize. Also, the fare shown is net of certain charges such 

as Federal transportation security fees, excise or ticket taxes, and Passenger Facility 
Charges. Of course, carriers have the discretion to charge fares they deem appropriate, 

and the passenger fares presented in their proposals have been developed for subsidy rate 

computation purposes only. 

You should also note that the schedules that the caiTiers have submitted are 

illustrative only, and that they may make schedule changes to reflect changing conditions, 

e.g., to better meet shifting connecting bank times at the hub. The Department expects 

subsidized air carriers to maintain well-timed and well-spaced flights in order to ensure 

full compensation. 

We request that you review each proposal and service option and submit any 

comments you may have before we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary. 

We ask that you submit any comments you may have as soon as possible, but in any case 

no later than May 19, 2010. We will carefully consider your comments before we submit 

a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. We appreciate that there are 

significant issues for you to consider, so if you have any questions or if you find that you 

need additional time to draft your comments, please let us know. 

Please send your comments to me at the following e-mail address: EAS@dot.gov 

or by fax to 202-366-7638. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kevin 

Schlemmer of my staff at kevin.schlemmer@dot.gov or 202-366-3176. 

Similar letters have been sent to the civic officials of the other three EAS 

communities at issue here. 

Sincerely, 

^ll.l^l/cA 

Dennis J. DeVany 

Chief, Essential Air Service Division, X-53 

Office of Aviation Analysis 
Attachment 

Hub (# of flights Subsidy amount 

Communitv 

Beckley 

Parl<ersburg/ 

r\/larietta 

Clarl<sburg/ 

Fairmont 

Carrier 

Colgan 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

Gulfstreann 

Gulfstream 

Colgan 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Colgan 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

oer week) 

IAD (24) 

CLT(24)/IAD(12) 

IAD (24) 

CLT (24) 

CLT(24) 

CLT (24) 

IAD (24) 

CLT (24) 

CLE (24) 

PIT (24) 

IAD (24) 

CLT(24)/IAD(12) 

IAD (24) 

CLT (24) 

CLT (24) 

IAD (24) 

CLE (48) 

CLE (36) 

PIT (48) 

PIT (36) 

IAD (36) 

IAD(24)/CLT(12) 

IAD (24) 

CLT (24) 

CLE(48) 

PIT (48) 

CLE (36) 

PIT (36) 

Aircraft 

Saab 340 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

J32 

J32 

B-1900 

B-1900 

Saab 340 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

Saab 340 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

per community 

$2,313,457 

$2,330,866 

$1,821,239 

$1,555,803 

$1,931,964 

$2,198,850 

$1,893,863 

$1,724,161 

$2,399,389 

$2,322,422 

$2,598,975 

$2,330,866 

$1,821,239 

$1,555,803 

$1,931,964 

$2,287,944 

$2,642,237 

$2,112,390 

$2,573,454 

$2,040,004 

$1,488,219 

$1,548,570 

$1,815,272 

$2,446,250 

$1,547,242 

$1,373,478 

$2,265,024 

$1,832,897 

Cpmbined with 

n/a 

Parkersburg 

Parkersburg 

Parkersburg 

Parkersburg 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

Beckley 

Beckley 

Beckley 

Beckley 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

Morgantown 

Morgantown 

n/a 

n/a 

Morgantown 

Morgantown 

n/a 

n/a 

Notes 

aircraft based at PKB 

aircraft based at BKW 

aircraft based at PKB 

aircraft based at BKW 

Morgantown Colgan 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

IAD (36) 

IAD(24)/CLT(12) 

IAD (24) 

CLT(24) 

CLE (48) 

PIT (48) 

CLE (36) 

PIT (36) 

Saab 340 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

$1,488,219 

$1,548,570 

$1,689,077 

$3,203,424 

$1,547,242 

$1,373,478 

$2,030,281 

$1,421,065 

Clarksburg 

Clarksburg 

n/a 

n/a 

Clarksburg 

Clarksburg 

n/a 

n/a 

CAT=Charter Air Transport 

CLT=Charlotte; IAD=Washington-Dulles; PIT=PJttsburgh 

CAT proposes 1 single-stop or nonstop round trip to Myrtle Beach per week that would beunsubsidized