Order 2011-6-26

Served: June 24, 2011

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 24th of June, 2011

INTRA ALASKA BUSH MAIL RATES Docket OST-2003-14694

Seaplane Quarterly Fuel Adjustment

Summary

By this order the Department is updating the Seaplane linehaul rate to reflect the most 

recent quarterly fuel costs. The new rate is to be effective the second Saturday after the 

service date of this order, and reflects fuel expenses for the quarter ended March 31, 2011. 

Background

Order 2010-12-28 directed the parties to show cause why we should not make final new 

Part 121, Part 135, and Seaplane linehaul and the unitary Terminal rate classes based on 

data for the year ended June 30, 2010. We were not in a position to update any linehaul

rate for changes in fuel costs for the quarters ended September 30, 2010, or December 31, 

2010, because we were awaiting the resolution of objections to the underlying rates 

proposed on a show-cause basis in Order 2010-12-28. By Order 2011-6-14, we tentatively 

set new linehaul mail rates for the Part 121 and Part 135 service classes, but made final the 

Seaplane and Terminal rates tentatively set by Order 2010-12-28, effective the second 

Saturday after the service date of the order, i.e., June 24, 2011. After we conclude the 

annual linehaul update for the Part 121 and Part 135 rates, we will adjust them for 

quarterly fuel rates as well. 

The table below shows the current and new quarterly fuel rates and overall linehaul rates 

per mail revenue ton mile (M-RTM), reflecting a 28.45 percent increase in the fuel portion 

of the rate, which produces a 5.01 percent increase in the overall seaplane linehaul rate.
- 2 -

Service Class Current Rate Fuel, YE 6-30-10 Fuel, QE 3-31-11 New Rate

Seaplane $32.8944 $5.7866 $7.4330 $34.5408

The $716.16 per ton enplaned terminal portion of the mail rate is unaffected by our update 

of the seaplane linehaul, and neither are the Part 121 and Part 135 linehaul rates. The next 

anticipated quarterly adjustment for seaplane fuel costs will be based on data of the quarter 

ending June 30, 2011. We will update the Part 121 and Part 135 rates for changes in 

quarterly fuel costs as soon as practicable.

ACCORDINGLY,

1. We fix, determine and publish the proposed final seaplane mail rate to be $34.5408 per 

mail revenue ton mile, to be effective on the second Saturday after the service date of this 

order. 

2. This docket shall remain open until further order of the Department; 

3. We will serve this order upon all parties on the service list for this Docket;

Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of this order under the Department’s 

regulations, 14 CFR 385.30, must file such petitions within ten (10) days after the date of 

service of this order. The filing of a petition for review shall not stay its effectiveness.

By: 

TODD M. HOMAN

Director, 

Office of Aviation Analysis

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available on the World Wide Web at

http://www.regulations.gov
Appendix A

Seaplane

Quarter Ended March 31, 2011, Fuel Expense

Carrier Total A.Seaplane Island Air Pacific PenAir PM Air PM Air Taquan

Aircraft Name Beaver Beaver Beaver Goose Beaver Otter Beaver

Aircraft Code 40 40 40 170 40 42 40

Fuel Expense

1 . Fuel Expense $271,705 $39,699 $4,457 $61,077 $42,155 $48,814 $2,928 $72,575

2 . Gallons Issued 53,715 9,050 850 12,150 6,907 11,005 824 12,929

3 . System Rev. Blk. Hrs., T-100 Segment 2,177 378 33 571 135 381 10 669

4 . Eligible Block Hours 1,993 362 29 510 134 361 3 594

5 . Eligible Mail RTM 11,400 1,099 23 1,615 816 1,649 3 6,195

6 . Total Eligible RTM 33,547 5,756 197 8,288 4,355 6,219 103 8,629

7 . Price per Gallon (R1÷R2) $5.06 $4.39 $5.24 $5.03 $6.10 $4.44 $3.55 $5.61

8 . Burn per Hour ( R2÷R3) 25 24 26 21 51 29 82 19

9 . Unit Costs per Block Hour (R1÷R3) $124.81 $105.02 $135.06 $106.96 $312.26 $128.12 $292.80 $108.48

10 . Eligible Fuel Expense (R1*R4÷R3) $249,900 $38,019 $3,917 $54,552 $41,843 $46,252 $878 $64,439

11 . Unit Cost per Eligible RTM (R10÷R6) $7.4493 $6.6051 $19.8832 $6.5820 $9.6080 $7.4372 $8.5243 $7.4677

12 . Percentage of Total Mail RTMs 100.00% 9.64% 0.20% 14.17% 7.16% 14.46% 0.03% 54.34%

13 . Unit Cost, Wtd. by Mail RTMs Above $7.4330 $0.6367 $0.0398 $0.9327 $0.6879 $1.0754 $0.0026 $4.0579

Year Ended June 30, 2010, Order 2010-9-24, Fuel Expense

YE 6-30-10 A.Seaplane Island Air Pacific PenAir PM Air PM Air Taquan

Aircraft Name Beaver Beaver Beaver Goose Beaver Otter Beaver

Aircraft Code Totals 40 40 40 170 40 42 40

1 . Fuel Expense $2,317,692 $246,956 $65,159 $429,835 $134,373 $380,278 $430,142 $630,949

2 . Gallons Issued 553,014 49,836 13,625 101,295 21,401 93,799 129,312 143,746

3 . System Rev. Blk. Hrs., T-100 Segment 20,972 2,508 474 4,705 444 3,524 2,459 6,858

4 . Eligible Block Hours 12,223 2,345 369 4,033 438 2,010 248 2,780

5 . Eligible Mail RTM 52,968 6,674 794 6,959 3,500 7,331 848 26,862

6 . Total Eligible RTM 243,196 48,678 5,734 80,603 16,274 38,312 11,386 42,209

7 . Price per Gallon (R1÷R2) $4.19 $4.96 $4.78 $4.24 $6.28 $4.05 $3.33 $4.39

8 . Burn per Hour ( R2÷R3) 26 20 29 22 48 27 53 21

9 . Unit Costs per Block Hour (R1÷R3) $110.51 $98.47 $137.47 $91.36 $302.64 $107.91 $174.93 $92.00

10 . Eligible Fuel Expense (R1*R4÷R3) $1,298,679 $230,906 $50,725 $368,443 $132,557 $216,901 $43,382 $255,765

11 . Unit Cost per Eligible RTM (R10÷R6) $5.3401 $4.7435 $8.8464 $4.5711 $8.1453 $5.6614 $3.8101 $6.0595

12 . Percentage of Total Mail RTMs 100.00% 12.600% 1.499% 13.138% 6.608% 13.840% 1.601% 50.714%

13 . Unit Cost, Wtd. by Mail RTMs Above $5.7866 $0.5977 $0.1326 $0.6006 $0.5382 $0.7835 $0.0610 $3.0730