U.S. Department ofTransportation Office ofthe Secretary ofTransportation 

### Mr. Phil Wilson Executive Director Texas DepartmentofTransportation DewittC. Greer State Highway Bldg. 125 E. 11th 

### Street Austin, Texas 78701-2483 Dear Mr. Wilson: Assistant Secretary 

### April 20, 2012 1200 New Jersey Avenue. SE Washington, DC 20590



### Thankyou for your letterto Secretary ofTransportationRay LaHood, supporting the award of beyond-perimeterslot exemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington**N~tional** 

### Airport (DCA) to be used for nonstop service to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), Austin, Texas. Secretary LaHood asked me to respond to your letter. Under authority granted inthe FAA Modernization and Reform Act of2012, the U.S. Department ofTransportation will be awarding to new entrant or limited incumbent carriers atotal ofeight slotexemptions at DCA, which would supportfour daily round trips. We received applications proposing to serve AUS from two carriers, SouthwestAirlines and JetBlue Airways. Each soughttwo slotexemptions, which would supportone daily DCA-AUS round trip; JetBlue also applied for two slotexemptions to serve San Juan, Puerto Rico. Other timely applications were received from AirCanada, proposing one round trip to Vancouver, British Columbia; AlaskaAirlines, one round trip to Portland, Oregon, and oneround trip to San Diego; Frontier Airlines, one round trip to Colorado Springs and beyond to San Diego; Sun Country Airlines, one round trip to Las Vegas; and Virgin America, Inc., two round trips to San Francisco. As the matteris still pending, Icannotcomment on the merits ofthe points raised in yourletter. However, Ican assure you that all applications the Departmentreceived will be given full and fair consideration and will be evaluated against the selection criteria specified inthe statute. The Department's actionon this matteris being administered through apublic docket, which allows all interested parties the opportunity to comment Following our normal practice, Iam placing acopy ofyour letter and this response in docketnumberDOT-2012-0029. Iappreciate your interest inthis matter. Sincerely yours,

Susan L. Kurland Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International AffairsThe Honorable Ray LaHood U.S. Department ofTransportation 1200 NewJerseyAvenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 DearSecretary LaHood: March 20, 2012

I write to express our strong support of the applications filed by Southwest Airlines and JetBiue

. Airways for exemption slots at Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)for nonstop capital to capital service to Austin, Texas. The Austin region is the 14th largest city in the United States with a Metropolitan Statistical Area population of 1.8 million, an increase of 37 percent since 2000. Austin is the third fastest growing city in the nation and will reach a population of two million by 2015. The Austin-Bergstrom International Airport {ABIA), owned and operated by the City ofAustin, has enjoyed 25 consecutive months of passenger growth, setting**a~other** passenger record in 2011. As the third largest airport in Texas, ABIA serves 5.1 million Texans residing within 100 miles ofthe airport. Austin has important commercial and governmental links with Washington, D.C. Twenty-nine Austin companies are headquartered in the D.C. area, and Austin is home to a dozen national associations. In addition to the natural connections between the capital ofthe country's third largest state and the nation's capital, Austin's high-tech industry provides technology services to avariety of federal agencies. The growing local economy in Austin relies on quality air service to foster business, government and leisure travel. I respectfully urge you to award the slot exemptions necessary to serve DCA on a nonstop basis from Austin. The citizens ofAustin welcome the addition of service by carriers, and the community, both business and leisure, stand readyto support this new service to DCA as well. Thank you foryour consideration. 

# PA.!L

Phil Wilson Executive Director

cc: ·Bob Kaufman, Chief Communications Officer, TxDOT Margo Richards, Travel Information Division, TxDOT David Fulton, Director, Aviation Division, TxDOT

THE TEX/18 Pl.AN REDUCE CONGESTION • ENHANCE SAFETY • EXPAND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY • IMPROVE AIR QUALITY PRESERVE THE VALUE OF TRANSPORTATION ASSETS 

# s10-120330-029 An Equal OpportunityEmployer**·~**