U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

Mr. Phil Wilson 

Executive Director 

Texas Department of Transportation 

Dewitt C. 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 

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

beyond-perimeter slot 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 in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of2012, the 

U.S. Department of Transportation will be awarding to new entrant or limited incumbent 

carriers a total of eight slot exemptions at DCA, which would support four daily round trips. 

We received applications proposing to serve AUS from two carriers, Southwest Airlines and 

JetBlue Airways. Each sought two slot exemptions, which would support one daily DCA-AUS 

round trip; JetBlue also applied for two slot exemptions to serve San Juan, Puerto Rico. Other 

timely applications were received from Air Canada, proposing one round trip to Vancouver, 

British Columbia; Alaska Airlines, one round trip to Portland, Oregon, and one round 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 matter is still pending, I cannot comment on the merits 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. 

The Department's action on this matter is being administered through a public docket, which 

allows all interested parties the opportunity to comment Following our normal practice, I am 

placing a copy of your letter and this response in docket number DOT-2012-0029. 

I appreciate your interest in this matter. 

Sincerely yours, 

Susan L. Kurland 

Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 
The Honorable Ray LaHood 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Dear Secretary 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 of Austin, 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 of the 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 of the country's third largest 

state and the nation's capital, Austin's high-tech industry provides technology services to a variety 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 of Austin welcome the addition of service by carriers, and the community, 

both business and leisure, stand ready to support this new service to DCA as well. 

Thank you for your 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 

s 10-120330-029 An Equal Opportunity Employer 

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