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us. Dsportnwnt of Assistant Secretary ' 200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Transportation - i ; ;^ _:;> [: [• o ^°*^'"9'°"' ^^ ^^^^^ 

Office of me Secretary 

of Transportation 

OCT 2 5 20fO 

Mr. Peter J. Hayes 

Tandem Construction 

Energy Court Center 

5391 Lakewood Ranch Blvd. North, Suite 200 

Sarasota, FL 34240 

Dear Mr. Hayes: 

Thank you for your letter of October 6 to Secretary LaHood supporting AirTran Airways, 

Inc. (AirTran) to serve Sarasota, Florida, in the ongoing slot-exemption proceeding at 

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The Secretary has asked that I 

respond to your letter directly. 

As you know, the U.S. Department of Transportation commenced a proceeding on 

August 30 to reallocate two DCA slot exemptions that are currently being used by 

Republic Airline, Inc. (Republic). Republic has been using these two slot exemptions for 

DCA - Kansas City service. These slot exemptions may be used to serve any medium 

hub or smaller airport within the 1,250-mile perimeter of DCA, 

We have received a total of five proposals, briefly outlined below: 

• Sun Country to serve Lansing, Michigan, with 129- or 162-seat aircraft; 

• Republic Airline, Inc., branded as Frontier Airlines, to continue to serve Kansas 

City, Missouri, with 99-seat regional jet aircraft; 

• Southwest Airlines Co., to serve Kansas City utilizing 137-seat aircraft; 

• US Airways, Inc., to serve Pensacola, Florida, utilizing 76- or 86-seat regional jet 

aircraft, depending on the season: and 

• Air Tran Airways, Inc., to serve either Fort Myers or Sarasota, Florida, utilizing 

either 117- or 137-seat aircraft. 

As the slot exemption proceeding is competitive and is currently under review by the 

Department, I am sure you understand that I cannot comment on the merits of the 

proposals. I assure you, however, that the Depanment will fully consider all of the 

proposals, and make its award based on the selection criteria detailed in the goveniing 

statutes. 
Mr. Peter J. Hayes 

Page 2 

As is our normal practice, I am placing a copy of your letter and my response in Docket 

DOT-OST-2000-7I82 as a contact outside the record of this proceeding. I appreciate 

your interest in obtaining access to the Nation's capital. If I can provide further 

information or assistance, please feel free to call me. 

ncerely yours. 

Susan L. Kurland 

Assistant Secretary for 

lation and International Affairs 
rni TANDEM 

^*^^ ^ CONSTRUCTIO N 

.^-074 

October 6.2010 

The Honorable Ray H. LaHood 

Secretary of Transportation 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. 

Washington, DC 20590 

RE: Docket OST-2000-7182 

Dear Secretary LaHood: 

We are writing to express our support for the application of AirTran Airways Inc. for 

nonstop service from Sarasota Bradenton Intematlonal Airport (SRQ) to DCA. 

The Sarasota Bradenton area has only one dally nonstop on a regiorwl Jet to 

Waehirw^i^C , even though It Is the sixth largest destination market from this area. 

With dwr7%,00 0 resktonts and our prime k>cation as a leisure desllnalton for 

tourists, SRQ can certainty support additional servtee and it wouM be a great help to 

the tourism industry in this regton. whtoh suffered a 8ignifk»nt impact from the BP oH 

wil l This new service woukJ also mitigate the negative eoonomk: Impact the 

recwsnih has had on the community and the airport. 

While'AirTran a&^^SHIIft^%¥^jUtemative to award ttie route to Southwest Fk)rkla 

international (RSW), we ask that the stot be awarded to Alrtran conditioned on ttie 

stot be utiKzed for SRQ. in addition to enhancing competition and towering foree at 

Saraeoto BrKlertton International Airport, ttw propoeed aervtoe wouU incraaae 

connectivity to destinations in the Northeast and MkKvest. crtttcai maricato for our 

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