From: Muldoon, Albert (OST)
To: "Alliance, NE City Council (alliancecitycouncil@cityofalliance.net)" ; "Lynn Placek (LPlacek@cityofalliance.net)" ; "Wayne Anderson (manager@chadron-nebraska.com)" ; "Karin Fischer (kfischer@chadron-nebraska.com)" ; "elenz@cityofalliance.net" ; "david.morris@nebraska.gov"
Cc: Devany, Dennis (OST) (Dennis.DeVany@dot.gov) ; Mike Matthews (mmatthews@flygreatlakes.com) ; Bob Karns (Bob@Sovereignairinc.com) Subject: Essential Air Service at Alliance and Chadron, NE - Request for Comments - Due February 5, 2013
Date: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 2:42:22 PM
Attachments: Great Lakes Proposal 01082013.pdf Soverign Proposal.pdf

All:

I would like to update you on the Essential Air Service (EAS) situation at Alliance and Chadron, NE, and give you an opportunity to submit comments on the record before we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs. On December 5, 2012, the Department issued Order 2012-12-2 soliciting proposals from carriers to provide EAS at Alliance and Chadron, NE, for a new contract period beginning June 1, 2013. In response to that Order, we received proposals from two carriers: Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. (Great Lakes) and Sovereign Air, Inc. (Sovereign).

I have attached copies of the proposals to this email. The proposals can also be accessed online through the Federal Dockets Management System at www.regulations.gov by entering “DOT-OST-2000-8322” in the search box. For your convenience, I will briefly summarize the proposals below.

Great Lakes, the incumbent carrier, proposes to continue its existing service consisting of 12 non-stop or one-stop round trips per week from each community to Denver International Airport. The proposal assumes no restrictions on upline service for either community. The service would be operated with 19-passenger twin-engine Beech 1900D aircraft. Great Lakes would provide this service for a combined annual subsidy of $2,619,729.

Sovereign has proposed to provide service consisting of 19 weekly non-stop or one-stop round trips per community to Denver (3 round trips per weekday and 2 round trips per weekend day) with 19-passenger twin-engine Jetstream 31/32 aircraft. Sovereign would require a combined annual subsidy of $2,265,852. Please be aware that Sovereign does not currently have the requisite operating authority from the Federal Aviation Administration or the Department.

The schedules that the carriers have proposed are illustrative only, and 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 carriers to maintain well-timed and well-spaced flights in order to ensure full compensation.

We request that you review each proposal and submit any comments you may have as soon as possible, but no later than February 5, 2013. We will carefully consider your comments before we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision.

Please send your comments via email to EAS@dot.gov or by fax to (202) 366-7638. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact A.J. Muldoon of my staff at albert.muldoon@dot.gov or (202) 366-1058.Sincerely,

Dennis J. DeVany Chief, Essential Air Service Division, X-53 Office of Aviation Analysis