e 

US. Department of 1200 New jersey Avenue, SE 

Transportatio n . ., _ Washington, DC 20590 

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

April 28, 2010 

The Honorable Todd Kuhns 

Mayor of the City of Kirksville 

201 South Franklin Street 

Kirksville, Missouri 63501 

Dear Mayor Kuhns: 

I would like to update you on the essential air service situation at Kirksville, Missouri, 

and give you an opportunity to submit any coirunents if you wish, hi anticipation of the 

end of Air Choice One's current contract on July 31, 2010, the Department issued 

Order 2010-3-31, March 25, 2010, to solicit proposals from all interested air carriers to 

provide service at Kirksville. In response to that order, we received proposals from four 

carriers: Multi-Aero Inc. d/b/a Air Choice One (Air Choice One, the incumbent). Charter 

Air Transport, Hyaimis Air Service d/b/a Cape Air (Cape Air), and Sovereign Air. 

We have directed each carrier to serve its proposal(s) on you; in addition, copies of the 

proposals may be accessed online through the Department's Dockets Management 

System at: http://www.regulations.gov/ by entering "DOT-OST-1997-2515" in the "Enter 

Keyword or ID" field, but we have summarized the proposals in the attachment provided. 

My purpose in writing to you at this time is to request any final comments you might 

have on the carriers' service and subsidy proposals before we submit a recommendation 

on the carrier-selection issue to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International 

Affairs. 

Please note that the average passenger fares shown in each proposal do not necessarily 

reflect the average local fare Kirksville passengers would actually pay, but, rather, reflect 

a prorated portion of the total ticket price, e.g., the Kirksville-St. Louis portion of a 

Kirksville-St. Louis-Washington, D.C. ticket that the subsidized carrier would realize. 

Also, the fare shown is net of certain charges such as Federal transportation security fees, 

excise or ticket taxes, and Passenger Facility Charges. Of course, carriers have the 

discretion to charge fares they deem appropriate, and the passenger fares presented in 

their proposals have been developed for subsidy rate computation purposes only. 
You should also note that the schedules that the carriers have submitted are illustrative 

only, and that they may make schedule changes to reflect changing conditions, e.g., to 

better meet shifting comiecting bank times at the hub. The Department expects 

subsidized air carriers to maintain well-timed and well-spaced flights in order to ensure 

full compensation. 

We request that you review each proposal and service option and submit any 

comments you may have before we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary. 

As you are aware, Kirksville is well over the statutory $200 subsidy per passenger cap, 

and the community's continued eligibility remains uncertain. As a result, your comments 

should address the features of the various carrier proposals that you believe will result in 

increased passenger levels to lower the subsidy per passenger below the $200 cap. We 

ask that you submit any comments you may have as soon as possible, but in any case no 

later than May 25, 2010. We will carefully consider your comments before we submit a 

recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. We appreciate that there are 

significant issues for you to consider, so if you have any questions or if you find that you 

need additional time to draft your comments, please let us know. 

Please send your comments to me at the following e-mail address: EAS@dot.gov or 

by fax to 202-366-7638. If you have ziny questions, please feel free to contact Kevin 

Schlemmer of my staff at kevin.schlemmer@dot.gov or 202-366-3176. 

A similar letters has been sent to the manager of Kirksville Regional Airport. 

Sincerely, 

Dennis J. DeVany 

Chief, Essential Air Service Division, X-53 

Office of Aviation Analysis 
Attachment 

Summary of proposals for Kirksville 

Carrier/Option Hub (#of round trips perdav) Aircraft Annual subsidy amount 

Air Choice One Option 1 St. Louis (2), Chicago O'Hare (1) Navajo/Caravan $836,605 

Air Choice One Option 2 Chicago O'Hare (2), St. Louis (1) Navajo/Caravan $739,841 

Air Choice One Option 3 St. Louis (3) Navajo $847,618 

Air Choice One Option 4 St. Louis (3) Caravan $899,254 

Air Choice One Option 5 Chicago O'Hare (3) Caravan $582,938 

Cape Air St. Louis (3) Cessna 402 $1,422,110 

Charter AirTransport Kansas City (2)* Jetstream 32 $1,383,015 

Sovereign Air Kansas City (2) Cessna 401 $371,636 

* Charter AirTransport proposes one round trip per week to Branson, Missouri 

that would not be subsidized