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Transportation wash,ng.on. DC 20590 

Office of the Secretary July 28, 2010 

of Transportation 

The Honorable Deborah E. McNeil 

Mayor 

270 Pleasant Street 

Rockland, ME 04841 

Dear Mayor McNeil: 

I would like to update you on the essential air service (EAS) situation at Augusta State 

Airport, Hancock County Bar Harbor Airport, and Knox County Regional Airport at 

Rockland, and give you an opportunity to offer any comments on the record before we 

submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International 

Affairs. The current EAS contract at your community expires October 31, 2010, and in 

anticipation of that, we issued Order 2010-6-22, June 24, 2010, soliciting proposals from 

earners interested in providing subsidized EAS for a new, two-year period, beginning 

November 1, 2010. In response to our request, two carriers responded: Hyannis Air 

Service, Inc., operating as Cape Air (Cape Air), and Colgan Air Inc., operating as 

US Airways Express (Colgan Air). 

You should have received a copy of the proposals from each cairier, and they can be 

accessed at www.regulations.gov by entering the number DOT-OST-1997-2784 in the 

search block. As a result, we will only briefly summarize them here. 

Cape Air has proposed one service option for Augusta/Waterville and Rockland, each 

option to be considered on a stand-alone basis. Service to both communities would be 

from Boston Logan International Airport (Boston) using 9-seat Cessna 402 aircraft. At 

Augusta/Waterville, Cape Air proposes four daily nonstop round trips (28 a week) from 

June through September, and three daily nonstop round trips (21 a week) from October 

through May, for an annual subsidy of $1,402,046 for a two-year selection contract, or 

$1,362,616 for a four-year selection contract. Service to Rockland would be five daily 

nonstop round trips in July and August (35 a week), four daily nonstop round trips (28 a 

week) in June and September, and three daily nonstop round trips (21 a week) from 

October through May, for an annual subsidy of $1,461,651 for a two-year selection 

contract, or an annual subsidy of $1,420,545 for a four-year selection contract. 

Colgan Air has proposed two options, both serving Boston using 34-seat Saab 340 

aircraft. Option 1 would provide three round trips each weekday and two each weekend 

with a mix of nonstops and one-stop service over an AugustaAVaterville-Bar HarborBoston routing, or Bar Harbor-Augusta/Waterville-Boston routing for an annual subsidy 
of $4,439,041. Option 2 would serve Bar Harbor only, with two daily nonstop round 

trips (14 a week) to Boston for an annual subsidy of $2,298,533. 

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. However, the Department does expect a subsidized air cairier to 

maintain well-timed and well-spaced flights in order to ensure full compensation. 

We request that you review the proposals and submit any comments you may have as 

soon as possible, but no later than August 25. We will carefully consider your comments 

before we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. Letters 

requesting feedback have also been sent to the community leaders of the other three cities 

as well. 

Please send your comments via e-mail to EAS@dot.gov or by fax to 202-366-7638. If 

you have any questions, please feel free to contact Michael Martin of my staff at 

michael.f.martin @dot.gov or 202-366-6494. 

Sincerely, 

\ l 

Dennis J. DeVan^', Chief 

Essential Air Service Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

cc: Andrew Bonney, Hyarmis Air Service, Inc. 

Doug Shockley, Colgan Air, Inc.