BEFORE THE 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Essential Air Service at: ) 

) 

) 

) 

Macon, Georgia DOT-OST-2007-28671 

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August 5, 2014 

NOTICE OF INTENT OF SILVER AIRWAYS CORP. 

TO TERMINATE SCHEDULED AIR SERVICE 

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to: 

James Kogutek 

Vice President, Network & Schedule Planning 

Silver Airways Corp. 

1100 Lee Wagener Blvd., Suite 201 

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 3 3 315 

(954) 302-5929 (Telephone) 

(954) 359-2776 (Fax) 

iamie.kogutek@silverairways.com 
BEFORE THE 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Essential Air Service at: 

Macon, Georgia 

) 

) 

) 

) 

~U~n~de~r~4~9~U~.S~·~C~·~§~4~17~3~1~e~t~se~q~·------------) 

DOT-OST -2007-28671 

NOTICE OF INTENT OF SILVER AIRWAYS CORP. 

TO TERMINATE SCHEDULED AIR SERVICE 

Silver Airways Corp. ("Silver Airways"), pursuant to Part 323 of the Department's 

regulations, hereby provides notice of its intention to discontinue subsidized scheduled air service 

between Macon, Georgia ("MCN") and each of Atlanta, Georgia ("A TL") and Orlando, Florida 

("MCO"). Silver Airways intends to discontinue this service effective November 5, 2014 or such 

earlier date as permitted by the Department in connection with the recent termination of essential 

air service ("BAS") program eligibility for MCN. 1 

By Order 2013-2-26 (Feb. 27, 2013), the Department selected Silver Airways to provide 

subsidized BAS under a two-year contract at MCN. Unfortunately, for the reasons set forth herein, 

Silver Airways is no longer able to continue providing this service. 

First, and as Silver Airways has previously indicated in similar recent notices of intent to 

terminate scheduled air service at BAS communities, changes to Federal Aviation Administration 

("FAA") flight and duty limitation and rest rules have negatively impacted Silver Airways' 

capability to maintain service at a number of BAS communities. In particular, new pilot duty and 

1 By Order 2014-6-6 (Jun. 24, 2014) the Department (i) terminated EAS program eligibility for MCN and several 

other communities based on requirements under the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of2012 (Pub.L. 112-95), 

(ii) established procedures for the impacted communities to seek waivers from such requirements, and (iii) allowed 

EAS carriers at the impacted communities to terminate service on September 30, 2014 in the absence of a 

community petition for a waiver. On July 23, 2014, MCN filed such a waiver petition, and additionally requested 

that the Department "temporarily suspend EAS service at MCN effective no later than September 30, 2014." 

Petition at 8. Silver Airways is supportive of this additional request from MCN, and is prepared to discontinue 

service by September 30 if permitted by the Department. 

- 1 -
Silver Airways Corp. 

Notice of Intent to Terminate Scheduled Air Service 

rest requirements have significantly augmented all carriers' pilot hiring needs, thereby contributing 

to an acute industry pilot shortage that has disproportionately impacted regional carriers. 

Second, implementation of new FAA air transport pilot ("ATP") 1,500 hour requirements 

for all new hire First Officers has prevented Part 121 carriers, especially regional airlines, from 

adequately backfilling pilot shortages and addressing their hiring requirements due to a scarcity of 

qualified and current ATP certified pilots. For example, one large regional carrier announced plans 

earlier this year to remove a significant number of its aircraft from revenue service due to the 

cascading effect of the pilot shortage.2 Additionally, and as the Government Accountability Office 

("GAO") recently reported: 

As airlines have recently started hiring, nearly all of the regional airlin~s that GAO 

interviewed reported difficulties finding sufficient numbers of qualified entry-level first 

officers. However, mainline airlines, because they hire from the ranks of experienced 

pilots, have not reported similar concerns, although some mainline airlines expressed 

concerns that entry-level hiring problems could affect their regional airline partners' ability 

to provide service to some locations. 3 

These industry-wide pilot staffing challenges have negatively impacted Silver Airways. 

Third, traffic results for several BAS communities served from ATL-where Silver 

Airways' local and connecting traffic is limited due to the absence of a codeshare arrangement or 

a frequent flyer partnership with a large network carrier-have fallen short of Silver Airways' 

original forecasts,4 to the point where it is simply uneconomical for the carrier to continue 

operating such services. Furthermore, the Department's termination of MCN' s continued 

2 Dallas Morning News, "Republic Airways to Ground Some Regional Jets Because of Pilot Shortage," Feb. 11, 

2014, available at http://www.dallasnews.com/business/airline-industrvl20140211-republic-airways-to-groundsome-regional-jets-because-of-pilot -shortage. ece. 

3 GA0-14-232, Report to Congressional Requesters, "Aviation Workforce: Current and Future Availability of Airline 

Pilots," Feb. 28, 2014, available at http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/661243.pdf. 

4 Silver Airways' enplanements at ATL have been 47% lower than its initial forecast. 

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Silver Airways Corp. 

Notice of Intent to Terminate Scheduled Air Service 

participation in the EAS program after September 30, 2014 further impacts Silver Airways' ability 

to sustain scheduled service at the community. 

Thus, given the impact of new Federal regulatory requirements, the recent and acute 

nationwide regional pilot shortage, lower than required traffic at communities served from ATL, 

and the termination ofMCN's eligibility under the EAS program, it is no longer possible for Silver 

Airways to continue serving MCN in any economically viable manner. 

The arrival and departure times of the discontinued flights covered by this notice of intent 

to terminate scheduled services are as follows: 

FROM TO DEP ARR FLT FROM TO DEP ARR FLT 

STA STA TIME TIME NUM ~ FREQ STP STA STA TIME TIME NUM ~ FREQ STP 

MCN ATL 11:45 12:29 631 SF3 X6 0 ATL MCN 13:15 13:54 632 SF3 6 0 

ATL MCN 17:01 17:44 632 SF3 X67 0 

MCN MCO 14:20 15:55 632 SF3 6 0 MCO MCN 09:40 11:17 631 SF3 X6 0 

MCN MCO 18:10 19:45 632 SF3 X67 0 

The discontinuation of Silver Airways' scheduled air services at MCN will reduce air 

transportation to a level below the EAS determination set forth in Order 2013-2-26 because, at 

present, MCN does not receive scheduled air service from any other certificated air carrier. Prior 

to ending its scheduled air services at MCN, Silver Airways will contact all passengers holding 

reservations on discontinued flights to notify them of the schedule change and assist them in 

arranging alternate transportation or provide them with a refund of their ticket price, without 

penalty, if requested. 

- 3-
Silver Airways Corp. 

Notice of Intent to Terminate Scheduled Air Service 

Any objections to the notice provided herein must be filed within twenty (20) days from 

the date of this filing, in accordance with 14 C.F.R. §§ 323.9 and 323.10. Silver Airways will 

make all required notifications as outlined in 14 C.F.R. § 323.7. 

Dated: August 5, 2014 

Respectfully submitted, 

James Kogutek 

Vice President, Network & Schedule Planning 

Silver Airways Corp. 

1100 Lee Wagener Blvd., Suite 201 

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 3 3 315 

(954) 302-5929 (Telephone) 

(954) 359-2776 (Fax) 

jamie.kogutek@silverairways.com 

-4-
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I, James Kogutek, hereby certify that I have this 5th day of August 2014, caused the foregoing 

Notice to be served upon those persons listed below, in accordance with 14 C.F.R. § 323.4(a)(7). 

Kevin Schlemmer 

EAS Program Chief 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Ave., S.E. 

Washington, D.C. 20590 

kevin.schlemmer@dot. gov 

FAA Flight Standards District Office 

107 Charles W. Grant Parkway 

Atlanta, GA 30354 

Program Manager 

Aviation Program 

Georgia Department of Transportation 

600 West Peachtree Street, N.W., 2nd Floor 

Atlanta, GA 30308 

Mayor Robert Recheirt 

700 Poplar Street 

Macon, GA 31201 

Douglas Faour 

Airport Manager 

Middle Georgia Regional Airport 

1000 Terminal Drive, Suite 100 

Macon, GA 31216 

James Kogutek