October 27, 2014 

The Honorable Mark Begich 

United States Senate 

Suite 308 

One Sealaska Plaza 

Juneau, AK 99801 

The Honorable Don Young 

US House of Representatives 

4241 B Street 

Suite 203 

Anchorage, AK 99503 

Dear Senators and Congressman Young: 

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,';;Th-e Honorable Lisa Murkowski 

United"States Senate 

800 Glacier Avenue 

Suite 101 

Juneau, AK 99801 

We are writing to request your immediate assistance regarding an urgent crisis facing oua· 

communities-the US Department: of Transportation's threat to cut our Essential Air Sel!"Vice 

(EAS) from Juneau. 

In a September 22, 2014 Request for EAS Proposals, US Department of Transportation Office of 

Aviation Analysis (OAA) Director Todd Homan suggested that if Sitka-based Harris Air offers a 

minimum schedule from Sitka to our communities without subsidy, a service below the level of essential 

air service the DOT established 35 years ago for these isolated Alaska communities, DoT will consider 

tenninating our Juneau Essential Air Service.1 In response, each of us sent letters to DoT strongly 

objecting to this threat. We have not yet received responses. On October 24, the situation became more 

serious, as Harris Air has now acted on DOT's invitation and proposed EAS service from Sitka to our 

communities. Harris proposes lower frequency and higher fares to Sitka than we currently enjoy to 

Juneau. Our primary objection is that it will economically cripple our communities to substitute longstanding main-line passenger and US mail service from Juneau for lesser, below-BAS established, service 

from Sitka. 

As you know, Angoon, Tenakee Springs, Pelican and Eifin Cove are guaranteed essential air service by 

the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act. After the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act was signed into law, the thenCivil Aeronautics Board (CAB) fanned out across Alaska seeking community input on service patterns, 

frequencies and "etigible" hubs to meet the new Essential Air Service requirements. In 1980, the DOT 

formally established minimum levels of "essential air service" that must be maintained to each of our 

communities in DOT Order 80-1-167 (attached). Most importantly, DOT Order 80-1-167 stipulates t.l-}at 

essential air service be provided to Juneau, as our hub airport. 

As described in Detennination 80-J-i 67, the CAB wrote, "Based on this information, we have made an 

analysis to determine each point's primary commu__ni1)1 of interest, and to determine which hub or regional 

center would assure the community access to the national air transportation system." Upon concluding 

this fact-finding, Juneau was designated the hub for air service to and from Angoon, Tenakee, Pelican and 

Elfin Cove. Sitka is not even designated as a lesser "regional center" for air service, much less an "FAA 

hub" for Alaska as Juneau, Anchorage, Fairban..~s and Seattle are designated. Sitka is not an aviation hub 

in regulation or in reality. Nor could Sitka even be called a "community of interest." 

1 See attached Order DOT-OST-2002-11586-0045 
Juneau has been our communities' air service hub, and the hub for all communities in Northern Southeast 

Alaska, for eighty years. Juneau is our state capital. Juneau's population supports large scale grocery, 

equipment and supply businesses such as Costco, Home Depot and Walmart. Juneau is the headquarters 

for Angoon's village native corporation-Kootznoowoo, Inc., and the headquarters of the regional native 

corporation, Sealaska. And Juneau is Alaska Airlines' hub for Southeast, and a destination for Delta 

Airlines. 

Angoon, Tenakee and Pelican depend on essential air service operated by Alaska Seaplanes to carry our 

US mail, from Juneau-where it is processed. It is unclear whether mail could or would be re-rerouted 

through Sitka, and whether Harris Air's two amphibious aircraft are even capable of handling the same 

mail weight and volume as Alaska Seaplane's five straight-float aircraft. 

DOT appears to be amending the EAS determination by footnote, without seeking input from the affected 

communities. This would set a significant adverse precedent that could dramatically impact service to 

rural Alaskan communities. 

Juneau is where many of our families live. It is where many of our elders reside. It is where many of the 

second home owners in our communities make their first home. And it is where some of our locals go for 

work. USDoT's consideration of substituting a Sitka hub for Juneau disregards their own regulations, 

flouts 80 years of established service pattern, and defies common sense. The loss of essential air service 

to Juneau in favor of Sitka would be socially and economically devastating to our communities. It may 

be easy from a bureaucratic standpoint, sitting 3,000 miles from here, to see two points on a map as 

equidistant, but that does not make them equaL 

We seek your immediate assistance to weigh in strongly with the Secretary of Transportation and ensure 

that our Juneau essential air service is maintained. 

Sincerely, 

Matt Kookesh, Jr. 

Mayor of Angoon, Alaska 

Don Pegues 

Mayor of Tenakee Springs, Alaska 

/:;)_ --r-. . <:D l!' {l{) --~ I 0--'Vt.vvV..-.../ i-.-1'\..A.}{,.LjPatricia Phillips 

Mayor of Pelican, Alaska 

cc: Governor Sean Parnell 

Dennis Meier, Mayor of Elfin Cove, Alaska 

Henrich Kadake, Mayor of Kake, Alaska