### LewistownMunicipalAirport From: fjvalach@midrivers.com Sent: To: Subject: Friday,April13,201211:06AM lwt@midrivers.com Passengerboardings

LewistownAirport Board P.O. Box 343 Lewistown, Montana 59457 lwt@midrivers.com Commissioner

- Carl Seilstad Lewistown Representative

- Bret Carpenter

Dear members of the Airport Committee,
In am writing to give my opinion regardingthe March 14, 2012 "Lewistown News Argus" article on Essential Air Service asking "What can be done to encourage people to fly from the LewistownAirport instead of driving to Billings or Great Falls." My response is simple

- change our Lewistown air service from Billings to Denver. The problem is that Lewistown is too close to Billings and Great Falls. I often fly in/out of Lewistown to Dallas, Texas. Prior to that I frequently flew in/out of Lewistown to New York City. When Lewistown had direct service to Denver, I could fly almost anywhere with onlyone-stop through Denver. Due to current Lewistown service I have to fly to Billings, then Denver and then ultimatelymy final destination. I am truly a committed advocate for Lewistown air service. Therefore I do my best to use it whenever possible. However my last trip from Da1las to Lewistown wouldhave required a 4-hour layover in Billings. Instead it was much easier to hitch a ride to Lewistown rather than wait and fly on Gulf/SilverAirlines. Statistics from theMontana Department of Transportation showpassengers boarding at the LewistownAirport dropped dramaticallywhen the Denver flights were discontinued. Big Sky Airlines did not have the passengers out ofLewistown to Billings and now SilverAirlines does not either. Only 18 passengers boarded in Lewistown the entiremonth of February. I do not believe this lownumber is the fault of the economybut has more to do with inconvenience. Last summer my family held a Lewistown gatheringwhich includedmany out-of-state visitors. All who traveled via air flew in/out of Billings and traveled to Lewistown via rented cars. Many of them traveled to Billings through Denver. I believe that if a Denver to Lewistown flight hadbeen available most wouldhave opted for that. When Great Lakes Aviation initiated flights from Lewistown to Denver ridership increased in/out of Lewistown. It took time for people tobecome aware of the Denver/Lewistown flights but records show numbers did rise. However in 2011 when Great Lakes changed to Billings only service, ridership immediately dropped. Similarly statistics show that Miles City (who kept Denver flights for a longer period) continued to show increasedridership until their flights were changedto Billings only. Since then Miles Citypassengerboarding numbers are almost as low as Lewistown's. Is it possible to have a direct flight again to Denver? Could LewistownjoinwithMiles City to initiate service to Denver again?

1**~** Butte also has EAS. Recently they were able to choosebetween Gulf/SilverAir and SkyWest and they selected SkyWest. I assume this was because Gulf/Silver would not provide service to Denver. It appears that individual EAS communities can choose a different service rather than going with the group. There are additional problems/issues regarding flying on SilverAir to Lewistown. One is the difficulty ofpurchasing tickets. Apassengermust use two different websites trying tomatch andmake convenient connections. Great Lakes was a partner withUnitedAirlines and FrontierAirlines therefore you could book a ticket to/fromLewistown on their websites. Now not onlymust you deplane and re-board in Billings (each way) youmust check in with two separate tickets issued. Another problematic issue is checking luggage from a major destination like Dallas. Apassenger cannot check in automatically at a kioskbut must go to a ticket agent and explain that the luggage needs to be checkedbeyondBillings to Lewistown. This requires extra effort on the agent's part and often they resist or refuse to transfer the luggage to it's LWT destination. If you forget to use the agent (as I did once) your luggage ends up in Billings and not Lewistown creating a great hardship. Scheduling is another problemwith SilverAir. There is no plane into Lewistown on Saturdaynor out of Lewistown on Sundays. This makes a weekend visit virtuallyimpossible. In November a familymember tried to fly in/out of Lewistownformy Mother's birthday. No Saturday flight meant theyhadto forgo my Mother's birthdayAND therefore spending any money in Lewistown. I've writtenpreviouslyregarding this matter andwas told it wouldbe forwarded to Silver Airlines for a response. To this day I have heardnothing from them. I am sure Billings is extremelypleasedto have SilverAirways in their town. I imagine key Billings influencers had something to do with Gulf Stream getting the contract. Billings now is the home base for all of the pilots, mechanics etc. In addition it funnels thousands ofpassenger through the Billings airport increasing theirboarding numbers and increasing their visibility inMontana. I thinkLewistown needs to thinkbigger. Forty years ago Bozeman was not much bigger than Lewistown. Look at it today. Those people, like the people of Billings, don't think small. Bozeman just secured a $950,000.00 grant to be usedwith $725,000.00 of public andprivate funds to secure non-stop flights to/fromNew York City. They know the importance of having non-stop service! Lewistown needs to think out-of-thebox about air service. Only then will investors andtravelers seriously consider Lewistown as a viable destination. Sincerely, Frank John Valach

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