From: Gormas, Michael (OST)

Sent: Thursday, February 06, 20143:48 PM

To: Vivian, Jordan; Lane, Michelle; Bonini, Kyle; Billings, John; ~eadinger, Patricia (OST,);A~~'r!O' tl!,a1:<Jllr

(OST); dvoss@flygreatlakes.com; chowell@flygreatlakes.com; Mike Harma; 'I."q ,cU - I ,-

Kate Geldaker@klobuchar.senate.gov; Mike Matthews; Cindy Stork; Eric Dahl (airoort@watertownsd.us);

Thief River Falls Airport Authority; shane@airchoiceone.com; Thomas Drake (tdrake@watertownsd.us);

Darnea Wood; Steve Nordhagen (mayorbeav@yahoo.com)

Cc: Schlemmer, Kevin (OST)

Subject: Requesting Comments from the Cities of Ironwood, Thief River Falls and Watertown on EAS

proposals

Greetings:

I would like to update you on the Essential Air 5ervice situation at Ironwood, MI, Thief River Falls, MN,

and Watertown, 5D and give you an opportunity to submit any comments for the record if you wish. In

anticipation of the end of Great Lakes' current contract on May 31, 2014, the Department issued Order

2013-12-14, on December 23,2013, to solicit proposals from all interested air carriers to provide service

at Ironwood, Thief River Falls and Watertown. In response to that Order, we received proposals

from Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. ("Great Lakes") for all three communities and Multi-Aero Inc., Inc. d/b/a

Air Choice One (Air Choice One) for Ironwood only. In a subsequent development, after the request for

proposals was issued, Great Lakes suspended all operations at Ironwood and Thief River Falls, effective

February 1, 2014.

Copies of the proposals are attached and may be accessed online through the Department's Dockets

Management 5ystem at: http://www.regulations.gov/ by entering "DOT-05T-1996-1266", "DOT-05T2001-10642", or "DOT-05T-2001-10644" in the "Enter Keyword or ID" field, so we will only briefly

summarize the propo.sals here.

For all of its proposals, Great Lakes initially plans to operate the Beech 1900D aircraft in a nine seat

configuration. However, as soon as pilot experience allows for the issuance of restricted ATP certificates

for First Officers, the carrier plans to re-install the additional 10 seats.

Great Lakes' proposal consists of the following one option for Ironwood:

1. 12 weekly nonstop round trips between Ironwood and Minneapolis utilizing a Beech 1900D

aircraft, at a requested annual subsidy rate of $2,152,426.

Great Lakes' proposal consists of the following two options for Thief River Falls:

1. 12 weekly nonstop round trips between Thief River Falls and Minneapolis utilizing a Beech

1900D aircraft, at a requested annual subsidy of $2,428,750.

2. 12 weekly one-stop round trips to Denver utilizing a 30-seat EMB-120 Brasilia aircraft, at a

requested annual subsidy of $2,428,750.

Great Lakes' proposal consists of the following three options for Watertown:

1. 18 weekly nonstop round trips between Watertown and Minneapolis utilizing a Beech 1900D

aircraft, at a requested subsidy of $2,847,284.

'): 08
2. 12 weekly nonstop round trips between Watertown and Minneapolis utilizing a Beech 1900D

aircraft and 6 or 7 weekly one-stop round trips to Denver utilizing a 30-seat EMB-120 Brasilia

aircraft at a requested annual subsidy of $2,847,284.

3. 12 weekly one-stop round trips between Watertown and Denver utilizing a 30-seat EMB-120

Brasilia aircraft at a requested annual subsidy of $2,847,284.

Air Choice One's proposal consists of the following two options for Ironwood only, all utilizing a 9-seat

Cessna Grand Caravan or an 8-seat Piper Navajo aircraft:

1. 12 weekly nonstop round trips between Ironwood and Chicago O'Hare, at an annual subsidy

request of $2,888,564.

2. 18 weekly nonstop round trips between Ironwood and Chicago O'Hare, at an annual subsidy

request of $3,563,394.

We want to give you an opportunity to submit any formal comments for the record before we submit a

recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs. We request that you

submit any comments you may have as soon as possible, but in any case no later than February 27,

2014. In recognition that Ironwood and Thief River Falls currently have no scheduled air service, if the

communities could expedite submitting their comments to us, the Department stands ready to process

the carrier selection in an expedited manner. We will carefully consider your comments before we

submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. If you have any questions or if you

find that you need additional time to draft your comments, please let me know.

Please send your comments to me at the following email address: EAS@dot.gov or by fax to 202-366-

7638. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at michael.gormas@dot.gov or 202-366-

1853.

Sincerely,

Michael D. Gormas

United States Department of Transportation Office of Aviation Analysis

1200 New Jersey Ave SE

Washington, DC 20590

202.366.1853