Swanson, Brian (OST) 

Subject: FW: Any update? 

Attachments: CCI00001.pdf 

Original Message 

From: Manistee Airport [mailto:manisteeairport@gmail.coni] 

Sent: Wednesday, September 98, 2010 3:29 PM 

To: Devany, Dennis (OST) 

Cc: Duane DuRay 

Subject: Re: Any update? 

Dennis, jrWe are all frustrated. Something needs to change with regards to the servicfo bein^ offered 

to Manistee and Ironwood. The status quo with Great Lakes is not working. I have been 

reluctant to complain to you, since I realize that you are doing your best given the 

constraints you are working under. 

However the events of the last week have pushed me to the point that I can no longer remain 

silent. On Thursday Sept 2nd, the sole GLA aircraft servicing Manistee and Ironwood 

experienced a mechanical issue. In and of itself that isn't a problem since we all know that 

airplanes have mechanical issues from time to time. It is how Great Lakes dealt with the 

situation that is the problem. I have attached a letter from one of the affected passengers 

that explains things better than I could. But I will however state that it was a full two 

days before we saw our next GLA flight to Manistee (8 flights in a row were cancelled from 

Thursday afternoon until Saturday afternoon). This being a holiday weekend many passenger's 

weekends were ruined. Then yesterday as some of the same passengers who had difficulties 

last week getting to Manistee and Ironwood last week were trying to leave we have yet again 

another mechanical issue canceling 24 hours worth of flights. 

The cancellation percentages for Great Lakes have been abysmal during the two winters they 

have been serving Manistee (Dec '08 36% cancelled; Feb '09 18% cancelled; Dec '09 25% 

cancelled; Dan '10 23% cancelled), true some is weather related, but the vast majority is 

not. While summers have been better, when things go wrong like they did this past weekend, 

they go wrong in a big way. A few hour delay due to a mechanical is an inconvenience, but 48 

hours of cancelled flights is much much more than inconvenient. 

In spite of all the problems, 2010 should be the best year ever for passenger traffic at MBL 

(or at least since 1978 which is all the farther back my records go). For the last 12 months 

through August 2010 we have had 7036 total passengers in and out of Manistee, which compares 

with 5922 for the best previous Sept-Aug (2006-2007). This year is 19% better than any 

previous year. And in Duly we had 1072 passengers which was our best single month ever, in 

fact it was 30% better than our previous best month. 

So if our passenger numbers are doing well, why am I complaining? 

Great Lakes has brought to Manistee good fares and non-stop service with a reasonable 

schedule. Those have resulted in increasing enplanements even during a down economy. 

However with poor reliability and poor customer service the gains that have been made will be 

lost over time. People are forgiving of an occasional service issue, however with repeated 

poor service they will eventually take their business to some other airport. And once 

accustomed to traveling from other airports it will be difficult to win them back. 
While a nearly 50% growth year over year (Sep08-Aug09 vs Sep09-Augl0) is very good, I know 

with better more reliable service it could be much better. 

The situation at Ironwood is much worse than at Manistee with passenger numbers plummeting 

since Great Lakes took over service. Why have passenger numbers plummeted at Ironwood while 

they have been strong at Manistee, given that the fares are similar, and the poor reliability 

and poor customer service are similar? The reasonable explanation is that while Manistee has 

a good schedule with well timed flights for connections at Milwaukee, Ironwood does not. 

Also Ironwood's one-stop service vs. Manistee's non-stop service also makes a difference 

(although Ironwood had one-stop service under Skyway and had much better numbers than with 

Great Lakes). 

Of the four statutorily mandated selection criteria for Essential Air Service, Great Lakes 

falls woefully short on 'demonstrated reliability.' 

Back in the first round of bidding, both Manistee and Ironwood supported (maybe somewhat 

reluctantly) the bid of Great Lakes. The reason we supported that bid was that we were told 

by Great Lakes that by having a larger presence in Milwaukee with four EAS cities to serve 

Great Lakes would solve their reliability problems as more aircraft would be available to 

provide backup when issues occurred. Given the comments I have read from various Great Lakes 

served communities across their system, I am no longer convinced this is true. And even if 

Great Lakes were to resolve their reliability issues that doesn't address their customer 

service issues. Great Lakes does not have a corporate culture that places an emphasis on 

good customer service. 

Now I realize that in the current bidding cycle, there may not be anything you can do to 

solve the issues I am raising here, however, I do believe it is important that you fully 

understand our situation at Manistee and Ironwood as it relates to our current service with 

Great Lakes and our desire for an award to Charter Air Transport. 

sincerely, 

Barry Lind 

Airport Manager 

Manistee County Blacker Airport