**January 21, 2014**

**The Honorable Anthony Foxx The Honorable Michael P. Huerta**  **Secretary Administrator U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviatio**  **n Administration 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 800 Independence Aven**  **ue, SW Washington, D.C. 20590 Washington, DC 20591** 

**Dear Secretary Foxx and Administrator Huerta:**

**I am writing to you today to communicate the import ance of preventing the discontinuation of non-stop**  **air service from Dane County Regional Airport (MSN) in Madison, Wisc**  **onsin to Washington, D.C. (DCA). As you are aware, Republic**  **Airways recently divested Frontier Airlines, which resulted in the termination of a flight agreement,**  **therefore ending nonstop service from Madison to Washington, D.C (DC**  **A) in the near future.**

**The Dane County Regional Airport serves the City of Madison, the Capital of the State of Wisconsin, an**  **d more than five**

**million residents of the south-central Wisconsin re gion. In addition, the Dane County Regional Airpor**  **t serves visitors from around the globe who come to Madison for leisure an**  **d business travel, convention and conference attend ance.** 

**Tourism accounts for over $1.9 billion in direct sp ending in Dane County supported by such notable eve**  **nts as the world’s largest dairy industry exposition and trade show, W**  **orld Dairy Expo, Ironman Wisconsin, and Epic Users Group meetings.**  **These travelers rely on connections from major dest inations such as Washington D.C. and we rely on the**  **ir visits to keep our economy healthy.** 

**Therefore, on behalf of these travelers, I strongly support the request of Republic Airlines to allow**  **Shuttle America to continue direct flights to DCA under the Delta Conn**  **ection brand – utilizing the available Republic Air ways slots.** 

**Without the continued nonstop service proposed by R epublic under the Delta Connection brand, Madison w**  **ould lose all nonstop service to the nation’s capital. No party**  **contends otherwise. The Secretary alone has the di scretion to grant the**  **relief sought by Republic and to determine what cir cumstances qualify as “exceptional” under 49 U.S.C.**  **§ 41714(d). We respectfully submit that there is no more exception**  **al circumstance or exceptional need than to allow R epublic to continue**  **a successful and established nonstop service linkin g Madison and DCA** **On behalf of the Greater Madison Convention & Visit ors Bureau and the Madison Area Sports Commission a**  **nd the many visitors we represent, I strongly urge the Departme**  **nt to move swiftly to grant the request of Republic Airlines the ability** 

**to use available DCA slots for Shuttle America serv ice to DCA to prevent a temporary disruption to thi**  **s important daily**

**service.**

**Sincerely:**

**Deb Archer, President & CEO**

**Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau Madison Area Sports Commission** 

**Joel Weitz, Owner, President, & PGA Professional, V itense Golfland**  **Chairman of the Board, Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau** 

**Vince Sweeney, Vice Chancellor for University Relat ions, University of Wisconsin -Madison**  **Chairman of the Board, Madison Area Sports Commissi on**