JOHN 

### H. COX 

### III Mayor 

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# .- Q3 Ilc,lrl Q.) & SOlll .:....., of tl)(' 

# o Dl'Il<l CITY COUNCIL Tommy L. Benson, Ill, Ward 1 Lois Hawkins, Ward 2 Carolyn Weathers, Ward 3 BettyJ. Watkins, Ward 4 Ann Hollowell, Ward 5 Errick D. Simmons, Ward 6 

## CITY OF GREENVILLE p.

### o.Box flJ)7 • 340 Main

St• Greenville,

Mis;is;ippi 3870\ • Thlephone:

662-37&-1501 • Fac;imile:

(1,2-37&-0276 • Email:

johnoox@grrenvillems.org December 29, 2013 Kevin Schlemmer, Director EAS Program, U. S. Department ofTransportation West Building 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE
. Washington D.C.20590 Re: Greenville, .MSEssential Air Service / DOT-OST-2012-05-17 Dear Mr. Schlemmer, (

..... 1

The Greenville Mid-Delta Airport and the City of Greenville wish to express to the Department our concerns aboutthe current air service being provided by Silver Airways to Greenville and other Mississippi airports. Silver Airways assumed Greenville EASservice from Delta on October 1, 2012. We were disappointed to lose our Delta service to Memphis but excited at the time to gain onestop flights to Atlanta, GA. Unfortunately Silver's service has been very disappointing for a number ofreasons. Operational Reliability The Silver service got offto a weak start in Greenville. Our records show the following on time performance and cancellation rate for each month during the first 12 months.

Month Oct 12 Nov Dec On Time %

75.3% 80.1 % 69.2% Cancelled %

4.9% 7.1% 10.3%
.Completed %

95.1% 92.9% 89.7%

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" :.. Jan 13

Feb Mar April May J)Jn Jul. 

# ';Atig'" .,Sep 44.4%

68.1% 76.3% 74.4% 80.9% 60.7%

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..':

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### ': .~-. -,'.". . 75.9% 92.5% 83.0% ",",' <•. ;;.:.:." "".' ,:,. 16.0%

11.1% 3.2% 7.7% 5.6%
. 9.3%

. 1.2% 1.3% 4.6% 84.0%

88:9% 96.8%

. 92.3% 94.4% 90.7% ",.98.8% 98.7% 95.4%

The above chart shows that for the first three months, the carrier completed about 93% of its flights. The second three months it completed just fewer than 900/0of its flights. Our loyal users ofthe Greeiiville Mid- Delta Airport rapidly lost faith in the airline during those six months. The on time performance during those months was less than 75% in total. IIWW,grrenvillems.orgService did not really improve too much in second quarter of2013 with about 93% offlights completed and on time performance at about 73%. We finally got reliable and ontime service starting in the third quarter of2013, with 97% ofour flights operating and about an 84% on time rate. The reliable service continued into October,2013. But, as the data below indicates, November was avery poor month. The bulk ofthe operational issues occurred the week ofThanksgiving and itwas very bad for our market inthat we had above average passenger bookings due to the holiday and many ofthose passengers were not able to use Silver service.

Month Oct 2013 Nov 2013 Poor Traffic Results OnTime % 75.8% 64.0% Cancelled %

1.9% 12.0% Completed %

98.1% 88.0%

Asyou can imagine, the poor service performance Ihave outlined resulted in many ofour loyal passengers using other airports because they just could not trust Silverto operate its schedule. Inthe last 12 months ofDelta service to Memphis, our Airport handled about 13,500 passengers in and out total. In the first 12 months ofSilver service we handled about 6,500 passengers; a drop of52%. Webarely made the 10 enplanement per day requirement that the DOThas for EASsubsidy. Poor Service When the carrier made its service proposal to replace Delta itpromised us that the service would display on Delta.com. This display did not take effect until December, 2012, three months into the service and ithas had technical problems from time to time ever since. The carrier also indicated that itwould have Delta SkyMilescredit for segments flown to and from Atlanta. This has not happened. Asbest Iunderstand it, Delta and Silver cannot reach acommercial agreement on the program. Ihave signed two letters that are'also signed by,the mayors ofthe four other EAScities Silver serves, Hattiesburg, Meridian, Muscle Shoals (Alabama) and Tupelo. One ofthese letters went to Delta and one to Silver, asking the carriers to reach a commercial agreement on SkyMiles so our passengers can gain miles on flights to Atlanta. Another challenge is that the carrier began operations in October, 2012 using the brand name ofacarrier called Island Air.This was apparently necessary to make interline connections and make use ofthat carrier's reservations system. This confusing setup lasted until June, 2013, when the carrier's tickets began to reflect SilverAirways. This was difficult to explain to our residents/customers. Promoti on/Advertising /Pricing We are very frustrated by the carrier's pricing strategy. Service got offto avery bad start as the performance numbers show. Ourpassengers were discouraged bythat and have been using other airports. The best way to get those passengers back on the airplanes is to lower fares so we have something to advertise locally. Asbest we cantell the carrier has a9:5% load factor at Greenville. That is 3.4 passengers per flight on a 34 seat aircraft Itis our understanding that Tupelo, where the plane stops on the way to Atlanta, ishaving the same issues we are and it not putting a lot offolks on the plane. Thus even into Atlanta the Silverflights are nearly empty. Sowhy not cut the fare and get folks on the plane and then we can work to get the fares gradually up to where the carrier might want them? I would think the carrier would also make more money carrying 15 or 20 folks at lower fares than 3 or 6 at higher fares. We did some marketing ofthe new service when it started. Butit became difficult to do that because the service was so poor the first sixto nine months. We remain prepared to market the service aggressively. Butwe need something to market! We do not have attractive fares, we do not have SkyMilesand alltoo often we do not have reliability.We do.have a SmallCommunity AirService Grant award but the DOThas not yet issued us a contract so we cannot use Grant funding yet. Butagain, we need something to market in order for that money (U.S.DOT's,City's and Mississippi DOT's), to be spent wisely. Inthe entire 14 months now that we have had Silver service, we have never had a Silver representative come to Greenville and help us market the service. We need someone from the carrier to meet with our local companies and shake hands and exchange business cards to do the job ofselling the airline locally.We are ready to support them, to arrange meetings and to ensure that post meeting follow-ups occur. Butthe carrier has not been able or willing to send someone to visit. Silveris collecting $3.5 million dollars per year to provide us with air service which is so inconsistent that the flights are largely empty. . Itfrustrates me that Greenville barely made the necessary 6,300 or so annual p.assengers needed to make 10 enplanements per day per EASrules. The service area ofour airport is capable ofgenerating lots ofair travel, it always has. As Imentioned, our traffic is down 52% from when Deltawas providing our air service. Our local air travelers are simply not using Silver service because they do not trust it or see itas being a poor value. Iam now deeply concerned that in the second year ofSilver service we will not meet the 10 enplanement per day requirements because ofSilver's inconsistent reliability and unwillingness to offer an air service product our residents willbuy and use. Localair service is critical to our economic development efforts. Our residents are ready to support local air service. We are ready to market.local air service. Wejust need a reliable and reasonable priced service to support. Irespectfully request a response from the Department to this letter so it can be shared with our local elected officials and our U.S.Senators and Congressman. Iwould arso be willing to participate in a conference call at atime convenient to all concerned to discuss this urgent matt;er. Wi'"

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John
.CoxIII Greenville, Mississippi

cc: Honorable Thad Cochran, Senator for Mississippi Honorable RogerWicker, Senator for Mississippi Honorable Bennie G.Thompson, Congressman for Mississippi District 2 Honorable DickHall,Mississippi Transportation Commissioner Honorable Carolyn Weathers, Airport Committee Honorable Errick Simmons, Airport Committee Mr.John Marshall, COOofSilverAirway Mr.Tommy Booth, Director ofAeronautics at MDOT Mr.Cary Karlson, Economic Development Center ofWashington County Mr.Frank Howell, Delta Council Mr. Draylon Gant, Director at Greenville Mid-DeltaAirport