# THIEF AIVEA FALLS REGIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY

August 4, 2011



### Dennis DeV any U.S

. 

### Department ofTransportation Chief, EAS 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE W86-308 Washington, DC 205 90**g~ '!}[l.is** **.deva.m (dldot.**  

### gov Michael Martin U.S. Department ofTransportation Transportation [n dustry Analyst J

### 200 New Jersey Avenue, SE W86-472 Washington, DC 20590 michael.f.martin@dot.gov

RE: Objection to Tennination of Service at Thief River Falls, MN

, .' 1



### Mr

. DeVany and Mr. Martin :**~..J** 

### This letter serves as formal objection to Mesaba Aviation , Inc. and Pinnacle Ai'r+tnes , Inc. (operating as Delta Connection) announcement to tcnninate service at the Thicf River Falls Regional Airport dated July 15,2011. As the Airport Authority discussed this recent development, several points of contention between the Airport and the Airline emerged as the basis for this objection outlined below.
In the Notice ofTennination, the Airline identi fied three areas thatjustify the need for said termination: aircraft retirement, higher fuel cost, and low passenger demand. The Airport Authority feels thesc issues can either be explained or remedied with very little effort and docs not constitute a valid reason to end service at the Thief River Falls Airport

. 

### 1) Aircraft Retirement The Authority sees the retirement ofthe SAAR 340 as an opportunity to improve passenger enplancments. Through a recent survey the Airport Authority ha') 

### learned that size and image of aircraft serving our market plays just as much a role in enpJancments as schedule, connections, and cost. Travelers would much rather fly out on a luxuriousjet aircraft than on an outdated turboprop. The Authority feels that if our market were served by the CRJ-200 (as proposed by Delta
as an interim measure between the time the SAAB 340 is phased out and a new



### 13722 Airport Drive 

### (218) 681-7680 PO Box 672 Thief River Falls MN 56701 emoil: trfoirport@mocable.net

# THIEF RIVER FALLS**AEG~ONAl** 

# AIRPORT**AUTHOA~TY**

carrier is selected) our enplanements would see incredible growth. The potential for this growth can be seen in o Lir historical enplancments dating back to the beginning of commercial service at Thid River Fall s Airport (see attached). 2) Higher Fuel Cost Through the EAS bidding process. carriers an.: allowed to recalculate projected expenses to serve our essential market every two years. Tn thi s manner, carriers (both current and prospective) can figure rising fucl prices as part of total operating cost. For this reason the Airport Authority feels this is not a valid argument to discontinue service. 3) I ,ow Passenger Demand As previoLls ly mentioned, an updated aircraft such as the CRJ will go a long way to attracting more travelers to the ThiefRivcr market. In addition many other issues affect enplanements at the Thief River Airport , many of which are directly controlled by the Airline. a) Albeit denied by Delta, allocation of SC<lts out ofThief River Fall s Airport is a major concern [or the airport and a key reason the enplanements are reported at 12%. Aftcr leaving Thief River Falls the 34 seat SAAH 340 travels to the Chisholm/Hibbing airport to load, 110t only its own respective passengers , but also Delta employees that travel daily from the Delta Air Lines Reservation Center in Hibbing, to Atlanta Airport for training. In so me cases these scats are deemed a "positive space seat" where the se at is actually taken off of the list from paying customers. In short, because of' the shared night with Chisholm/J ribbing, load factors acceptable to Delta are impossible to achieve when counting passengers fi·om Thief River Falls alone. b) Another issue affecting low passenger demand is the one-stop flight in Hibbing itself. Because ofthis diversion, passengers are less likely to make any connecting /lights once reaching the hub in Minneapoli s, giving passengers yet another reason to dri ve elsewhere 

### for non-stop air service

. c) Recently the cost of /lying from the Thief River Fall s Airport has been more expensive then flying from nOI1-EAS served communities. This seems counter intuitive given the f'act that Thief River Falls' route is subsidi7.ed, utili zing an inexpensive aircraft to operate , and has a one-stop route structure

. The Authority feels that if our ro ute were competitively priced with comparable markets we would sec increased enplanements.



### 13722 Airport Drive 

### (218) 681-7680 PO Box 672 

### Thief Rover**lFa~ns** 

### MN 567011 email: trfuirport@mncoble.net

# THIEF RIVER FALLS REGIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY

Through discussions with Delta about their recent decision, the Authority has learned that Delta suggests our market continue to be served by Great Lakes 1\viation using a 19 scat Beech 1900. While initially cross referencing our most recent historical enplanements with the new proposed aircraft, one may seem to bc "right-sizing" the route using the Beech 1900; the Airport Authority however feels that passenger service will all but stop in our growing community duc to faster, more convenient service in other markets as well as the convenience ofbuying one ticket through Delta Connection and having access to world-wide air travel. The proposal by Delta may be more agreeable to the Authority if we were allowed to work with a replacement carrier on aircraft to be used, route structure, schedule times, cost, and have guaranteed code-sharing between airlines

. The above comments arejust a few reasons the Thief River Falls Regional Airport Authority objects to Delta's decision to discontinue air service at Thief River Falls Regional Airport. Rather than diHcominue service , the Airport Authority would ask that we work with Delta to improve the passenger enplanements and thereby route profitability to our essential market.



### Joe Hedrick Airport Manager



### 13722 Airport 

### Drive 

### (218) 681-7680 

### PO Box 672 

### Thief River Falls MN 56701 email: trfolrport@mncabie.net