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ULS. Departmen t o f :. --T'ru^fJOAt-n; :C, 1200 New jersey Avenue, SE 

Transportatio n ' '" " Washington, DC 20590 

Office Of the Secretary ..,, .,.., , p A n.r -

ofTransportation • ' i "^ il- JO 

October 18, 2011 

Steve Smith 

Executive Director 

Jackson-Madison County Airport Authority 

308 Grady Montgomery Drive 

Jackson, Termessee 38301 

Dear Mr. Smith: 

I would like to update you on the essential air service situation at Jackson and give you 

an opportunity to submit any conmients if you wish. Li response to Pacific Wings' 90-

day notice of intent to terminate service, the Department issued Order 2011-8-27, 

August 27, 2011, to solicit proposals from all interested air carriers to provide EAS at 

Jackson. Order 2011-8-27 stated that Public Law 112-27, signed into law on August 5, 

2011, amended the definition of "eligible place" for the purpose of receiving EAS. See 49 

U.S.C. § 41731. The amendment states that to be eligible, a community must be located not 

less than 90 miles from the nearest medium or large hub airport and must have had an 

average subsidy per passenger of less than $1,000 during the most recent fiscal year, as 

determined by the Secretary of Transportation. Section 41731, as amended, also grants the 

Secretary the authority to issue a waiver of the 90-mile criterion if the Secretary determines 

that the "geographic characteristics of the location result in undue difficulty in accessing the 

nearest medium or large hub airport." 49 U.S.C. § 41731(d). The Department is currently 

working on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the new provisions under 49 U.S.C. 

§ 41731, as amended, which it plans to issue in the near future. Also in the Order, we 

stated, "Although the Department often awards two-year contracts for subsidized EAS at 

a community, proposals should reflect an understanding that the community's EAS status 

may be affected by the recent amendment and pending rulemaking, which may impact 

the terms of any new contract." 

In response to that Order, we received proposals from Multi-Aero, Inc. d/b/a Air Choice 

One (Air Choice One), and SeaPort Airlines, Inc. (SeaPort). 

Copies of each proposal may be accessed online at http://www.regulations.gov by 

entering DOT-OST-2000-7857 m the "Enter Keyword or ID" section. 
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Air Choice One proposed two options, each operating with 9-passenger Cessna Grand 

Caravan aircraft. Option 1 is three nonstop round trips each weekday and weekend 

(18 per week) to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport for an annualsubsidy of 

$1,810,690. Option 2 is three nonstop round trips each weekday and weekend (18 per 

week) to Nashville International Airport for an annual subsidy of $1,741,701. 

SeaPort proposes three options, all using 9-passenger Cessna Caravan aircraft. Option 1 

is three nonstop round trips each weekday and weekend (18 per week) to Memphis 

International Airport (Memphis) for an annual subsidy of $947,818 (first year) and 

$925,603 (second year). Option 2 is two nonstop round trips each weekday and weekend 

(12 per week) to Nashville and one nonstop round trip each weekday and weekend (6 per 

week) to Memphis for an annual subsidy of $1,149,703 (first year) and $1,115,210 

(second year). Option 3 is two nonstop roimd trips each weekday and weekend (12 per 

week) to Memphis and one nonstop round trip each weekday and weekend (6 per week) 

to Nashville for an aimual subsidy of $1,034,164 (first year) and $1,006,387 (second 

year). 

Based on existing law and the proposed rulemaking discussed above, the Department is 

prepared to select Air Choice One or SeaPort to serve Jackson for a one-year term. Any 

service that could possibly be subsidized after one year will determined once the 

rulemaking process has been completed. 

Please note that the average passenger fares shown in the proposal do not necessarily 

reflect the average local fare Jackson passengers would actually pay, but, rather, reflect a 

prorated portion of the total ticket price, e.g., the Jackson - Nashville portion of a 

Jackson - Nashville - Washington, D.C. ticket that the subsidized carrier would realize. 

Also, the fare shown is net of certain charges such as Federal transportation security fees, 

excise or ticket taxes, and Passenger Facility Charges. Of course, carriers have the 

discretion to charge fares they deem appropriate, and the passenger fares presented in this 

proposal have been developed for subsidy rate computation purposes only. 

You should also note that the schedules that the carrier has submitted are illustrative only, 

and that they may make schedule changes to reflect changing conditions, e.g., to better 

meet shifting coimecting bank times at the hub. The Department expects subsidized air 

carriers to maintain well-timed and well-spaced flights in order to ensure full 

compensation. 

We ask that you submit any comments you may have as soon as possible, but in any case 

no later than November 15, 2011. We will carefully consider your comments before we 

submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. Should you have any 

questions or need additional time to draft your comments, please let us know. 

Please send your comments via e-mail to EAS@dot.gov or by fax to 202-366-7638. If 

you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kevin Schlemmer of my staff at 

kevin.schlemmer@dot.gov or 202-366-3176. 
A similar letter has been sent to the Mayor of Jackson. 

Sincerely, 

Dennis J. Dev^ny 

Chief, Essential Air Service