U.S. Department of 

Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

Of Transportation 

May 24,2012 

Mr. Russ Machen 

Airport Manager 

Cortez Municipal Airport 

210 E. Main Street 

Cortez, CO 81321 

Dear Mr. Machen: 

\ 

1200 New Jersey Ave., S.E. 

Washington. DC 20590 

I would like to update you on the Essential Air Service situation at Cortez, Colorado and give· 

you an opportunity to submit any comments if you wish. In anticipation of the end of Great 

Lakes' current contract on July 31, 2012, the Department issued Order 2012-4-21, on 

April16, 2012, to solicit proposals from all interested air carriers to provide service at Alamosa 

and/or Cortez, Colorado. In response to that Order, we received one proposal from the 

incumbent air carrier, Great Lakes, to provide EAS at both communities. · 

A copy of the proposal is attached and may be accessed online through the Department's 

Dockets Management Systen11 at: http://www.regulations.gov/ by entering "DOT-OST-1997-

2960" and "DOT-OST-1998-3508" in th.e "Enter Keyword or ID" field, so we wiH only briefly 

summarize the proposal here. 

Great Lakes' ·proposal would continue to offer three round trips per day between Alamosa and 

Denver utilizing a 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D aircraft, for an atmual subsidy of $2,078,676. 

Additionally, Great Lakes proposes to continue EAS operations at Cortez with three round trips 

per day between Cmtez and Denver utilizing a 19-seat Beechcraft 19000 aircraft, for an annual 

subsidy of $2,240,766. 

We want to give you an oppmtunity to submit any formal comments for the record before we· 

submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs. We 

request that you submit any conunents you may have as soon as possible, but in any case no later 

than June 15, 2012. We wiU carefully consider your comments before we submit a 

recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. If you have any questions or if you 

find that you need.additional time to draft your comments. please let me know. 
Please send your comments to me at the following email address: EAS@dot.gov or by fax to 

202-366-7838. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at scott.faulk@dot.gov 

or 202-366-9967. 

S~·~// 

Scott Faulk / 

Essential Air Service Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

Enclosure 
,..----------~------------

Before the United States Department of Transportation 

Washington, DC 

Essential Air Service at . 

ALAMOSA, COLORADO 

CORTEZ, COLORADO 

under 49 U.S.C. 41731 et.seq. 

May 15, 2012 

Docket OST -1997-2960 

Docket OST-1998-3508 

This document contains Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd.'s response to Order Requesting 

Proposals 2012-4-21. 

Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. is pleased to submit these proposals to provide essential air 

transportation at these points in Colorado. These proposals are submitted on a stand 

alone basis. 

Our proposals contemplate conveniently timed connecting services to our Denver hub, whereby 

passengers may utilize our code-share agreements with United Airlines and Frontier Airlines. 

Local service will be marketed and priced utilizing the Great Lakes (ZK) brand and reservations 

system. Additionally, Great Lakes maintains intE!rline tioketing c:1nd baggage agreements with 

the majority of the other carrier:s servin!i} Denver, including interline e'"ticketing agreements with 

American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Frontier Airlines, United Airlines and U.S. Airways. All of 

which will offer passengers traveling to and from these communities supplemental access to 

the domestic and international air transportation system. 

These proposals assume the use of pressurized 19 seat Beechcraft 1900D airliner 

equipment. 

Questions and comments may be referred to: 

Michael 0. Matthews 

Chief Financial Officer 

Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. 

1022 Airport Parkway 

Cheyenne, VVY 82001 

(307) 432-7000 
Table of Contents: Subsidy P

Proposal Service Point(s) Hub(s) Served Round Trips Equipment Requirement 

1 Alamosa, Colorado Denver 3 1900D $2,078,676 

2 Cortez, Colorado Denver 3 1900D $2,240,766 
Departures: 

Block Hours: 

Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. 

Annual Compensation Requirements for Essential Air Service at 

Alamosa, Colorado to Denver (DEN) 

Three Round Trips - 81900 

(at98 percent completion) 

Revenue Passenger Miles: 

Available Seat Miles: 

Operating Revenues: 

Passenger: 15,000 psgrs at $102.72 $1,540,800 

Other: (at 0.62% of passenger revenue) $9,553 

Total Operating Revenues: . 

Operating Expenses: · 1 Direct: Aircraft and Hull Insurance 

Fuel and Oil 

$365,710 

$1,057,245 

$317,003 

$512,429 

Flying Operations 

Maintenance 

Total Direct Expenses: 

Total Indirect Expenses: 

Total Operating Expenses: 

Operating Loss 

Profit Element (5.0% of Total Operating Expenses) 

Annual Compensation Requirement: 

Representative Schedule 

*** [ALS] Alamosa, Colorado *** 

--·----------------- 0 E P A R T U R E S -------------~------ FLT TO OPT ARR EQP 

7263 DEN 6:00 7:00 BE1 

7263 DEN 8:00 9:00 BE1 

7264 DEN 10:45 11:45 BE1 

7269 DEN 16:28 17:28 BE1 

-------------------- A R R I V A L S -----------~--------

FL T FROM OPT ARR EQP 

7305 DEN 12:15 13:13 BE1 

7268 DEN 15:20 16:18 BE1 

7258 DEN 20:58 21:56 BE1 

7258 DEN 20:58 21:56 BE1 

No Upline Scheduling Restrictions 

FREQ 

12345 

6 

12345 7 

12345 7 

FREQ 

12345 

12345 7 

6 . 

12345 7 

1,840 

1,810 

2,685,000 

6,257,840 

$1,550,353 

$2,252,387 

$1,203,831 

$3,456,218 

($1 ,905,865) 

$172,811 

$2,078,676 
Great Lakes Aviation, ltd. 

Annual Compensation Requirements for Essential Air Service at 

Cortez, Colorado to Denver (DEN) 

Three Round Trips- 81900 

(at 98 percent completion) 

Departures: 

Block Hours: 

Revenue Passenger Miles: 

Available Seat Miles: 

Operating Revenues: 

Passenger: 16,000 psgrs at $127.98 $2,047,680 

Other: (at 0.62% of passenger revenue) $12,696 

Total Operating Revenues: 

Operating Expenses: 

Direct: Aircraft and Hull Insurance 

Fuel and Oil 

Flying Operations 

Maintenance 

$365,710 

$1,373,084 

$411,054 

$586,411 

Total Direct Expenses: 

Total Indirect Expenses: 

Total Operating Expenses: 

Operating Loss 

Profit Element (5.0% of Total Operating Expenses) 

Annual Compensation Requirement: 

Representative Schedule 

*** [CEZ] Cortez, Colorado *** 

-------------------- D E P A R T U R E S -------------------· 

FLT TO OPT ARR EQP 

7261 DEN 6:00 7:13 BE1 

7261 DEN 6:45 7:58 BE1 

7263 DEN 8:05 9:18 !3E1 

7267 DEN 16:17 17:30 BE1 

---------··-········ A R R I V A L S ····--·-··---------· 

FLT FROM OPT ARR EQP 

7262 DEN 8:35 21:55 BE1 

7266 DEN 14:43 16:03 BE1 

7267 DEN 16:45 18:05 BE1 

7270 DEN 20:56 22:16 BE1 

No Upline Scheduling Restrictions 

FREQ 

12345 

6 

1234567 

12345 7 

FREQ 

1234567 

12345 7 

6 

12345 7 

1,840 

2,347 

4,448,000 

9,718,880 

$2,060,376 

$2,736,259 

$1,360,067 

$4,096,326 

($2,035,950) 

$204,816 

$2,240,766