Order 2011-4-24

Served: April 28, 2011

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 28th day of April, 2011

Essential Air Service at

PONCE, PUERTO RICO

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

DOCKET DOT-OST-1999-6592

 

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO FILE AND DENYING PETITION FOR 

REVIEW OF STAFF ACTION

Summary

By this order, the Department is granting the motions of Richard F. and Pam Taylor, A. Ray

Petty, Ed.D., Miguel A. Casillas, former airport manager at Ponce, the Honorable Maria E. 

Melendez Altieri, DMD, Mayor of Ponce, and the President and Members of the Municipal 

Legislature of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico, to file a petition for review 

of staff action of Order 2010-12-31, December 23, 2010, and upon review, denying their

petition.

Background

For several years, Mayaguez and Ponce have received subsidized essential air service (EAS). 

Cape Air is the incumbent carrier at both communities and its current contracts, established by

Order 2009-3-1, expire April 30, 2011. Mayaguez is served only by Cape Air and we have 

requested proposals for a new EAS contract. However, at Ponce, in addition to the subsidized 

service provided by Cape Air, JetBlue Airlines (JetBlue) provides subsidy-free jet service on a 

daily basis – one daily round trip to Orlando and one daily round trip to New York JFK 

International Airport (New York) – provided with 150-seat Airbus A320 aircraft. 

That level of service far exceeds Ponce’s EAS requirements; therefore, consistent with program 

practice, by Order 2010-12-31, we did not seek proposals for a new EAS contract, but rather 

relied on JetBlue’s subsidy-free service to continue connecting the community to the national air 
2

transportation system. We noted that Ponce’s receiving subsidy-free service does not change its 

status as an EAS community. Should JetBlue in the future decide that it no longer intended to 

serve Ponce or want to decrease flights below the minimum guarantee, it would first have to file 

a 90-day notice of its intent to suspend service. At that point, the Department would initiate the 

carrier-selection process by issuing an order requesting proposals for replacement service and 

prohibiting JetBlue from leaving until replacement service was in place. 

Motion to File Petition for Review of Staff Action

The Department received two petitions for review and reconsideration of staff action regarding 

Order 2010-12-31, and the decision not to seek solicitation of proposals for replacement of EAS 

between Ponce and San Juan. They argue that due to Ponce’s unique ties (commercial, 

geographical, and political) to its capital, San Juan, the substitution of Orlando and New York as 

Ponce’s EAS designated service hubs at early morning departure times is a service level less than 

the basic EAS level established by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and/or United States 

Department of Transportation (DOT), and therefore is prohibited without Ponce’s expressed

consent. 

In support of the request, a letter from Richard F. and Pam Taylor, dated February 10, 2011, 

filing individually as consumers, cites the following: (1) the Civil Aeronautics Board EAS 

Determination for Ponce (EAS-647) issued on October 25, 1979 (CAB 79-10-165) states that

essential air service needs of Ponce is satisfied by guaranteeing service to San Juan; (2) Section 

419(f) of the Essential Air Service Act defines essential air transportation as “scheduled air 

transportation of persons to a point...which satisfies the needs of the community concerned for 

air transportation to one or more communities of interest and insures access to the Nations’s air 

transportation system;”1 (3) Subsequent EAS Determinations for Ponce issued on October 4, 

1984, and March 27, 1985, require a minimum of two daily nonstop round trips to San Juan at 

convenient times; and (4) the community of Ponce must agree to a service level less than basic 

EAS; in this case, service to a hub other than San Juan.

Decision

We have decided to grant the petition for review of staff action and, upon reconsideration, we 

affirm the decision made not to solicit a new round of proposals for EAS at Ponce. The primary

objective of the EAS program is to provide a safety-net level of air service to connect 

communities to the national air transportation system that otherwise would not have air service.

 

1 We note that the definition of EAS was subsequently amended by PL100-223, December 30, 1987, to require only 

two round trips a day to a large or medium hub airport with connections to the national air transportation system, 

and deleted the reference to ensuring service to a community of interest.
3

The program’s governing statute, specifically 49 U.S.C. 41732(b)(1)(A), requires only that a 

community receive two round trips a day, six days a week, to a large or medium hub with 15-seat 

or larger aircraft. We recognize that San Juan was designated as Ponce’s hub in its previous 

EAS determinations. However, as we stated in Order 79-10-165, October 25, 1979, establishing 

Ponce’s EAS determination, and has been longstanding program practice, if service is available 

that connects the community to the national air transportation system other than through the 

designated hub, we would consider whether that service meets the community’s needs.2 In this 

case, we find that even without nonstop service to San Juan, JetBlue’s service to Orlando and 

New York, both large hubs, fully provides Ponce’s link to the national air transportation system.3 

Finally, in calendar year 2010, the total traffic enplaning and deplaning at Ponce was 

192,087 passengers. Of those passengers, only 9,660 used Cape Air’s subsidized service to 

San Juan, while 182,427 passengers flew on JetBlue to Orlando and New York. At the time we 

established Ponce’s EAS determination in 1979, we noted, “In the fiscal year 1978, Ponce 

generated 128,517 O&D travelers with 69.8 percent of those travelers moving in the PonceSan Juan market. Another 23.8 percent travelled to New York City, Chicago and Miami.” (See

CAB Order 79-10-165 at page 11.) Clearly the Ponce travel patterns have changed in the last 30 

years and, while we understand the community’s desire to retain air service to San Juan, we 

emphasize that the EAS program provides a safety net when a community would otherwise 

receive no scheduled air service at all. Since the vast majority of passengers flying out of Ponce 

are now using JetBlue’s jet services to Orlando and New York, we cannot reasonably justify 

providing Federal subsidy to a community that has more than sufficient air service connecting it

to the national air transportation system. 4

Based on all of the above, we find that JetBlue’s service to Orlando and New York fully meets 

the community’s EAS needs.

 

2 In a similar situation involving EAS at Manhattan, Kansas, the Department did not seek proposals for a new, twoyear contract when American Eagle announced that they would serve the community on a subsidy-free basis to 

Dallas/Fort Worth even though Kansas City was Manhattan’s designated EAS hub. See Order 2009-11-25.

3 Though not dispositive, we note that, effective this June, JetBlue has announced an additional daily round trip in 

the Ponce-Orlando market (for a total of two daily round trips to Orlando) and an additional round trip to New York 

on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

4 We also note that when the CAB originally established an EAS determination for Ponce and all other EAS 

communities, the CAB mailed out a questionnaire regarding the community’s air service needs. In response, the 

then-Mayor stated, “Ponce regards service to the Mainland as essential, and requests that [the CAB] guarantee three 

daily flights, seven days per week, to the Mainland.” In addition, the Mayor stated, that the city required singleplane service to the Mainland, and “the economic viability of the area depends on better Ponce-Mainland service.” 

In Ponce’s EAS determination, the CAB recognized the high volume of passengers that connected at San Juan to 

destinations such as New York, Chicago, and Miami, but decided that San Juan was a sufficient hub determination, 

based on existing traffic numbers at that time.
4

 

ACCORDINGLY,

1. We grant the motion to file a Petition for Review of Staff Action of Order 2010-12-31, filed 

by Richard F. and Pam Taylor; A. Ray Petty, Ed.D.; Miguel A. Casillas, former airport manager 

at Ponce; the Honorable Maria E. Melendez Altieri, DMD, Mayor of Ponce; and the President 

and Members of the Municipal Legislature of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, Puerto,

and upon review, deny the Petition; and

2. We will serve a copy of this order on the above mentioned persons, and Cape Air.

By:

SUSAN L. KURLAND

Assistant Secretary for

Aviation and International Affairs

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available online at

www.regulations.gov