Order 2011-11-4

Served: November 2, 2011

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 2nd of November, 2011

Ninety-day Notice of Mesaba Aviation, 

Inc., and Pinnacle Airlines, Inc., to 

terminate service at: 

Pierre, South Dakota

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

 Docket 2011-0138

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO FILE

PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION

Summary

By this order, the Department is (a) granting the motion of the City of Pierre, South 

Dakota (“Pierre” or the “City”), to file a petition for reconsideration of Order 2011-9-5, 

and (b) extending Mesaba Aviation, Inc.’s (“Mesaba”) termination date, pending the 

Department’s final decision on the petition. 

Background

On July 15, 2011, Mesaba and Pinnacle Airlines, d/b/a Delta Connection (Delta), filed 

90-day notices, effective October 13, 2011, to terminate their air service at twenty-four 

communities, including Pierre. Delta’s proposed terminations at those communities, with 

the exception of Pierre, would have left the communities with no scheduled air service at 

all. Thus, the Department prohibited Delta from terminating service at those 

communities at the end of the 90-day notice period, i.e., October 13, 2011, and required 

Delta to continue to provide the level of service it was operating for successive 30-day 

periods until we had completed processing the carrier-replacement case and the selected 

carrier had actually started service. 

At Pierre, we allowed Delta to discontinue service to Minneapolis/St. Paul International 

Airport at the end of its 90-day notice period on October 13, 2011. In so doing, we relied 

on the subsidy-free Pierre-Denver service being provided by Great Lakes Aviation, Inc.

(Great Lakes). The order stated that the Essential Air Service (“EAS”) program was 

designed to be a safety-net program ensuring that communities received at least two round 

trips a day to a large or medium hub airport. We noted that Great Lakes’ nonstop service 
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to Denver provided Pierre with excellent connections to the national transportation system 

by three major carriers: United, Frontier, and Southwest.

Furthermore, we notified Great Lakes that it must continue to provide at least the 

minimum statutory service levels, and that it remained subject to the 90-day notice 

requirements as we were relying on its service to meet the community’s need. We 

acknowledged that Delta’s direct service to Minneapolis would be lost, but noted that local 

Minneapolis passengers made up only a small portion of Pierre’s total passengers. Finally, 

while not determinative, we expected that another airline would fill the service void to 

Minneapolis, and we encouraged the community to work with all potential replacement 

carriers in that effort. 

Pierre’s Petition

On October 3, 2011, Pierre, filed a petition for reconsideration of Order 2011-9-5. 

Specifically, Pierre requests that Delta “be held in pending a redetermination of Pierre’s 

level of essential air service (EAS) and solicitation of carrier proposals to perform this level 

of service.” Pierre argues that Order 2011-9-5 effectively redefined EAS at Pierre as twicedaily service to one hub, Denver, with 19-seat aircraft, and that Order 2011-9-5 departed 

from the position of successive orders that had consistently required that Pierre receive 

two-hub service to Minneapolis and Denver. 

On October 17, 2011, the City filed for leave to file and amend their Petition and provided

additional comments reiterating its need for two-hub service, especially to the eastern hub, 

Minneapolis. The City expressed concern that with Denver-only service, it could forego

$1 million annually of airport funding due to losing its status as a primary airport.1 It 

indicates that recently $8,877,489 in federal money and $2.4 million of funds contributed 

by Pierre itself, designed to boost Pierre’s traffic, would be wasted without service to 

Minneapolis. 

Decision

We grant Pierre’s Motion to File a Petition For Reconsideration and are currently 

reviewing the merits of Pierre’s Petition. In addition, we are holding-in Delta pending 

our final determination of Pierre’s Petition. We recognize that the process of Delta’s 

filing to suspend service and the City’s subsequent filings have created confusion and 

uncertainty over the status of Pierre’s air service. Adding to the confusion is the fact that 

even though we allowed Delta to suspend service on October 13, 2011, the carrier is 

continuing to serve the market through November 20, 2011. We are concerned about the 

uncertainty of the traveling public over the status of Pierre’s air service, and we are also 

cognizant of the fact that the holiday season begins at the same time as Delta’s planned 

suspension date of November 20. In order to provide some certainty to the traveling 

public in these unusual circumstances, especially during the holiday season, we will 

amend Delta’s suspension date specified in Order 2011-9-5 to January 15, 2012, and we 

will require Delta to continue to provide two round trips a day (12 a week) in the PierreMinneapolis market through January 15, 2012.2

 1 The FAA’s threshold for primary airports is annual enplanements of 10,000 or more.

14 CFR § 302.14(a)(2).

2 We will address the compensation issue for Delta in a separate order.
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This order is issued under authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.56a(f).

ACCORDINGLY:

1. We grant the Motion to File a Petition for Reconsideration of Order 2011-9-5-31, filed 

by the City of Pierre, South Dakota;

2. We grant the Motion to File an Amendment to the Petition for Reconsideration of 

Order 2011-9-5-31, filed by the City of Pierre, South Dakota; 

3. We require Mesaba Aviation, Inc., and Pinnacle Airlines, d/b/a Delta Connection, to 

continue to provide two round trips a day (12 a week) in the Pierre-Minneapolis market through 

January 15, 2012; and

4. The Department will serve a copy of this order on the Great Lakes Aviation, Delta Air Lines,

Pinnacle Airlines and Mesaba Aviation.

By:

Susan L. Kurland

Assistant Secretary for

Aviation and International Affairs

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available

at http://www.regulations.gov