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 2 nd of November, 2011

Ninety

- day Notice of Mesaba A viation

, 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 C ity of Pierre, South Dakot a (“Pierre ” or the “ City”) , to file a petition for reconsi deration of Order 2011

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- 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 termination s at tho se communities , with the exce ption of Pierre, would have left the communities with no scheduled air service at all . Thus, the Department prohibit ed Delta from terminating service at those communities at the end of the 90

- day notice period, i.e., October 13 , 2011, and required Delta t o continue to provide the level of service it was operating for successive 30

- day periods until we ha d completed processing the carrier

- replacement case and the selected carrier ha d 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, w e relied on the subsidy

- free Pierre

- Denver service being provid ed 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’ nonsto p service- 2

-

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 sta tutory 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 Minneapoli s 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

c arriers in that effort.

Pierre’s Petition On October 3, 2011, Pierre , filed a petition for reconsideration of Order 2011

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- 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

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- 5 effectively redefined EAS at Pierre as twice

daily service to one hub, Denver, with 19

- seat aircraft , and that Order 2011

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- 5 departed from the po sition of successive orders that had consistently requir ed 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 reiterat ing its nee d for two

- hub service, especially to the eastern hub, Minneapolis. The C ity expressed concern that with Denver

- only service

, it c ould 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. W e recognize that the process of Delta’s filing to suspend service and the City ’s subsequent filings have crea ted 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 w e 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 pr ovide 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

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- 5 to January 15, 2012 , and w e will require Delta to continue to provide two r ound trips a day (12 a week) in the Pierre

Minneapolis m arket t hrough January 15, 2012

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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.- 3

-

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

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- 5

- 31, filed by the City of Pierre, S outh D akota ;
2. We grant the Motion to File an Amendment to the Petition for Reconsideration of Order 2011

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- 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 trip s 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 A viation, Delta Air Lines

, Pinnacle Air lines 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