us. Department of '-- l (j.'C RAT! Of •'"•' 1200 New jersey Avenue, SE 

Transportatio n " ' Washington, DC 20590 

Office Of the Secretary j'; | ^rj 9^^ A u- c-^ 

of Transportation '•' "^ '•• J J 

October 24, 2011 

Philip Steed 

Airport Manager 

Jonesboro Municipal Airport 

3901 Lindbergh Drive 

Jonesboro, AR 72401 

Dear Mr. Steed: 

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

opportunity to submit any comments if you wish. In anticipation of the end of SeaPort's current 

contract on October 31, 2011, the Department issued Order 2011-4-15 on April 15, 2011, 

requesting proposals for a new contract period. Because the proposals did not address the high 

per-passenger subsidy at Hot Springs' and Jonesboro, the Department issued 2011-6-25 on June 

27, 2011, re-soliciting proposals from all interested aii' caniers. In response to that Order, 

SeaPort Airlines, hic, the incumbent (SeaPoit) and Multi-Aero, Inc. dA)/a Air Choice One (Air 

Choice One) submitted proposals. 

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

DOT-OST-1997-2935 in the "Enter Keyword or ID" section. 

Air Choice One proposes three nonstop round trips each weekday and weekend (18 per week) to 

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, using nine-passenger Cessna Grand Caravan for an 

annual subsidy of $1,717,781. 

SeaPort initially proposed service for Jonesboro, with 12 weekly nonstop round trips to St. Louis 

and 6 weekly nonstop round trips to Memphis, for an annual subsidy of $1,509,850, but 

withdrew its proposal on October 19. 

Since Order 2011-6-25 was issued. 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 

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- 2 

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. Jonesboro's eligibility may be affected by this amendment. 

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

to select Air Choice One, the only carrier proposing service, to serve Jonesboro for a one-year 

term. Any service that could possibly be subsidized after one year will be 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 Jonesboro passengers would actually pay, but, rather, reflect a prorated portion 

of the total ticket price, e.g., the Jonesboro - St. Louis portion of a Jonesboro - St. Louis -

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 

connecting 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 16, 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 Jonesboro. 

Sincerely, 

Dennis J. DeVany 

Chief, Essential Air Service