U.S.Department of Transportation ASSIS!3nt Secretary 12JO New Jersey Ave, S E 'Nasi'lngton, DC 20590 Office oftheSecretary ofTransportation

Mr. Joseph A. Barbetta Chair Sarasota County Board ofCounty Commissioners 1660 Ringling Boulevard Sarasota, FL 34236 Dear Mr. Barbetta: 

## OCT .2 52010

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### o

Thank you for your letter ofOctober 6 to Secretary LaHood supporting AirTran Airways, Inc. (AirTran) to serve Sarasota, Florida, in the ongoing slot-exemption proceeding at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The Secretaryhas asked that I respond to your letterdirectly. As you know, the u.S. Department ofTransportation commenced a proceeding on August 30 to reallocate two DCA slot exemptions that are currently being used by Republic Airline, Inc. (Republic). Republic has been using these two slot exemptions for DCA

- Kansas City service. These slot exemptions maybe used to serve any medium hub or smaller airport within the 1,250-mile perimeterofDCA. We have received a total offive proposals, briefly outlinedbelow:
• Sun Country to serve Lansing, Michigan, with 129- or 162-seat aircraft; • Republic Airline, Inc., branded as Frontier Airlines, to continue to serve Kansas City, Missouri, with 99-seatregionaljet aircraft; • Southwest Airlines Co., to serve Kansas Cityutilizing 137-seat aircraft; • US Airways, Inc., to serve Pensacola, Florida, utilizing 76- or 86-seat regionaljet aircraft, depending on the season; and • Air Tran Airways, Inc., to serve either Fort Myers or Sarasota, Florida, utilizing either 117- or 137-seat aircraft. As the slot exemption proceeding is competitive and is currently under review bythe Department, I am sure you understand that Icannot comment on the merits ofthe proposals. Iassure you, however, that the Department will fully consider all ofthe proposals, and make its award based on the selection criteria detailed in the goveming statutes.Mr. Joseph A. Bm'betta Page 2
As is our normal practice, I am plaCIng a copy ofyour letter and my response in Docket DOT-OST-2000-7182 as a contact outside the record ofthis proceeding, I appreciate your interest in obtaining access to the Nation's capital. 

### IfIcan provide further information or assistance, please feel free to call me,

Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairsl
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## SARASOTACOUNTY "Dedicatedto Quality Service"

October 6, 2010
The HonorableRay H. LaHood Secretary ofTransportation U.S. DepartmentofTransportation 1200NewJersey Avenue, S.E. Washington, DC 20590 RE: Docket OST-2000-7182 Dear Secretary LaHood: S10-1 II I() I5-()()3

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS 1660 Ringling Boulevard Sarasota, Florida 34236 Telephone 941·861·5344 Fax 941·861·5987

We are writing to express our support for the application ofAirTran Airways Inc. for the two available Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) within-perimeter slots being allocated by the Department inDocket OST-2000-7182 to provide nonstop service from Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) to DCA. The Sarasota Bradenton area has only one daily nonstop on a regionaljet to Washington, DC, eventhough it is the sixth largest destination market from this area. With over750,000 residents and ourprime location as a leisure destination for tourists, SRQ can certainly support additional service and it would be a great help to the tourism industry in this region, which suffered a significant impact from the BP oil spill. This new service would also mitigate the negative economic impact the recession has had on the community and the airport. While AirTran also offers an alternative to award the route to Southwest Florida International (RSW). we ask that the slot be awarded to Airtran conditioned on the slot be utilized for SRQ. In addition to enhancing competition and lowering fares at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, the proposed service would increase connectivity to destinations in the Northeast and Midwest, critical markets for our region. 

### Thank you for your consideration.

### SincerelY~­

# J~~BARBETT~CHAIR County Commissioner, District 2

CarolynJ.Mason, DistrIct 1 • Josepfl A. Batbetta. District2 • Shannon Staub, District3 • Nora Patterson, District" • Jon Thaxton, DiItrIct5 cmason@sc!pvnet jbarbett@scgov.net sstaub@scgov.net npaners@scgov

.neI jthaxton@scgov.nel