o ^ !•-,-,-( tr- \ •,-T 

LLS. Department Of 

Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

^iMENTOF 

iSPORIATION 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

The Honorable Ray S. Jones, II 

Kentucky Senator 

Frankfort, KY 40601 

Dear Mr. Jones: 

SEP 2 I 2011 

Thank you for your letter supporting the proposal submitted by the City of Pikeville for a 

grant under the Small Community Air Service Development Program (Small Community 

Program). 

The Small Community Program was established to help smaller communities address air 

service deficiencies, particularly issues related to high airfares and insufficient service. 

Under the statute, the Department may use the funds to make a maximum of 40 grant 

awards each year, although no more than four may be to communities in the same State. 

In order to provide communities with latitude in developing solutions to their air service 

deficiencies, the statute provides significant flexibility in how the financial assistance 

may be used. 

On July 1, the Department issued an order requesting that communities interested in 

receiving a grant this year file their applications by August 2. As these grant requests are 

pending before the Department, I am sure you understand that I cannot comment on the 

merits of any particular proposal. I assure you, however, that the Department will give 

full consideration to all proposals that have been properly filed. 

As is our normal practice, I am placing a copy of your letter and this response in Docket 

DOT-OST-2011-0119 as a contact outside die record of this matter. I appreciate your 

interest in this program. If I can provide fiirther information or assistance, please feel 

fi-ee to call me. 

Sincerely yours. 

Aloha Ley 

Associate Director 

Small Community Program 
% -

STATE SENATE 

RAY S. JONES, II ^^^ ^ P.O. DRAWER 3850 

STATE SENATOR ^Pwvi ^ PIKEVILLE, KY 41502 

CAPITOL ANNEX ^^S W m (606)432-5777 

FRANKFORT, ICY 40601 

(502) 564-8100 EXT. 681 

3 1 " SENATE DISTRICT 

August 12, 2011 

Ms. Aloha Ley 

Associate Director, Small Community Program 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

W86-310 

Washington, D.C. 20590 

RE: City of Pikeville 

Small Community Air Service Development Grant Proposal 

Docket DOT-OST-2011-0119 

Dear Ms. Ley, 

I am writing to support the above referenced Small Community Air Service Development 

grant proposal, submitted by the City of Pikeville. 

The Pikeville-Pike County Regional Airport (PBX) sits at the center of a 13 county 

region of 345,000 people in Eastern Kentucky, Western Virginia and Southwestern 

West Virginia and is more than 100 miles from the nearest commercial airport. The 

PBX Region is surrounded by one of America's most important energy producing 

regions and is ripe for additional economic, industrial and business growth. The 

introduction of scheduled passenger airline service will assist in creating thousands of 

new jobs. 

The successful award of a Small Community Air Service Development grant will 

significantly assist the City of Pikeville and its partners - the Pikeville-Pike County 

Airport Board and the Southeastern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and its consultant 

in successfully recruiting a regional airline which will provide service to a major 

connecting hub. I am pleased to join my colleagues from throughout the region in 

recommending that the Department provide the SCASD grant to the City of Pikeville. 

state S«