Order 2013-2-22

Served: February 22, 2013

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 22nd of February, 2013

Essential Air Service at

TATITLEK, ALASKA

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

DOCKET DOT-OST-2013-0030

ORDER REQUESTING PROPOSALS

Summary

By this Order, the Department is requesting proposals by March 21, 2013, from carriers 

interested in providing Essential Air Service (EAS) at Tatitlek, Alaska, for a two-year 

period, with or without subsidy. 

Background

Arctic Circle Air Service, Inc., provided scheduled passenger service to Tatitlek through 

April of 2008 and terminated its service at that time without filing a 90-day notice of its 

intent to suspend that service. The carrier ceased all operations in 

August of 2010. 

By letter dated February 4, 2013, the Village of Tatitlek indicated that:

Tatitlek can only be reached by sea on the Alaska State Ferry (seasonally) or by 

chartered and erratic air service from Anchorage, Alaska. Our mail service is 

irregular and arrives on a chartered cargo-only airplane. Our community does 

not have reliable mail or freight service or an affordable means to travel to 

Anchorage for medical, educational, or business purposes. 

The mail service is provided by Alaska Central Express under a Direct Air Taxi Contract 

with the United States Postal Service.

Request for Proposals

Order 1980-1-167, January 25, 1980, issued EAS determinations for the State of Alaska,

including Tatitlek. That Order required Tatitlek’s level of air service to be no less than 

one scheduled round trip per week during the peak season and one flag-stop round trip 

per week during the off-peak to Cordova with small aircraft having ten or fewer seats and 

up to two intermediate stops. 
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Because there is no regularly scheduled air service to Tatitlek and it is guaranteed EAS, 

we will request proposals for EAS. We are requesting proposals from carriers interested 

in providing service at Tatitlek, with or without subsidy, from the start of their service 

pursuant to a Department Order for a two-year period. Carriers should file their

proposals by March 21, 2013. Staff will then docket the proposals, thereby making them 

public. Shortly afterwards, we will provide a summary of the proposals to the 

community and State and ask them to submit their final comments. We will give full 

consideration to all proposals filed in a timely manner.1 Interested carriers should 

prepare their proposals with every expectation that their initial proposals will also be their 

final and only proposals. We retain the discretion to negotiate proposals with carriers 

when we deem it desirable. We also retain the discretion to reject outright all 

unreasonable or unrealistic proposals and, if necessary, solicit a new round of proposals. 

However, we anticipate that negotiation or rejection will remain only occasional 

exceptions to the rule.

We are here providing interested carriers with some basic information to serve as 

guidance when they prepare their proposals, but we will not prescribe a precise format for 

their proposals. We expect proposals to adequately describe the service being proposed 

and the annual amount of subsidy being requested. The applicants can make their own 

judgments as to the level of detail they wish to present; however, they might want to 

include proposed schedules as well as supporting data for their subsidy requests, such as 

projected block hours, revenues, and expenses. We strongly encourage clear, welldocumented proposals that will facilitate their evaluation by the affected community and 

the Department. We anticipate applying our usual carrier-selection criteria and the 

general provisions governing subsidy payments for EAS.2 

As always, we will formally solicit the community’s views on any service options we 

receive before making a long-term carrier-selection decision. The community and air 

carriers are encouraged to work together in advance of the due date for proposals to craft 

a service pattern that is both desirable to the community and meets the operational needs 

of the airlines, as carriers cannot amend their proposal after the due date. 

We encourage proposals that meet the community’s requirements in an efficient manner. 

Consistent with the EAS determination, proposals should propose to provide one 

scheduled passenger round trip per week. Carriers are also welcome to propose more 

than one service option, if they choose; they need not limit themselves to a single specific 

 1 Carriers should not expect the Department to accept late filings. In cases where a carrier proposes to 

provide EAS without subsidy and we determine that service can be reliably provided without such 

compensation, we typically do not proceed with the carrier-selection case. Instead, we simply rely on that 

carrier’s subsidy-free service as proposed.

2 In selecting a carrier to provide subsidized EAS in Alaska, 49 U.S.C. § 41733(c) (1) directs us to consider 

five factors: (1) service reliability; (2) contractual and marketing arrangements with a larger carrier at the 

hub; (3) interline arrangements with a larger carrier at the hub; (4) community views; and (5) experience of 

the applicant in providing, in Alaska, scheduled air service or significant non-scheduled air service. In 

addition, The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, Public Law 110-161, provides that when selecting a 

carrier to provide EAS, the Department may consider the relative subsidy requirements, thus codifying a 

factor that we have considered since the inception of the program. Interested carriers should also be aware 

that our general provisions governing EAS will be included in the selection Order as part of our 

authorization of subsidy for the selected service. Appendix G of this Order contains those general 

provisions.
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service pattern if they envision other, potentially more attractive service possibilities –

different hubs, or longer terms for the contracted service – with subsidy requirements that 

remain competitive.

Filing Format

Carrier proposals should be submitted to the Department with all materials merged into a 

single document. In addition, because the document will be published on 

Regulations.gov, each page should be formatted to be viewed online.

Historical Traffic

In order to assist carriers in making their traffic and revenue projections, we have 

included historical traffic for the community in Appendix B for the most recent annual 

periods. 

Other Carrier Requirements

The Department is responsible for implementing various Federal statutes governing lobbying 

activities, drug-free workplaces, and nondiscrimination.3 Consequently, all carriers receiving 

Federal subsidy to support EAS must certify that they are in compliance with Department 

regulations regarding drug-free workplaces and nondiscrimination, and those carriers whose 

subsidies exceed $100,000 over the life of the rate term must also certify that they are in 

compliance with the regulations governing lobbying activities. Because the Department is 

prohibited from paying subsidy to carriers that do not submit these documents, the selected 

carrier will be required to submit them in order to receive subsidy. Interested carriers 

requiring more detailed information regarding these requirements, as well as copies of the 

certifications, should contact the Office of Aviation Analysis at (202) 366-5903. The 

Department is prohibited from paying subsidy to carriers that do not submit these documents.

Community Comments

Civic officials and the State are welcome to submit comments on the proposals at any time. 

As noted earlier, we will provide a summary of the proposals to the civic parties and ask 

them to submit their final comments shortly after March 21, the due date for carrier 

proposals.

This Order is issued under authority delegated in 49 CFR Part 1.56a(f) and re-delegated 

to the Director, Office of Aviation Analysis.

ACCORDINGLY,

1. The Department requests proposals from carriers interested in providing EAS at Tatitlek, 

Alaska. Carriers should submit their proposals, with subsidy if necessary, by March 21, 

2013. Proposals should be emailed to EAS@dot.gov, with the title “Proposal to Provide 

EAS at Tatitlek, Docket DOT-OST-2013-0030.” Questions regarding filings may be

directed to Kevin Adams at 202-366-1047 or Kevin.Adams@dot.gov;

2. This Docket will remain open until further Order of the Department; and

 3 The certifications are available on the web at http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/aviation/index.html.
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3. We will serve this Order on the service list for this Docket.

Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of this Order under the 

Department’s Regulations, 14 CFR 385.31, must file such petitions within seven (7) days 

after the date of service of this Order. 

This Order will be effective immediately, and the filing of a petition for review shall not 

preclude its effectiveness.

By: 

TODD M. HOMAN

Director

Office of Aviation Analysis

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available on the World Wide Web at

http://www.regulations.gov
Appendix A

Nonstop Great Circle Miles to Tatitlek (TEK)

Anchorage, ANC 113

Cordova, CDV 49

Chenega, NCN 71

Valdez, VDZ 24
Appendix B

Historical Traffic at Tatitlek (TEK)

Origin, Tatitlek Dest, Tatilek O&D, Tatilek

Year Month Freight Mail Freight Mail Freight Mail

2010 1 0.1 0.8 8.4 11.8 8.5 12.6

2010 2 0.0 0.7 2.1 10.8 2.1 11.5

2010 3 0.0 0.2 1.1 9.1 1.2 9.3

2010 4 0.0 1.1 2.2 11.1 2.2 12.2

2010 5 0.2 0.9 0.8 6.1 1.0 6.9

2010 6 0.2 1.7 1.6 10.1 1.8 11.7

2010 7 0.1 1.0 0.3 7.4 0.4 8.4

2010 8 0.0 0.4 7.1 6.2 7.2 6.6

2010 9 0.0 0.2 6.6 11.8 6.6 12.0

2010 10 0.0 0.2 0.5 12.4 0.5 12.5

2010 11 5.0 0.2 3.3 12.3 8.3 12.6

2010 12 10.1 0.7 1.2 19.1 11.2 19.8

Total 15.8 8.0 35.1 128.2 50.9 136.2

2011 1 0.0 0.6 2.0 6.0 2.0 6.6

2011 2 0.1 0.3 0.1 9.3 0.2 9.6

2011 3 0.0 1.1 0.9 8.0 0.9 9.1

2011 4 0.0 0.3 3.9 8.3 3.9 8.6

2011 5 0.0 0.6 6.8 9.1 6.8 9.7

2011 6 0.0 0.2 4.9 17.7 4.9 17.9

2011 7 0.0 0.4 0.7 11.6 0.7 12.0

2011 8 0.0 1.6 4.0 19.3 4.0 20.9

2011 9 0.2 0.3 3.3 20.7 3.5 21.0

2011 10 0.0 0.6 4.2 13.9 4.2 14.5

2011 11 0.0 0.2 2.0 19.0 2.0 19.2

2011 12 0.0 1.4 8.1 15.9 8.1 17.3

Total 0.3 7.6 40.9 158.9 41.1 166.5

2012 1 0.0 0.5 6.9 16.8 6.9 17.3

2012 2 0.7 0.4 10.7 12.6 11.4 13.0

2012 3 0.0 0.0 4.1 18.8 4.2 18.8

2012 4 0.1 0.1 0.6 10.2 0.8 10.4

2012 5 0.2 1.3 0.6 9.6 0.9 10.9

2012 6 0.0 1.6 0.9 13.6 0.9 15.2

2012 7 0.0 0.9 1.6 9.6 1.6 10.5

2012 8 0.0 4.4 8.0 15.6 8.0 20.0

2012 9 0.0 0.9 1.4 17.1 1.4 18.0

2012 10 0.1 0.9 4.8 16.6 4.8 17.4

2012 11 0.0 1.6 8.4 8.0 8.4 9.6

2012 12 0.0 0.6 1.4 15.2 1.4 15.9

Total 1.2 13.2 49.5 163.7 50.7 176.9

Source: T-100 Market Report

Note: All data in passenger equivalents -- 200 pounds of mail or freight is one passenger equivalent (PEQ).

Note: There was a de minimis level of charter, or of scheduled passenger service reported.
Appendix C

Example of General Terms and Conditions for Essential Air Service

The carrier understands that it may forfeit its compensation for any flights that it does not 

operate in conformance with the terms and stipulations of the rate Order, including the 

service plans outlined in the Order and any other significant elements of the required 

service, without prior approval. The carrier understands that an aircraft take-off and 

landing at its scheduled destination constitutes a completed flight; absent an explanation 

supporting subsidy eligibility for a flight that has not been completed, such as certain 

weather cancellations, only completed flights are considered eligible for subsidy. In 

addition, if the carrier does not schedule or operate its flights in full conformance with the 

Order for a significant period, it may jeopardize its entire subsidy claim for the period in 

question. If the carrier contemplates any such changes beyond the scope of the Order

during the applicable period of these rates, it must first notify the Office of Aviation 

Analysis in writing and receive written approval from the Department to be ensured of 

full compensation. Should circumstances warrant, the Department may locate and select 

a replacement carrier to provide service on these routes. The carrier must complete all 

flights that can be safely operated; flights that overfly points for lack of traffic will not be 

compensated. In determining whether subsidy payment for a deviating flight should be 

adjusted or disallowed, the Department will consider the extent to which the goals of the 

program are met and the extent of access to the national air transportation system 

provided to the community.

If the Department unilaterally, either partially or completely, terminates or reduces 

payments for service or changes service requirements at a specific location provided for 

under this Order, then, at the end of the period for which the Department does make 

payments in the stipulated amounts or at the stipulated service levels, the carrier may 

cease to provide service to that specific location without regard to any requirement for 

notice of such cessation. Those adjustments in the levels of subsidy and/or service that 

are mutually agreed to in writing by the Department and carrier do not constitute a total 

or partial reduction or cessation of payment.

Subsidy contracts are subject to, and incorporate by reference, relevant statutes and 

Department regulations, as they may be amended from time to time. However, any such 

statutes, regulations, or amendments thereto shall not operate to controvert the foregoing 

paragraph.

Funds are not currently available for performance under this solicitation beyond 

[DATE]. The Department’s obligation for performance under this solicitation beyond 

[DATE], is contingent upon the availability of appropriated funds from which payment 

for services can be made. No legal liability on the part of the Government for any 

payment may arise for performance under this Order beyond [DATE], until funds are 

made available to the Department for performance. If funds are not made available for 

performance beyond [DATE], the carrier will receive notice in writing by the 

Department.

All claims for payment must be submitted within 60 days of the last day of service 

provided under this Order