U.S. Department of 

Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

Of Transportation 

May24, 2012 

Mr. Nathan Cherpeski 

City Manager 

PO Box 419 

· Alamosa, CO 81101 

Dear Mr. Cherpeski: 

'7 ' 1:. 

1200 New Jersey Ave., S.IE. 

Washington, DC 20590 

I would like to update you on the Essential Air Service situation at Alamosa, Colorado and give 

you an opportunity to submit any comments if you wish. In anticipation of the end of Great 

Lakes' current contract on July 31, 2012, the Department issued Order 2012-4-21, on 

April16, 2012, to solicit proposals from all interested air carriers to provide service at Alamosa 

and/or Cortez, Colorado. In response to that Order, we received one proposal from the 

incumbent air carrier, Great Lakes, to provide EAS at both communities. 

A copy of the proposal is arttached and may be accessed online through the Department's 

Dockets Managem.ent Systen1t at http://www.regulations.gov/ by entering "DOT-OST2960" and "DOT -OST- A in oche "Enter K(eyword or ID" field, so we wm onliy brieflly 

summarize the proposal here. 

Great Lakes' proposal would continue to offer three round trips per day between Alamosa 2md 

Denver utilizing a 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D aircraft, for an annual subsidy of $2,078,676. 

Additionally, Great Lakes proposes to continue EAS operations at Cmtez with three round trips 

per day between Cortez and Denver utilizing a 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D aircraft, for an annual 

subsidy of $2,240,766. 

We want to give you an opportunity to submit any formal comments for the record before we 

submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs. We 

request that you submit any comments you may have as soon as possible, but in any case no later 

than June 15, 2012. We wm carefully consider your comments before we submit a 

recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. If you have ·any questions or if you 

find that you need additional thne to draf! your comm.ents, please let rne know. 
Please send your comments to me at the following email address: EAS@dot.gov or by fax to 

202-366-7838. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at scott.faulk@dot.gov 

or 202-366-9967. 

Sincerely, 

~~ Scott Faulk 

Essential Air Service Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

Enclosure 
Before the United States Department of Transportation 

Washington, DC 

Essential Air Service at 

ALAMOSA, COLORADO 

CORTEZ, COLORADO 

under49 U.S.C. 41731 et.seq. 

May 15, 2012 

Docket OST -1997-2960 

Docket OST-1998-3508 

This document contains Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd.'s response to Order Requesting 

Proposals 2012-4-21. 

Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. is pleased to submit these proposals to provide essential air 

transportation at these points in Colorado. These proposals are submitted on a stand 

alone basis. 

Our proposals contemplate conveniently timed connecting services to our Denver hub, whereby 

passengers may utilize our code-share agreerneAts with United Airlines and Frontier Airlines. 

Local service will be marketed and priced utilizing the Great Lakes (ZK) brand and reservations 

system. Additionally, Great Lakes maintains interline ticketing and baggage agreements with 

the majority of the other carriers serving Denver, including interline e-ticketing agreements with 

American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Frontier Airlines, United Airlines and U.S. Airways. All of 

which will offer passengers traveling to and from these communities supplemental access to 

the domestic and international air transportation system. 

These proposals assume the use of pressurized 19 seat Beechcraft 1900D airliner 

equipment. ·· 

Questions and comments may be referred to: 

Michael 0. Matthews 

Chief Financial Officer 

Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. 

1 022 Airport Parkway 

Cheyenne, VVY 82001 

(307) 432-7000 
Table of Contents: 

Subsidy P

Proposal Service Point(s) Hub(s) Served Round Trips Equipment Requirement 

1 Alamosa, Colorado Denver 3 1900D $2,078,676 

2 Cortez, Colorado Denver 3 1900D $2,240,766 
Departures: 

Block Hours: 

Great Lakes Aviation, ltd. 

Annual Compensation Requirements for Essential Air Service at 

Alamosa, Colorado to Denver (DEN) 

Three Round Trips- 81900 

(at 98 percent completion) 

Revenue Passenger Miles: 

Available Seat Miles: 

Operating Revenues: 

Passenger: 15,000 psgrs at $102.72 $1,540,800 

Other: (at 0.62% of passenger revenue) $9,553. 

Total Operating Revenues: 

Operating Expenses: 1 Direct: Aircraft and Hull Insurance 

Fuel and Oil 

Flying Operations 

Maintenance 

$365,710 

$1,057,245 

$317,003 

$512,429 

Total Direct Expenses: 

Total Indirect Expenses: 

Total Operating Expenses: 

Operating Loss 

Profit Element (5.0% of Total Operating Expenses) 

Annual Compensation Requirement: 

Representative Schedule 

**" [ALS] Alamosa, Colorado *"* 

-·-······-··-······- 0 E P A R T U R E S ······-······-···--· 

FLT TO OPT ARR EQP 

7263 DEN 6:00 7:00 BE1 

7263 DEN 8:00 9:00 BE1 

7264 DEN 10:45 11:45 BE1 

7269 DEN 16:28 17:28 BE1 

·------~---····-···- A R R I V A L S -·-···-····-········ 

FL T FROM OPT ARR EQP 

7305 DEN 12:15 13:13 BE1 

7268 DEN 15:20 16:18 BE1 

7258 DEN 20:58 21:56 BE1 

7258 DEN 20:58 21:56 BE1 

No Upline Scheduling Restrictions 

FREQ 

12345 

6 

12345 7 

12345 7 

FREQ 

12345 

12345 7 

6 . 

12345 7 

1,840 

1,810 

2,685,000 

6,257,840 

$1,550,353 

$2,252,387 

$1,203,831 

$3,456,218 

($1 ,905,865) 

$172,811 

$2,078,676 
Departures: 

Block Hours: 

Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. 

Annual Compensation Requirements for Essential Air Service at 

Cortez, Colorado to Denver (DEN) 

Three Round Trips- 81900 

(at 98 percent completion) 

Revenue Passenger Miles: 

Available Seat Miles: 

Operating Revenues: 

Passenger: 16,000 psgrs at $127.98 $2,047,680 

Other: (at 0.62% of passenger revenue) $12,696 

Total Operating Revenues: 

Operating Expenses: 

Direct: Aircraft and Hull Insurance 

Fuel and Oil 

Flying Operations 

Maintenance 

$365,710 

$1,373,084 

$411,054 

$586,411 

Total Direct Expenses: 

Total Indirect Expenses: 

Total Operating Expenses: 

Operating Loss 

Profit Element (5.0% of'Total Operating Expenses) 

Annual Compensation Requirement: 

Representative Schedule 

*** [CEZ) Cortez, Colorado *** 

-------------------- 0 E P A R T U R E S -----------·-------· 

FL T TO OPT ARR EQP 

7261 DEN 6:00 7:13 BE1 

7261 DEN 6:45 7:58 BE1 

7263 DEN 8:05 9:18 BE1 

7267 DEN 16:17 17:30 BE1 

--·······-------·--- A R R I V A L S --·---···--····--··· 

FL T FROM OPT ARR EQP 

7262 DEN 8:35 21 :55 BE1 

7266 DEN 14:43 16:03 BE1 

7267 DEN 16:45 18:05 BE1 

7270 DEN 20:56 22:16 BE1 

No Upiine Scheduling Restrictions 

FREQ 

12345 

6 

1234567 

12345 7 

FREQ 

1234567 

12345 7 

6 

12345 7 

1,840 

2,347 

4,448,000 

9,718,880 

$2,060,376 

$2,736,259 

$1,360,067 

$4,096,326 

($2,035,950) 

$204,816 

$2,240,766