U.S. Department ofTransportation Office of the Secretary ofTransportation Assistant Secretary April 20, 2012 

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### 2 General Ralph E. Eberhart, USAF (ret.) President, Armed Forces BenefitAssociation 909 North Washington Street. Alexandria, VA 22314 Dear General Eberhart: OL: 1200 New Jersey Avenue. SE Washington, DC 20590

Thankyou for your letterto Secretary ofTransportation Ray LaHood, supporting the application ofFrontierAirlines for two beyond-perimeter slotexemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). Frontier's applicationproposes to serve Colorado Springs, Colorado with one round trip per day from DCA, with direct service beyondto San Diego, California Secretary LaHood asked me to respond to your letter. Under authority granted in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of2012,the U.S. DepartmentofTransportationwill be awarding to new entrant or limited incumbent carriers atotal ofeight slotexemptions at DCA, which would support four daily round trips. We received Frontier's application on March 12. Other timely applications were received from Air Canada, proposing one round trip to Vancouver, British Columbia; Alaska Airlines, one round trip to Portland, Oregon and one round trip to San Diego; JetBlue Airlines, one round trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and one round trip to Austin, Texas; Southwest Airlines, one round trip to Austin and San Diego beyond; Sun Country Airlines, one round trip to Las Vegas; and Virgin America, Inc., two round trips to San Francisco. As the matter is still pending, Icannotcomment onthe merits ofthe points raised in your letter. However, Ican assure you that all applications the Departmentreceived will be given full and fair consideration and will be evaluated against the selection criteria specifiedinthe statute. The Department's action on this matter is being administered through apublic docket, which allows all interestedparties the opportunity to comment. Following ournormal practice, I am placing acopy ofyour letter and this response in docket numberDOT-2012-0029. I appreciate your interest inthis matter. Sincerely yours,

usan L. Kurland Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs

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# *AFBA Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart General, USAF (Ret.) President

April 10, 2012

The Honorable Ray LaHood Secretary ofTransportation U.S. Department ofTransportation 1200 NewJersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 Re: Application ofFrontier Airlines for Two Beyond-Perimeter Slot Exemptions for Washington National-Colorado Springs Nonstop Service (Docket DOT-OST-2012-0029) Dear Secretary LaHood: As Chairman of 5 Star Bank, owner ofthree full-service state banks located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, one ofwhich is situated on Peterson Air Force Base for the convenience ofits principal military clientele - I respectfully urge your early granting of the Frontier Airlines application. In addition to 5 Star Bank, I oversee from headquarter offices in Alexandria, Virginia, the affairs ofa 64 year-old nationally recognized non-profit Association also devoted to the financial well-being ofpersons in the uniformed services ofthe**U~ited ~tates**  a.D:d their families.

. . . Current travel costs for operational support staffbetween the Colorado Springs Airport and Washington Reagan National, range from $1,000 to $3,000 monthly, and one-way travel time can exceed eight (8) hours, since there are no non-stops from Reagan National to Colorado Springs, and justone flight daily on a small regionaljetfrom Dulles International Airport. Approval of the Frontier application to establish more efficient and less costly service between the airports of Colorado Springs ·and Reagan National would not only benefit the**~conomies** of Colorado Springs and Alexandria, Virginia, but would go a long way towards translating my organization's cost savings into greaterbenefits for American military families. Very truly yours,



# f!t£tL,/ Ralph E. Eberhart General, USAF (Ret.)

Armed Forces Benefit Association Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 • 703-706-5940 • eeberhart@afba.com