U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

Dr. Susan A. May 

President · 

Fox Valley Technical College 

1825 N. Bluerhound Drive 

P.O. Box 2277 

Appleton, WI 54912-2277 

Dear Dr. May: 

:. ....... 

Assistant Secretary 

July 3, 2012 

1200 New Jersey Avenue. SE 

Washington. DC 20590 

Thank you for your letter addressed to Secretary LaHood supporting the proposal submitted by 

the Outagamie County Airport for a grant under the U.S. Department of Transportation's Small 

Community Air Service Development Program. The Secretary has requested that I respond on 

his behalf. 

The Small Community Air Service Development Program was established to help smaller 

communities address air .service deficiencies, particularly issues related to high airfares or 

insufficient service. Under the s.t<-:tute, the Department may n~ake a m.aximum of40 grant 

awards each year, although no more than 4 awards 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 flexibility in the types of projects that can be funded. 

On May 15, the Department issued an order requesting that communities inter-ested·in receiving a 

grant this year file their applications by .June 11. As these grant requests arc pending before the 

Department, I cannot comment on the merits of any particular proposal. I assure you that the 

Department will give full and fair 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-20 12-0069 as a contact outside the record of this matter. I appreciate your interest in 

this program. 

Sincerely yours, 

Susan L. Kurland 

Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and lnt~rnational Aft~tirs 
4- •,' .... ·"-<t; 

June 7, 2012 

The Honorable Ray LaHood 

Secretary 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

.400 yth Stre~t, SW ·Room .102QO 

Washington, D.C. 20590 

Dear Secretary LaHood: 

Dr. Sus;ill A. l\lay, Prc.:.;idcnt 

!82S N. Blucniolutd Orivl.", Jl.(\ 3tJ\: 2:!77 · .\irlcr<)n, 'XJ! ).~(J! ~-."?2/7 

Phone (92U) 73)-)GOO • T"ll-fn"' J.t;Q0-73 i-FV[C (.~8:12) 

'I"I'Y (920) 735-2569 · F;t,\: \nO) 7Y>·25f!7. • ·.· .... ·.w.f,~r.rJu 

I am writing in support of Outagamie County Regional Airport's application for a Small Community Air 

Service.Oev~lopment Grant..l sh~He the airport's goal of attracting affordable, convenient air service to 

our community, helping foster business and industry growth. 

Commercial Air Service at Outagamie County Regional Airport (ATW) is suffering after losing the United 

Airline flight to Denver during the economic downturn and Frontier Airlines having discontinued service 

to Milwaukee last year. These seats were critical in our market and we need to bad<fill this loss of 

capacity. 

At Fo>t Valley Technical College, a l<ey part of our mission is to support economic c!evelopment in the 

.region. Area businesses employ-many of our graduates and look to us for providing their workers with 

continuing training. W$ also bring in employees from all across the. country f9r spe~ialized training at 

our facilities in Appleton. A thriving business climate depends on easy access to convenient and costeffective air travel. In addition, we are building a comprehensive, state-of-the-art Public Safety Training 

Facility adjacent to the airport. We expect this multi-disciplinary facility to draw training participants 

from throughout the Midwest and the nation for integrated hands-on fire, law enforcement, and EMS 

.. training. CDnvenie'nt, affordable air access will be criijcal to its success as well. 

I believe transportation is critical to helping foster business and industry growth. ATW's grant request 

r)ffers a unique opportunity to study and prepare a business plan for n concept that has exciting 

potential to fundamentally lower airline operating costs in the market. In our view, lower operating 

costs for airlioes will help stabilize existing service and offer excellent opportunities:tO:grow.service, 

_unlike traditional revenue guarantees .. 

Air service plays a pivotal role in addressing the transportation needs of our communlty'and benefits not 

onlytthe.City of Appleton and Outagamie County, but Northeast Wisconsin as a \V~lQie .. A key ingredient 

in building a strong <.md vibrant economy is competitive air service access to the global·.rrrarketplace. We 

recognize the importance of quality commercial air service to the economy through improved access for 

visitors, and most importantly, to support area businesses, organizations and institutions. 

I ask that you give this grant application vour most thoughtful and serious consideration. 

Sincerely, 

/' 

i' 

_)(/., ___ t? v~l.-;y-· "{..i...--

l)r. Susan/>... iVIay 

President 

' ~-· ..