Ka 'Ohana 0 Kalaupapa 

Board of Directors 

Clarence "Boogie" Kahilihiwa 

President 

Pauline Ahulau Chow 

Vice President 

Pauline Ka'iulani Puahala Hess 

Treasurer 

MaldaMalo 

Director 

Gloria Marks 

Director 

Mark Ellis 

Director 

Glenn Harada 

Director 

Sol Kaho'ohalahala 

Director 

Colette Machado 

Director 

Channaine Woodward 

Director 

Sister Davilyn Ah Chick, OSF 

Director 

Patrick Boland 

Director 

Valerie Monson 

Coordinator and Secretary 

... To Honor and To Perpetuate" 

March 19, 2014 

Kevin D. Schlemmer, Chief 

Essential Air Service & Domestic Analysis Division 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jerseys Ave, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Re: Order 2013-10-3, serving Kalaupapa, Hawaii, in support of Makani Kai Airlines 

Sent via email and US Mail 

Aloha Chief Schlemmer, 

I have been a resident of Kalaupapa for more than 50 years and serve as President of Ka 

'Ohana 0 Kalaupapa, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for the Kalaupapa 

community, developing educational programs and working in collaboration on the 

preservation of history. Our 'Ohana is made up of Kalaupapa residents, family 

members/ descendants, friends, students, clergy and anyone interested in Kalaupapa. 

As you are aware Kalaupapa went through a period of poor air service coupled with 

airfares that were more expensive than tickets from Honolulu to the West Coast. The 

community was so pleased when the Eseential Air Contract was awarded to Makani Kai 

two years ago. Th~ service provided by Makani Kai has been exemplary - they are nearly 

always on time, keep the airfares reasonable and provide friendly assistance to make 

travel to and from Kalaupapa enjoyable again. Many of us even know the owner of the 

airlines, Richard Shummer, by name - and he's always available to talk with us. 

We wrote a letter of support last October for Makani Kai to continue to be awarded the 

EAS contract, but we understand that the deadline has been extended so we are taking 

this opportunity to write again with our strong support for Makani Kai. We believe that 

the Kalaupapa community is nearly unanimous- if not unanimous- in their support. We 

understand there are other applicants for the contract and this letter is not to write 

disparaging of those airlines, but to urge you to consider the opinions of Kalaupapa first 

in making this decision which will impact their lives the most. 

We understand that the other applicants have letters of support from people who do not 

live at Kalaupapa, but we would ask you to ask them to show the letters and petitions of 

support they have from Kalaupapa residents. Many of those who have signed support 

letters for other applicants might never have even traveled to Kalaupapa before so this 

decision will not affect them like it will affect the people of Kalaupapa who rely on the 

airlines selected to receive the EAS contract. 

P.O. Box 1111 Kalaupapa, Hawai'i 96742 www.kalaupapaohana.org 
Makani Kai has served Kalaupapa in an outstanding manner. They should be rewarded 

with that record and be allowed to continue service here. Please listen to the voices of 

Kalaupapa when you make his decision. 

Thank you for this opportunity to comment.