U.S. Department of 1200 New Jersey Ave., S.E. 

Transportation washington. oc 20590 

Office of the Secretary 

Of Transportation 

The Honorable Jim Desmond 

Mayor of San Marcos 

San Marcos, CA 92069-2918 

Dear Mayor Desmond: 

JUL 6 20t! 

Thank you for your letter supporting the proposal submitted by the McClellan-Palomar Airport 

for a grant under the U.S. Department of Transportation's Small Community Air Service 

Development Program. 

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 statute, the Department may make a maximum of 40 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 interested in receiving a 

grant this year file their applications by June 11. As these grant requests are 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-2012-0069 as a contact outside the record of this matter. I appreciate your interest in 

this program. 

Sincerely yours, 

~~ Aloha Ley 

Associate Director 

Small Community Program 
May 24,2012 

Aloha Ley 

Associate Director 

Small Community Air Service Development Program 

United States Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

RE: SUPPORT OF MCCLELLAN-PALOMAR AIRPORT GRANT APPLICATION UNDER THE 

SMALL COMMUNITY AIR SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM 

Dear Associate Director Ley: 

I am writing to express my full support as Mayor of the City of San Marcos for the County of San 

Diego's FY 2012 Small Community Air Service Development grant submission. I understand that 

the County is requesting federal funding to support the addition of California Pacific Airlines (CP 

Air) at McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, California. 

Being a professional airline pilot myself, I have firsthand experience with many years of long and 

costly freeway trips to major airports in downtown San Diego (SAN), Orange County (SNA) and 

Los Angeles (LAX). This loss of valuable time, gasoline consumption ·and fighting major traffic are 

all strong reasons that w~· should .implement a viable small .airport alternative with McClellanPalomar Airport and CP Air. The Airport is extremely convenient for both residents and commerce 

in my city as well as the r;~~arly 700,000 people living in North County today. 

McClellan-Palomar Airport is a major untapped asset that, with your support, can inject economic 

vitality and smarter intermodal travel in our region. Unfortunately, McClellan-Palomar Airport is 

suffering significant long-term loss in airline seats and in the number of passengers using the 

facility. A study revealed that 98% of local passengers drive to other airports for air travel. I 

believe that CP Air will reverse this trend and help revitalize the regional air system aiong the 

west coast. 

The federal investment in the Airportwill also improve North San Diego County's job outlook. It is 

estimated that CP Air will add over 100 new local jobs in its first year and grow to more than 500 

employees by year five. This long-term job creation comes at a time of great need for our region. 

I encourage the FAA's approval and implementation of the funding contained in the County's 

grant application. As a Mayor and a pilot, I know this airport has:a unique chance to reinvigorate 

our region's economy and also our way of accessing air travel. Furthermore, I am confident that 

the benefits will pay dividends many times. over this initial grant investment. 

je-.ly ..... :;;..,..o ..... 

Hon. Jim Desmon 

Mayor