Q 

0 oT-osr-3oo^-\^'53 ^ 

U.S. Department of ^ 200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Transportation Washington, DC 20590 

Office of the Secretary July 19, 2010 

of Transportation 

Mike Sharkey 

Airport Manager 

Western Nebraska Regional Airport 

250023 Airport Terminal St. 

Suite 10 

Scottsbluff, NE 69361 

Dear Mr. Sharkey: 

1 would like to update you on the essential air service (EAS) situation at Kearney 

Regional Airport, North Platte Regional Airport, and Western Nebraska Regional Airport 

at Scottsbluff, and give you an opportunity to offer any comments on the record before 

we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International 

Affairs. As you know, Great Lakes Aviation Ltd. (Great Lakes) is the current EAS 

provider at your community, and their contract expires October 31, 2010. In anticipation 

of that, we issued Order 2010-6-16, June 11, 2010, soliciting proposals from caiTiers 

interested in providing subsidized EAS for a new, two-year period, beginning 

November 1, 2010. In response to our request, two carriers responded: Great Lakes and 

Sovereign Air, Inc. (Sovereign Air). 

You should have received a copy of the proposals from each canier, and they can be 

accessed at www.regulations.gov by entering the numbers DOT-OST-1996-1715 for 

Kearney, DOT-OST-1999-5173 for North Platte, and DOT-OST-2003-I4535 for 

Scottsbluff in the search block. As a result, we will only briefly summarize them here. 

Great Lakes has proposed one service option for each community, each option to be 

considered on a stand-alone basis. Service to all three communities would be three 

nonstop round trips each weekday and weekend (18 a week) from Denver using 19-seat 

Beechcraft 1900 aircraft for an annual subsidy of $1,965,740 at Kearney, $1,871,765 at 

North Platte, and $1,507,185 at Scottsbluff, 

Sovereign Air has proposed for each community three round trips Tuesday through 

Saturday, and two round trips on Sunday and Monday, for a total of 18 round trips a 

week to Denver using 19-seat Beechcraft aircraft for an annual subsidy of $2,374,457 at 

Kearney, $1,516,012 North Platte, and $836,231 at Scottsbluff. We should note, 

however, that Sovereign Air does not currently have the requisite operating authority 

fiom either the Department or the Federal Aviation Administration to provide scheduled 

air service, although it has submitted applications. 
The schedules that the caniers have proposed are illustrative only and they may make 

schedule changes to reflect changing conditions, e.g., to better meet shifting connecting 

banlc times at the hub. However, the Department does expect a subsidized air canier to 

maintain well-timed and well-spaced flights in order to ensure full compensation. 

We request that you review the proposals and submit any comments you may have as 

soon as possible, but no later than August 13. We will carefully consider your comments 

before we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. Letters 

requesting feedback have also been sent to the community leaders of the other two cities 

as well. 

Please send your comments via e-mail to EAS@dot.gov or by fax to 202-366-7638. If 

you have any questions, please feel free to contact Michael Martin of my staff at 

michael.f.martin@dot.gov or 202-366-6494. ^ia i 

Sincerely, 

/^yl/L^tM.'Q 

)ennis J. DeVatfy, Chief ^ 

Essential Air Service Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

cc: Michael Matthews, Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. 

Jon Payne, Sovereign Air, Inc.