JOHN H. Cox Ill 

Mayor 

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CiTY COUNCIL 

Tommy L. Benson, Ill, Ward 1 

Lois Hawkins, Ward 2 

Carolyn Weathers, Ward 3 

Betty J. Watkins, Ward 4 

Ann Hollowell, Ward 5 

•• I r •• -.'"' I - ._, • 'l . • frriCk D. Simmons, Ward 6 CITY OF GREENVILLE~ .. LJ . .-·;; : 1 , __ i~_: !~L; 

P. 0. Box 'i§J7 • 340 Main St • Grrenville, ~~i 38701 • Telephone: fiJZ-378-1501 • Fac;imile: fiJZ-378-0276 • Email: johnrox@grrenvillems.org 

April 3, 2015 

Mr. Michael Martin 

Transportation Industry Analyst 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

·u.s:-o·epartm'ent of-Transportation- -

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Room W86-472 

Washington D.C. 20590 

Reference: DOT-OST-2008-0209, Greenville, Mississippi Essential Air Service 

Dear Mr. Martin,. 

- ----- ____ ..,.__ ___ _ 

Tt)is l_etter is tp advi~e the Ul)it_ed States_ Departme9t of T~anspori:ation that the startup· of Greenville 

Essenti_al Air Service (EAS) by Seaport Airlines has thus-far been very disappointing.- - .- - -- .·. . . . . . . . . . ~ 

.. : ~ ·. . . . •. ~ ·: . . . . · . 

A new start date of March 161

h was designated after Seaport and the Memphis Airport reached an 

- -·agreement on-rriaYriterminal access-.-However, in the first two ~eeks of Seaport_service the carriercancelled 9 out of 72 scheduled flights. In addition, numerous flights operated significantly behind 

schedule. 

This poorly executed start of the new service, coming on the heels of the very disappointing service for 

two years of Silver Airways almost intermittent flights to Atlanta and a dormancy between the end of 

Silver servic~ and the delayed start.ofSeaport service, is of significant concern to our elected officials as 

well as.th~:c<;>_rn_mul')ity in g~n~raL. __ , ... : :.- . 

• :• • ~ ; .'' • .·: • ··,•,:•:.'., II ~ o 'o .I• ~-' -• o• • ~~- :' ',• o ·• •' '-~-• -•:·,, 

G-reenville has ·always worked hard to be a re~ponsible participant in the EAS program. When the Silver 

Airway~ service ess~ntia_lly.co_llap_~ed_due_to pilo~ ~h_ort~ges in .late 2013,-w~ partnered with Tupelo to 

g~in Depa~ment.·approval for,-5ilve_r. t_q red!-!~~ s~r:v:ice fr~m.~6.trip_s_to. 2_4:trips pe!Mteek.·We felt.th_at a 

reduced schedule would have a better chance of operating reliably and would also reduce the high 

subsidy outlays the Department was paying to Silver at that time. Despite our best efforts to work with 
Silver, fiscal year 2013 enplanements fell below 10 per day and Greenville was issued a termination 

notice of EAS eligibility. 

After Silver's service contract expired on September 30, 2014, we allowed the carrier to leave, knowing 

they had no interest in staying and based upon an assumption that our new carrier (Seaport) would be 

able to promptly begin reliable and low fare service to Memphis. Due to a delay in gaining our 10-

enplanement waiver, another delay in Order 2014-10-21 ~eing issued and then Seaport's inability to 

gain access to the Memphis main terminal, our airport was dormant from October 1, 2014 until March 

16, 2015. 

To Seaport's credit, Greenville officials and representatives of Seaport participated in a conference call 

regarding the startup issues on March 30, 2015. Although Seaport provided spme explanation about this 

mferruption and u'i'lr'ellaOIITtyof service, passen-gei'S-an<:i-potential-customers·will find·s~eh---~- ,~ -· --~~­

nonperformance hard to excuse. 

We are hoping that Seaport can quickly become a reliable carrier serving our community. We have 

committed significant local funding for advertising the false startup in January. We committed further 

funding to advertise the actual startup on March 16. At the time of this letter, we have suspended all 

marketing and promotional outlays until we see a reliable schedule performance. 

The purpose of this letter is to keep the Department fully advised as to our air service status. We also 

want the Department to understand that none of the above described problems with air service are due 

to anything we, as a community, have done. We need reliable air service. Our airport enplanement 

history demonstrates clearly that there is local demand for air service. Between 2004 and 2011, with 

service to Memphis from Delta or Northwest, we averaged nearly 15,000 annual passengers. As was 

previously noted, with unreliable Silver service, our enplanements fell to below 6,000 annual 

passengers. 

We are a relatively isolated city in an economically disadvantaged region of the country. where reliabie 

air service is essential to retention and recruitment of business and industry. Unless Seaport can rapidly 

improve their operational performance, we will be challenged to stay below the $200 subsidy cap per 

passenger that the Department has indicated it will enforce in this fiscal year. We will continue to keep 

the Department fully apprised of our efforts to gain reliable air service from Seaport. Thank you for yo_JJr -----consideratiOn of ttilSietter:·- . - -- - --- --- - - - - ---~- -

Best regards 

't{j,;~ 

cc: Timothy Sieber, Executive VP, SeaPort Airlines, Inc. 

Greenville City Council 

Lane Rodgers, Airport Director, City of Greenville 

Cary Karlson, Executive Director, Washington County Economic Alliance 

Mike Mooney, Esq.