Mr. KevinAdams
. U. S. Department ofTransportation Office ofthe Secretary ofTransportation 1200NewJersey Avenue, SE · Washington DC 20590 RE: AIR CARRIER PREFERENCEFOR WATERLOO, IOWA DearMr. Adams: CRUISE A NEW ALTITUDE

Please accept this letter as part ofthe process ofUS DOT soliciting preference for air carrier serving Waterloo Regional Airport (ALO) under the EAS program. First, I would like to add that I believe both Delta Airlines (DL) and American Airlines (AA) are quality airlines providing very good service. I wanted to summarize my thoughts, regarding which airline service ALO should support, tied to recent EAS bids/applications. To review, the two bids are: AA offers 2x daily regionaljet service to Chicago O'Hare (ORD) and 

### DL offers 2x daily regional jet service to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP). In summary, Irecommend ALO support ofAA. This is due to the following reasons:
• AA offers better connectivity over ORD relative to DL's service over MSP. This isparticularly true to larger markets on the coasts and international destinations.
• ORD is a more attractive nonstop destination than MSP, and there is potentially muchmore demand to ORD than MSP.
• AA has recently been successful in starting and growing new service in many smaller/BAS-type markets, such as Manhattan, KS, Joplin, MO, Grand Island, NE, Watertown, NY & Roswell, NM. In addition, AAjust announced new EAS bids to: Waterloo, IA, Sioux City, [A & Garden City, KS.
• Contnirily, DL is in the process ofeliminating their exposure to EAS flying. Of the24 EAS
.markets that

### DLjustpulled theirEAS service, theyhave onlywonthe**r~·bidsin** avery few. To summarize: AA appears to have an interest in this sort offlyirig &
. possiblygrowingit, DL.doesn't.

··.···.·.:· fJ
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# in smaller/BAS markets has been well below what DL has recently

·. ·... : : • P:**31~-291-4483** • F: 319-291-42SO • www.FiyAlO.comthere is significant upside to the AA forecast and very little downside. DL'sbid is their actual operating loss offlying atALO.
• Tied to above point, should EAS funds be eliminated, ALO has the best chance of retaining air service with AA, as there is the potential that that service could be economically viable within 1-2 years. DL has flown ALO-MSP for a number of years, and there is little expectation that their results are going to markedly improve. Without EAS fUnding, DL would likely pull service immediately. There are also selling points tied to the DL offer. Ofthese, the most relevant is that DL's operation (on time performance) at MSP has been better than AA's at ORD. This has been the case for quite some time. While there is runway development taking place at ORD that could alter this situation, I would work under the assumption that ORD's relative operationalperformance will continue to lag MSP. We do have individuals and businesses in Waterloo and the surrounding communities that support DL service, although I believe the majority ofindividuals and businesses are in support ofAA service orare indifferentto a particularcarrier. But, all things considered, I still believe that AA's service gives ALO the best opportunityto retain and even grow air service, relative to DL's MSP service. The Waterloo Regional Airport has formally endorsed American Airlines for the air carrierpreference at Waterloo underthe EAS program. Shouldthere be any questions and/or comments, please let me know. Sincerely,

# ~~- AirportDirector