Order 2010-9-8

Served: September 7, 2010

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 7th day of September, 2010

ORDER REQUESTING PROPOSALS

Summary

By this order, the Department is requesting proposals from carriers interested in providing 

essential air service (EAS) at Dickinson, North Dakota, for a new two-year period, 

beginning February 1, 2011, with or without subsidy. (See Appendix A for a service area 

map). Carriers should file their proposals no later than October 4, 2010.

Background 

By Order 2008-10-24, October 21, 2008, the Department selected Great Lakes Aviation, 

Ltd. (Great Lakes), operating as both a Frontier Airlines and United Airlines code-share 

partner, to provide subsidized EAS at Dickinson through January 31, 2011. Under that 

order, Great Lakes provides Dickinson with three nonstop round trips to Denver each 

weekday and each weekend with allowable upline service to Williston, North Dakota, 

utilizing 30-seat Embraer Brasilia aircraft for an annual subsidy rate of $2,274,177. Great 

Lakes has historically operated the service over a Williston-Dickinson-Denver routing.

Request for Proposals 

As the end of the current contract approaches, we are here requesting proposals from 

carriers interested in providing service at Dickinson, with or without subsidy, for the twoyear period beginning February 1, 2011. Carriers should file their proposals no later than 

October 4, 2010. At the end of that period, our staff will docket proposals, thereby 

making them public, and direct each carrier to serve a copy of its proposal on the civic 

parties and other applicants. Shortly afterwards, we will provide a summary of the 

proposals to the community and ask them to submit their final comments. We will give 

full consideration to all proposals that are timely filed.1

 1 Carriers should not expect the Department to accept late fillings. In cases where a carrier proposes to 

provide essential air service without subsidy and we determine that service can be reliably provided without 

Essential Air Service at

DICKINSON, NORTH DAKOTA

Under 49 U.S.C. 41731 et seq.

Docket DOT-OST-1995-697
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Interested carriers should prepare their proposals with every expectation that their initial 

proposals will represent their final and only proposals. However, we retain the discretion 

to negotiate proposals with carriers when we deem it desirable. We also retain the 

discretion to reject outright all unreasonable or unrealistic proposals and re-solicit a new 

round of proposals. However, negotiation and rejection are only occasional exceptions to 

the rule.

We are here providing interested carriers with some basic information to serve as 

guidance when they prepare their proposals, but we will not prescribe a precise format for 

their proposals. We expect proposals to adequately describe the service being proposed 

and the annual amount of subsidy being requested. The applicants can make their own 

judgments as to the level of detail they wish to present; however, they might want to 

include proposed schedules as well as supporting data for their subsidy requests, such as 

projected block hours, revenues and expenses. We strongly encourage clear, welldocumented proposals that will facilitate their evaluation by the affected community and 

the Department.2

With specific respect to Dickinson, historically, Great Lakes has provided subsidy-free 

EAS at Williston upline from Dickinson over a Williston-Dickinson-Denver routing. 

Williston is also a relatively strong traffic-generating community. If carriers propose 

serving both communities over the historical itinerary, we would consider proposals 

consisting of three round trips a day with 30-seat aircraft or four round trips a day 

utilizing 19-seat aircraft. Carriers may incorporate Williston service into the subsidy 

calculations in one of two ways. The first is simply to provide a subsidy requirement 

estimate of the Dickinson-Denver nonstop, turnaround service with the caveat that the 

applicant be permitted to serve Williston upline. The second is to provide a costing of the 

full Williston-Dickinson-Denver service. In the latter case, carriers should demonstrate 

that the addition of the incremental expenses and revenues associated with the DickinsonWilliston segment does not increase the required subsidy amount, because that would 

effectively result in subsidy for Williston service which would not be acceptable, as 

Williston currently receives unsubsidized air service. If carriers propose to serve 

Dickinson by itself, we expect two round trips a day with 30-seat aircraft or three round 

trips with 19-seaters.

We encourage proposals that meet Dickinson’s essential air service requirements in an 

efficient manner. Carriers are also welcome to propose more than one service option, if 

they choose; they need not limit themselves to the above described requirements if they 

 

such compensation, we do not proceed with the carrier-selection case. Instead, we simply rely on that 

carrier’s subsidy-free service as proposed.

2 In selecting a carrier to provide subsidized essential air service, 49 U.S.C. 41733(c) (1) directs us to to 

consider four factors: (a) scheduled service reliability; (b) contractual and marketing arrangements with a 

larger carrier to ensure service beyond the hub; (c) interline arrangements that the applicant has made with a 

larger carrier at the hub; and (d) community views, giving substantial weight to the views of the elected 

officials representing the users. In addition, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, Public Law 110-

161, provides that when selecting a carrier to provide EAS, the Department may consider the relative 

subsidy requirements, thus codifying a factor that we have considered since the inception of the program.
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envision other, potentially more attractive service possibilities (e.g., utilization of larger 

aircraft, additional flights or service to different hubs) with subsidy requirements that 

remain competitive.

New Filing Procedures

Carrier proposals should be submitted to the Department with all materials merged into a 

single document. In addition, because the document will be published on 

Regulations.gov, each page should be formatted to be viewed online.

Service and Traffic History

Great Lakes has served Dickinson and Williston since 2002. Because carriers may well 

include Williston in the routing, we have included historical traffic for both communities 

in Appendix B. During the year ended December 31, 2009, Dickinson averaged 28.4

enplanements a day, Williston 35.3. We note that traffic has tripled from 2003 to 2009.

Other Carrier Requirements

The Department is responsible for implementing various Federal statutes governing 

lobbying activities, drug-free workplaces, and nondiscrimination.3 Consequently, all 

carriers receiving Federal subsidy for essential air service must certify that they are in 

compliance with Department regulations regarding drug-free workplaces and 

nondiscrimination, and those carriers whose subsidies exceed $100,000 over the life of 

the rate-term must also certify that they are in compliance with the regulations governing 

lobbying activities. Because the Department is prohibited from paying subsidy to carriers 

that do not submit these documents, all carriers that plan to submit proposals involving 

subsidy should be aware that the selected carrier will be required to complete the required 

certifications. Interested carriers requiring more detailed information regarding these 

requirements should contact the Office of Aviation Analysis at (202) 366-5903.4

Community and State Comments 

The community and State are welcome to submit comments at any time. We encourage 

prospective applicants to contact the communities before they submit their proposals so 

that they can tailor them to the communities’ needs, as they will not be able to amend 

them after the due date. As noted earlier, we will provide a summary of the proposals to 

the civic parties and ask them to submit their final comments shortly after October 4, the 

end of the 30-day period for carrier proposals.

This order is issued under authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.56a(f).

 3 The regulations applicable to these areas are: (1) 49 CFR Part 20 -- New restrictions on lobbying; 

(2) 49 CFR Part 21 -- Nondiscrimination in federally-assisted programs of the Department of 

Transportation -- Effectuation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; 49 CFR Part 27 --

Nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities receiving or benefiting from Federal 

financial assistance; and 14 CFR Part 382 -- Nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in air travel; and 

(3) 49 CFR Part 29 -- Government-wide debarment and suspension (non-procurement) and governmentwide requirements for drug-free workplace (grants).

4 The certifications are also available on the web at http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/aviation/index.html.
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ACCORDINGLY,

1. We request that carriers interested in providing essential air service at Dickinson, 

North Dakota, submit their proposals, with or without subsidy requests, no later than 

October 4, 2010. The proposals should be e-mailed to: EAS@dot.gov with the title 

“Proposal to Provide Essential Air Service at Dickinson, North Dakota,” with the docket 

number corresponding to the communities as shown on the first page of this order;5

2. This docket will remain open until further order of the Department; and

3. We will serve copies of this order on the community and the parties listed in 

Appendix D.

Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of this order under the 

Department’s Regulations, 14 CFR 385.50, must file such petitions within ten (10) days 

after the date of service of this order.

This order will be effective immediately, and the filing of a petition for review shall not 

preclude its effectiveness.

By:

TODD M. HOMAN

Director

Office of Aviation Analysis

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available

at http://www.regulations.gov

 5 Questions regarding filings in response to this order may be directed to Brian Swanson at (202) 366-5392 

or brian.swanson@dot.gov.
Appendix A

DICKINSON, NORTH DAKOTA

AND SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES
Appendix B

Page 1 of 2

Historical Enplanements1

Dickinson, North Dakota

Year 

Ended

Recorded 

Passengers

Average 

Annual 

Enplanements2

Average 

Enplanements 

Per Service 

Day3 

31-Dec-99 7,393 3,697 11.8

31-Dec-00 8,188 4,094 13.0

31-Dec-01 6,979 3,490 11.1

31-Dec-02 6,151 3,076 9.8

31-Dec-03 7,908 3,954 12.6

31-Dec-04 10,226 5,113 16.3

31-Dec-05 9,784 4,892 15.6

31-Dec-06 10,840 5,420 17.3

31-Dec-07 15,248 7,624 24.4

31-Dec-08 17,787 8,894 28.3

31-Dec-09 17,808 8,904 28.4

Notes:

2. Origin-destination passengers divided by two.

1. Source: Order 2005-1-9, Docket OST-1995-697 and 

USDOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Form T-100

3. Average annual enplanements divided by 313 effective 

annual service days, except for annual periods ended 

12/31/2000, 2004 and 2008 (314 effective annual service days).
Appendix B

Page 2 of 2

Historical Enplanements1

Williston, North Dakota

Year 

Ended

Recorded 

Passengers

Average Annual 

Enplanements2

Average 

Enplanements 

Per Service 

Day3 

31-Dec-03 7,990 3,995 12.8

31-Dec-04 10,500 5,250 16.7

31-Dec-05 10,507 5,254 16.8

31-Dec-06 12,843 6,422 20.5

31-Dec-07 16,272 8,136 26.0

31-Dec-08 23,588 11,794 37.6

31-Dec-09 22,094 11,047 35.3

Notes:

1. Source: USDOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Form 

T-100

2. Origin-destination passengers divided by two.

3. Average annual enplanements divided by 313 effective 

annual service days, except for annual period ended 

12/31/2004 and 2008 (314 effective annual service days).
Appendix C

General Terms and Conditions for Essential Air Service

The carrier understands that it may forfeit its compensation for any flights that it does not operate 

in conformance with the terms and stipulations of the rate order, including the service plans 

outlined in the order and any other significant elements of the required service, without prior 

approval. The carrier understands that an aircraft take-off and landing at its scheduled 

destination constitutes a completed flight; absent an explanation supporting subsidy eligibility for 

a flight that has not been completed, such as certain weather cancellations, only completed flights 

are considered eligible for subsidy. In addition, if the carrier does not schedule or operate its 

flights in full conformance with the order for a significant period, it may jeopardize its entire 

subsidy claim for the period in question. If the carrier contemplates any such changes beyond the 

scope of the order during the applicable period of these rates, it must first notify the Office of 

Aviation Analysis in writing and receive written approval from the Department to be ensured of 

full compensation. Should circumstances warrant, the Department may locate and select a 

replacement carrier to provide service on these routes. The carrier must complete all flights that 

can be safely operated; flights that overfly points for lack of traffic will not be compensated. In 

determining whether subsidy payment for a deviating flight should be adjusted or disallowed, the 

Department will consider the extent to which the goals of the program are met and the extent of 

access to the national air transportation system provided to the community.

If the Department unilaterally, either partially or completely, terminates or reduces payments for 

service or changes service requirements at a specific location provided for under this order, 

then, at the end of the period for which the Department does make payments in the stipulated 

amounts or at the stipulated service levels, the carrier may cease to provide service to that 

specific location without regard to any requirement for notice of such cessation. Those 

adjustments in the levels of subsidy and/or service that are mutually agreed to in writing by the 

Department and carrier do not constitute a total or partial reduction or cessation of payment.

Subsidy contracts are subject to, and incorporate by reference, relevant statutes and Department 

regulations, as they may be amended from time to time. However, any such statutes, regulations, 

or amendments thereto shall not operate to controvert the foregoing paragraph.

Funds are not currently available for performance under this solicitation beyond [DATE]. The 

Department’s obligation for performance under this solicitation beyond [DATE] is contingent 

upon the availability of appropriated funds from which payment for services can be made. No 

legal liability on the part of the Department for any payment may arise for performance under 

this order beyond [DATE], until funds are made available to the Department for performance. If 

funds are not made available for performance beyond [DATE], the carrier will receive notice in 

writing by the Department.

All claims for payment must be submitted within 60 days of the last day of service provided 

under this order.
Appendix D

SERVICE LIST

Air Sunshine, Inc. Jet Air, Daniel Wolford

Air Sunshine, Mirmohammad Adili Kenmore Air, Tim Brooks

Air West, Inc., John Raatz McCall Aviation and Salmon Air, Dan Scott

Air Wisconsin, Barbara Jones McCall Aviation, Michelle

Airline Associates, Bill Mishk Mesa Air Group, Jonathan Ornstein

Alaska Airlines, Jeff Cole Mesa Air Group, Michael Lotz

Alaska Airlines, Sandy Sinick Mesa Air Group, Mike Holcomb

Allegiant Air, Robert Ashscroft Mesaba, Max Shemesh

American Airlines, Carl Nelson Mesaba, John Spanjers

American Eagle, Jeff Hartz Midstar Airlines, Jeffrey Fonner

Atlantic Southeast, Jon Lindlief Midwest Airlines, Greg Aretakis

Atlantic Southeast, Roger Weston MN Aviation, Jose Maldonado

Bemidji Aviation, Arlen Rinkenberger Multi Aero, Darnea

Bemidji Aviation, Cori Rude Multi Aero, Shane Storz

Cape Air, Andrew Bonney Northwest, Tim McDonald

Cape Air, Dan Wolf NYDC, Henok Araya

Cape Air, J. Flaherty OST, Brian Swanson

Classic Aviation, Tony Henderson OST, Dennis DeVany

Colgan Air, Mike Colgan OST, Kevin Adams

CommutAir, Andy Price OST, Kevin Schlemmer

CommutAir, Joel Raymond OST, Michael Martin

Consultant, Robert Silverberg OST, Renee Williams

Continental, Bruce Keiner Pacific Wings, Frank Ford

Continental, Dan Weiss Pacific Wings, Greg Kahlstorf

Continental, Lorry Halloway Penn Air, Danny Seybert

Delta Air Lines Amy Martin Penn Air, Scott Bloomquist

Delta Air Lines, Jeff Morgan Pinnacle Airlines, Joe Williams

Delta Air Lines, Dan Shuman Pinnacle Airlines, Phil Reed

Delta Air Lines, Joe Esposito Public Charters, Jim Gallagher

Delta Air Lines, Sascha Vanderbellen Scenic, Mary Schneider

Delta Air Lines, Karen Zachary Scenic, Mitzi Daines

Dorado Jets Seaborne Airlines, Wayne D’Amico

Dorado Jets, Mark McKenna SeaPort Airlines. Jim Day

Era Aviation, Mike Lenorman SeaPort Airlines. Rob McKinney

Executive Airlines, Kate Soled Shuttle America, Jerry Balsano

Frontier Flying, Bob Hajducovich SkyWest, Eric Christensen

Gem Air, Dan Schroeder SkyWest, Michael Thompson

Gem Air, JoAnn Wolters Sovereign Air, Bob Karns

Great Lakes Airlines, Chuck Howell Sovereign Air, Lois R. Barton

Great Lakes Airlines, Doug Voss Tradewind, Eric Zipkin

Gulfstream, Dave Hackett Trans States, Fred Oxley

Gulfstream, Mickey Bowman Trans States, Gerry Wigmore

Gulfstream, T. Cooper United, Alicia Gabriel

Homeland Security, Bill Ragan United, James Starnes

Homeland Security, David Bernier US Airways, Benjamin Slocum

Homeland Security, Randy Webb US Airways, Howard Kass

Horizon Air, Dan Russo US Airways, Jason Reisinger

Horizon Air, Jennifer Thompson Warbelows Air Ventures, Art Warbelow

Horizon Air, Jeff Cole Wings Air (Air Greco), Aaron Goerlich

ICEPR, Luis Irizarry City of Dickinson, Dennis Johnson

Intrepid Internatl Air, Rick Eyk Dickinson Regional Airport, Matthew Remynse

Island Air Charters, Linda House