BEFORE THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. Essential Air Service at: Meridian, Mississippi Under49 U.S.C. 941731 etseq. ) ) ) ) ) DOT-OST-2008-0 112

NOTICE OF INTENT OF SILVER AIRWAYS CORP. TO TERMINATE SCHEDULED AIR SERVICE Communications withrespect tothis document should be sentto: Travis Christ ChiefCommercial Officer SilverAirways Corp. 1100LeeWagener Blvd., Suite 201 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33315 (954) 985-1500 (Telephone) (954) 359-2776 (Fax) travis.christ@silverairways.com April 9,2014BEFORE THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. Essential Air Service at: Meridian, Mississippi Under49 U.S.C. 941731 etseq. ) ) ) ) ) DOT-OST-2008-0 112

NOTICE OF INTENT OF SILVER AIRWAYS CORP. TO TERMINATE SCHEDULED AIR SERVICE Silver Airways Corp. ("Silver Airways"), pursuant to Part 323 of the Department's regulations, hereby provides required 90-day notice of its intention to discontinue subsidized scheduled air service between Atlanta, Georgia ("ATL") and Meridian, Mississippi ("MEl"). SilverAirways intends to discontinue this service effective July 8,2014. By Order 2012-7-35 (Jul. 30,2012), the Department selected Silver Airways to provide subsidized essential air service ("EAS"), under atwo-year contract, at MEL Unfortunately, for the reasons set forthherein, SilverAirways isno longer abletocontinue providing this service. First, the Federal Aviation Administration's ("FAA") new flight and duty limitation and rest rules have had a direct and sustained impact on Silver Airways' capability to maintain service at the community which is the subject ofthis notice.' Inparticular, the new pilot duty and rest requirements have increased pilot hiring needs among all carriers, contributing to an acute industry pilot shortage thathas disproportionately impacted regional carriers.2

I See U USA Today, "Cockpit Crisis: Regional Airlines Struggle to Hire Pilots," Feb. 28, 2014, available at http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/20 14/02/28/gao-pilot-shortage-airlines-col gan-crash/5 894307/.
2 See U Susan Carey and Jack Nicas, "Airline-Pilot Shortage Hits Ahead of Schedule," Wall Street Journal, Feb. 4,2014 (reporting that regional operators "have so farbeen affected the most" by the industry pilot shortage) and "What Can New Pilots Make? Near Minimum Wage," Wall Street Journal, Feb. 11,2014 (reporting that the "pilot shortage is being aggravated by rising demand" and profiling efforts by Silver Airways to boost wages and provide bonuses in order to retain qualified pilots, in addition to reducing flight schedules for the first quarter of 2014).

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90-DayNotice ofIntent to Terminate Scheduled Air Service Second, implementation ofnew FAA airtransport pilot ("ATP") 1,500hourrequirements for all new hire First Officers has prevented Part 121 carriers, especially regional airlines, from backfilling these shortages and addressing hiring requirements due to a scarcity ofqualified and current ATP certified pilots. Indeed, and as the Department is aware, one large regional carrier announced plans earlier this year to remove a significant number of its aircraft from revenue service due to the cascading effect ofthe pilot shortage.3 Additionally, despite finding mixed evidence regarding how long the current pilot shortage will last, the Government Accountability Office ("GAO") recently reported: As airlines have recently started hiring, nearly all of the regional airlines that GAO interviewed reported difficulties finding sufficient numbers of qualified entry-level first officers. However, mainline airlines, because they hire from the ranks of experienced pilots, have not reported similar concerns, although some mainline airlines expressed concerns that entry-level hiring problems could affect their regional airline partners' ability toprovide service to some locations.4 Not surprisingly, SilverAirways has been impacted bythis rapidly changing industry landscape. Third, traffic results for anumber ofEAS communities served from ATL-where Silver Airways' local and connecting traffic is limited duetothe absence ofacodeshare arrangement or
afrequent flyerpartnership with alargenetwork carrier-have fallen significantly short ofSilver Airways' original forecasts,S to the point where it is simply uneconomical for the carrier to continue toprovide such services. Furthermore, SilverAirways reasonably anticipates that, upon the Department's completed review of average enplanements and per-passenger subsidies for communities served under EAS subsidy contracts during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2013, certain ofthe cities which Silver Airways serves under subsidy from ATL will no longer

3 Dallas Morning News, "Republic Airways to Ground Some Regional Jets Because of Pilot Shortage," Feb. II, 2014, available at http://www.dallasnews.comlbusiness/airline-industryI20 140211-republic-airways-to-groundsome-regional-jets-because-of-pilot-shortage.ece.
4 GAO-14-232, Report to Congressional Requesters, "Aviation Workforce: Current and Future Availability of Airline Pilots," Feb. 28, 2014, available at http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/661243.pdf. 5 Silver Airways' enplanements atATL have been 47% lower than its initial forecast.

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90-DayNotice ofIntent to Terminate Scheduled Air Service qualify under 49 U.S.C. ~ 41713 for continued participation in the EAS program, and EAS subsidies for those airports will be terminated, which would, in-turn, further impact Silver Airways' ability to sustain service atMEL Thus, given the impact of new Federal regulatory requirements, the recent and acute nationwide regional pilot shortage, lower than required traffic at communities served fromATL, andthe expectation that some ofthese cities will no longerbe eligible forEAS subsidy contracts inthe future, itisno longerpossible for SilverAirways tocontinue serving MEL The arrival and departure times ofthe discontinued flights covered bythis notice ofintent toterminate scheduled services are as follows:

FROM TO DEP ARR FLT EQP FREQ sTP FROM TO DEP ARR FLT EQP FREQ STP STA STA TIME TIME NUM STA STA TIME TIME NUM
Atlanta. Meridian, MS ATL MEl 11:39 12:12 3611 SF3 X67 0 MEl ATL 05:50 08:22 3610 SF3 X67 0 ATL MEl 17:05 17:37 3612 SF3 67 0 MEl ATL 09:05 11:40 3610 SF3 6 0 ATL MEl 21:25 22:02 3612 SF3 X67 0 MEl ATL 11:30 14:00 3611 SF3 7 0 MEl ATL 12:40 15:08 3611 SF3 X67 0
The discontinuation of Silver Airways' scheduled air services at MEl will reduce air transportation to a level below the EAS determination set forth in Order 2012-7-35 because, at present, MEl does not receive scheduled air service from any other certificated air carrier. Prior to ending its scheduled air services at MEl, Silver Airways will contact all passengers holding reservations on discontinued flights to notify them of the schedule change and assist them in arranging alternate transportation or provide them with a refund of their ticket price, without penalty, ifrequested.

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90-Day Notice ofIntent to Terminate Scheduled Air Service
. Any objections to the notice provided herein must be filed within twenty (20) days from the date ofthis filing, in accordance with 14C.F.R. gg 323.9 and 323.10. SilverAirways will make allrequired notifications as outlined in 14C.F.R. g323.7. Respectfully submitted,

Travis Christ ChiefCommercial Officer SilverAirways Corp. 1100Lee Wagener Blvd., Suite 201 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33315 (954) 985-1500 (Telephone) (954) 359-2776 (Fax) travis.christ@silverairways.com Dated: April 9, 2014

.4-CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I,James Kogutek, hereby certify that Ihavethis 9thday ofApril 20I4, caused the foregoing Notice tobe served upon thosepersons listedbelow, inaccordance with 14C.F.R. 

## 9 323.4(a)(7)
.. Dennis DeVany Kevin Schlemmer EAS Program U.S. Department ofTransportation 1200New Jersey Ave., S.E. Washington, D.C. 20590 dennis.devany@dot.gov kevin.schlemmer@dot.gov FAA Flight Standards District Office 100West Cross Street Suite C Jackson, Mississippi 39208 Thomas M. Booth, Jr., Director Aeronautics Division Mississippi Department ofTransportation 401 North West Street Jackson, MS 39201 MayorPercy Bland 2412 7th St. Meridian, MS 39301 Tom Williams, President Meridian Airport Authority 28IIA Airport Blvd. South Meridian, MS 39307

James Kogutek