BEFORE THE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Essential Air Service at:

Meridian, Mississippi

Under 49 U.S.C. 941731 et seq.

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DOT-OST-2008-0 112

NOTICE OF INTENT OF SILVER AIRWAYS CORP.

TO TERMINATE SCHEDULED AIR SERVICE

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to:

Travis Christ

Chief Commercial Officer

Silver Airways Corp.

1100 Lee Wagener Blvd., Suite 201

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33315

(954) 985-1500 (Telephone)

(954) 359-2776 (Fax)

travis.christ@silverairways.com

April 9, 2014
BEFORE THE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Essential Air Service at:

Meridian, Mississippi

Under 49 U.S.C. 941731 et seq.

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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").

Silver Airways 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 a two-year contract, at MEL Unfortunately, for

the reasons set forth herein, Silver Airways is no longer able to continue 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 of this notice.' In particular, the new pilot duty

and rest requirements have increased pilot hiring needs among all carriers, contributing to an

acute industry pilot shortage that has 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 far been 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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Silver Airways Corp.

90-Day Notice of Intent to Terminate Scheduled Air Service

Second, implementation of new FAA air transport pilot ("ATP") 1,500 hour requirements

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 of qualified 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 of the 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 to provide service to some locations.4

Not surprisingly, Silver Airways has been impacted by this rapidly changing industry landscape.

Third, traffic results for a number ofEAS communities served from ATL-where Silver

Airways' local and connecting traffic is limited due to the absence of a codeshare arrangement or

a frequent flyer partnership with a large network carrier-have fallen significantly short of Silver

Airways' original forecasts,Sto the point where it is simply uneconomical for the carrier to

continue to provide such services. Furthermore, Silver Airways 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 of the 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 at ATL have been 47% lower than its initial forecast.

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Silver Airways Corp.

90-Day Notice of Intent 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 at MEL

Thus, given the impact of new Federal regulatory requirements, the recent and acute

nationwide regional pilot shortage, lower than required traffic at communities served from ATL,

and the expectation that some of these cities will no longer be eligible for EAS subsidy contracts

in the future, it is no longer possible for Silver Airways to continue serving MEL

The arrival and departure times of the discontinued flights covered by this notice of intent

to terminate 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, if requested.

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Silver Airways Corp.

90-Day Notice of Intent to Terminate Scheduled Air Service .

Any objections to the notice provided herein must be filed within twenty (20) days from

the date of this filing, in accordance with 14 C.F.R. gg 323.9 and 323.10. SilverAirways will

make all required notifications as outlined in 14 C.F.R. g323.7.

Respectfully submitted,

Travis Christ

Chief Commercial Officer

Silver Airways Corp.

1100 Lee Wagener Blvd., Suite 201

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33315

(954) 985-1500 (Telephone)

(954) 359-2776 (Fax)

travis.christ@silverairways.com

Dated: April 9, 2014

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I, James Kogutek, hereby certify that I have this 9th day of April 20 I4, caused the foregoing

Notice to be served upon those persons listed below, in accordance with 14 C.F.R. 9 323.4(a)(7) ..

Dennis DeVany

Kevin Schlemmer

EAS Program

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Ave., S.E.

Washington, D.C. 20590

dennis.devany@dot.gov

kevin .schlemmer@dot.gov

FAA Flight Standards District Office

100 West Cross Street

Suite C

Jackson, Mississippi 39208

Thomas M. Booth, Jr., Director

Aeronautics Division

Mississippi Department of Transportation

401 North West Street

Jackson, MS 39201

Mayor Percy Bland

2412 7th St.

Meridian, MS 39301

Tom Williams, President

Meridian Airport Authority

28 I IA Airport Blvd. South

Meridian, MS 39307

James Kogutek