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# V MID - o . Hl o . V ALLEY REG l o . NAL A I RP o . RT Po
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June 12 , 2014 Mr. Michael Gormas Office of Aviation Analysis US Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Ave. , S E Washington , D.C. 20590 Re: Order 2014-3-12 , Do c ket OS T -2005-2 0 7 3 4 Dear Mr. Gormas: In re s ponse to your email of May 28 , 201 4 re ques ting c omm e nt s on an Essen tial Air Se rvice proposal for the Mid Ohio Valley Regional Ai rp o rt , w e h ave rev iewed the b ids an d we support the se l ection of Silver Airways
. The S ilver Airways bid of 18 f l ights a we ek, tw o n o n - s top an d o ne o ne -s to p r o un d tri p s each weekday, to Washington Dulles Inte rn atio n al Ai rp ort bes t me ets the n ee ds o f ou r commu nity. Although we benefit greatly from ou r p re s ent f light f requ en cy ( we h ave f

ou r daily weekday nights with 19 passenger airc r aft) , th e 34 s eat S a ab ai rcraf t w i ll e nhanc e p a ss e ng e r convenienc e and give our airport true passenger growth pote n ti al
. In a ddi tion , S i l v e r ' s c o d eshare arrangement with U nited Airlines and num e rous interli n e agreem e nts wi th o th e r air c arri e rs we re key f actors in our decision. L astl y , Washington D ul les , b ei ng a U nited A irlines hub , p r ov i des o u r community with the greatest number of n o n-stop desti nations ; ov e r 80 dom es tic an d 40 in ternati 0 nal
. We are grateful for the othe r bids that we re c e iv ed util iz ing th e Pitts b ur gh Ai rp ort as the hub airport. P i ttsburgh has been a key ai rport i n o ur history
. Howeve r , at thi s po i n t i n time , Pittsburgh does not have a hub airline that would pro v id e th e des ti nation opp o rtuni tie s th at ou r community has grown accusto m ed to by f l yin g through C leveland
. Also , we want to thank the three othe r ai rli nes th at bi d on o ur serv ic e , Boutiqu e A i r, C i ty L i nk Air and Sun Air
. We are h app y t o se e oth e r ai rl i nes in terest in the E ssen tial A i r S e rvice pro g ram . Their lack of codesh are and interline agree m e nts w ere a ma j or n e gative t o u s. Wi thou t these arrang e m e nts , passengers from our commun i ty w o uld h ave face d man y c h all e n ges in Pi ttsburgh , whether i t was in transfer of baggage o n c o nn e cti ng fl ig ht s or pote n tiall y h avi n g t o go in and ou t of security if a flight con n ection is misse d. Also , we w ere no t c onf i dent th at th e ai rl ines co ul d hand le the start- up o f

ncw se rvice to all o f the c ities th ey bi d
. W e h ave e n du red that p rob le m before when a new airline was awarded our se rv i ce bid and n ever p r o vide d the service. It t ook us man y y ears to recover from the total di srup ti on of se rvice an d re su l t ant l os s of passe n gers . We applau d the e fforts of thes e airlines b ut, at this ti me , feel S il ver A i rw ays i s th e b est option f or our community
.

### Accordingly, I 

### request that the Silver Airways, 18 flights a week option to Washington 

### Dul l es

International Airport, be awarded the Essential Air Service contract for the Mid Ohio Valle ~ Regional Airport. I 

### Sincerely, 

# ( bJ~ ( /fl.)x - :::tC David M. Scott President Mid Ohio Valley Regional Airport Authority