Before the US Department of Transportation

Essential Air Service at:

FORT DODGE, IOWA DOCKET 2001-10682

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

Chautauqua Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings and doing business as 

Frontier Express (“Frontier”) respectfully submits its proposal to provide subsidized Essential Air Service 

to Fort Dodge, IA (“Fort Dodge”). The service contemplated would operate to/from Frontier’s hub at 

Milwaukee, WI, using 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 jet aircraft. Two roundtrips per day would be operated 

nonstop from Milwaukee to Fort Dodge. The flights would be sold under Frontier’s F9 code.

Frontier (including flying by its regional affiliates) is the largest operator at Milwaukee, from where it offers 

nonstop service as of June 2011 to 37 nonstop destinations in the U.S. with over 80 weekday departures. 

Winter seasonal service is also offered nonstop to South Florida and Cancun, Mexico. In addition, further 

destinations are available via online connections through Frontier’s Kansas City and Denver hubs. As a 

low-fare airline, we will be able to offer lower fares to the destinations that customers from Fort Dodge

want to reach, and Milwaukee has been recognized as the airport where airfares have been falling the 

fastest in the DOT’s Consumer Airfares Report. Additional access is available for Fort Dodge passengers 

thanks to the fact that we have full interline agreements with over 20 airlines, including American Airlines, 

Continental Airlines, United Airlines, and US Airways who provide further travel options with connections 

in Milwaukee. In addition to sales via its website and reservations centers, Frontier makes all of its flights 

available for sale in each of the major Global Distribution Systems, making it easy for customers to 

purchase tickets through corporate travel departments, local travel agencies, and all of the major online 

travel agencies.

Frontier already has a presence in smaller communities in the region, including both Appleton and Green 

Bay, WI, as well as service to Des Moines, IA. Additionally, we are committed to continuing to develop 

services in the area. This past summer, we operated a successful new service from Denver to Green Bay, 

and we are looking to continue to develop service to smaller markets where we can stimulate demand 

with lower fares. We believe that adding further service directly into our Milwaukee hub will increase 

demand for air travel from the communities of Ironwood and Manistee.

Frontier requests flexibility to operate the service using a 37-seat ERJ-135 aircraft in place of the ERJ145 detailed herein as operational needs dictate. 

Daniel Shurz,

Vice President, Strategy and Planning
Table of Contents

Proposal Service Points Hub Served Round Trips Equipment Subsidy Pax Average

Part Depts Forecast Fare

1 FOD MKE 2 E145 1324 25,761 $61

Totals in Bid

Annual Subsidy Requirement Depts Passengers

$4,148,224 1324 25,761

Subsidy/Dept $3133

Subsidy/Pax $161

Schedule Proposals

Fort Dodge - Milwaukee

Flt # Freq Routing Schedule Time Enroute Equip

2010 x7 FOD-MKE 06:00 07:10 1:10 ERJ

2010 7 FOD-MKE 11:00 12:10 1:10 ERJ

2011 D MKE-FOD 14:20 15:30 1:10 ERJ

2012 x6 FOD-MKE 15:50 17:00 1:10 ERJ

2013 x6 MKE-FOD 21:30 22:40 1:10 ERJ
Market: Fort Dodge to Milwaukee

Aircraft ERJ145 Seats 50

Mileage 320 ASMs/Flight 16,000

Daily Departures 3.71 Annual ASMs 21,184,000

Annual Departures 1324 Annual RPMs 8,243,520

Block per Departure 1.17 hours Load Factor 38.1%

Annual Block Hours 1545 hours Annual Seats 66,200

Annual Onboard Pax 25,761 Fuel Cost per Gallon $3.40

Completion Percent 99%

Revenue

Annual Pax 25,761

Average Segment Fare $68.48

Total Revenue $1,763,018

Expenses

System/Station Costs $3,935,317

Fuel Costs $1,885,775

Total Annual Expense $5,823,092

Profit/(Loss) ($4,060,074)

Profit Margin @5% $88,150

Subsidy Request $4,148,224

Subsidy/Departure $3133.10

Subsidy/Pax $161.03