& 

us. Department of Assisrant Secretary ' -"'. i-'._^ ,1^00 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Trein$porfatton Washington, DC 20590 

Office Of me Secretary • •-''' J : -"^ I- U2 

of Transportation 

OCT 2 5 2010 

Mr. Robert G. Lyons 

Mr. Michael J. Furen 

ICARD MERRILL CULLIS TIMM FUREN & GINSBURG, P.A. 

2033 Main Street, Suite 600 

Sarasota, FL 34237 

Dear Mr. Lyons and Mr. Furen: 

Thank you for your tetter of October 6 to Secretary LaHood supporting AirTran Airways, 

Inc. (AirTran) to serve Sarasota, Florida, in the ongoing slot-exemption proceeding at 

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The Secretary has asked that I 

respond to your letter directly. 

As you know, the U.S. Department of Transportation commenced a proceeding on 

August 30 to reallocate two DCA slot exemptions that are currently being used by 

Republic Airline, Inc. (Republic). Republic has been using these two slot exemptions for 

DCA - Kansas City service. These slot exemptions may be used to serve any medium 

hub or smaller airport within the 1,250-mile perimeter of DCA. 

We have received a total of five proposals, briefly outlined below: 

• Sun Country to serve Lansing, Michigan, with 129- or 162-seat aircraft; 

• Republic Airline, Inc., branded as Frontier Airlines, to continue to serve Kansas 

City, Missouri, with 99-seat regional jet aircraft; 

• Southwest Airlines Co., to serve Kansas City utilizing 137-seat aircraft; 

• US Airways, Inc., to serve Pensacola, Florida, utilizing 76- or 86-seat regional jet 

aircraft, depending on the season; and 

• Air Tran Airways, Inc.. to serve either Fort Myers or Sarasota, Florida, utilizing 

either 117- or 137-seat aircraft. 

As the slot exemption proceeding is competitive and is currently under review by the 

Department, I am sure you understand that I caimot comment on the merits of the 

proposals. I assure you, however, that the Department will fully consider all of the 

proposals, and make its award based on the selection criteria detailed in the governing 

statutes. 
Mr. Robert G. Lyons and Mr. Michael J. Furen 

Page 2 

As is our normal practice, I am placing a copy of your letter and my response in Docket 

DOT-OST-2000-7182 as a contact outside the record of this proceeding. I appreciate 

your interest in obtaining access to the Nation's capital. If I can provide further 

information or assistance, please feel free to call me. 

incerely yo 

^ lusan L. Kurland 

MT^ssistant Secretary for 

AWation and International Affairs 
S!()-10l()l>n2l 

Ilk^ilCARDMERRILL 

ATTORNEYS A COUNSELOR S 

2033 Main Street 

Suite 600 

Sarasota, R 34237 

941.366.8100 

Fax; 941.366.6384 

icardmerrill.com 

James E. Aker 

E. Dusty Aker 

Charles ]. Bartlett 

F^ul D. Beitlich 

G. Matthew Brockway 

Bmce P. Chapnick 

Andr^ K. R. Charbonneau 

Michael W. Cochran 

StatyDlllard-Spahn 

Mark C. Dungan 

Michael L. Foreman 

Michael I Furen 

Arthur D. Ginsburg 

Steven R, Greenberg 

F.TTiomas Hopkins 

Thomas F. Icard, Jr. 

Todd D. Kaplan 

JoAnnM. Koontz 

Jason A. Lessinger 

David M. Levir^, LL.M. 

Robert K. Lincoln 

Robert G. Lyons 

Ritricia C. Meringer 

William W. Merrill, m 

Robert E. Messick 

Troy H.Myers, jr 

Alyssa M. Nohren 

]. Geoffrey Pflugner 

Stephen D. Rees 

Stephen Douglas Rees, Jr. 

Lindsey A. Schneider 

Jaime L. Wallace 

John J. Waskom 

Richard S. Webb, IV 

October 6, 2010 

The Honorable Ray H. LaHood 

Secretary of Transportation 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. 

Washington. DC 20590 

RE: Docket OST-2000-7182 

Dear Secretary LaHood: 

We are writing to express our support for the application of AirTran Airways Inc. 

for the two available Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) wjthin-perimeter 

slots being allocated by the Department in Docket OST-2000-7182 to provide nonstop 

service from Sarasota Bradenton International Aiiport (SRQ) to DCA. 

The Sarasota Bradenton area has only one daily nonstop on a regional jet to 

Washington, DC. even though it is the sixth largest destination market from this area. With 

over 750,000 residents arid our prime location as a leisure destination for tourists, SRQ can 

certainly support additional service and it would be a great help to the tourism industry in 

this region, which suffered a significant impact from the BP oil spill. This new service 

would also mitigate the negative economic impact the recession has had on the community 

and the airport. 

While AirTran also offers an alternative lo award the route to Southwest Florida 

International (RSW), we ask that the slot be awarded to Airtran conditioned on the slot 

being utilized for SRQ. In addition to enhancing competition and lowering fares at Sarasota 

Bradenton International Aiipori, the proposed service would increase connectivity to 

destinations in the Northeast and Midwest, critical markets for our region. 

Thank you for your consideration. 

Sincerely, 

ICAlCDJ?lERRiLL CULLIS TIMM FUREN & GINSBURG, P.A. 

I JCo ^ G. Lyons, Pr^J^Ient 1 

Michael J. FurenrChairman 

Icard, Merrill, Cullis, TUnin, Furen & Ginsburg, PJ ^ - Established 1953 

Offices in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties