Response to Order 2010-5-4 

Submitted: June 1,2010 

BEFORE THE UNITED STATES 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Essential Air Service at 

ELY, NEVADA 

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

Docket: DOT-OST-1995-361 

Proposal of McCall Aviation, Inc. 

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To Provide Essential Air Service r ' 

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Summary 

This document contains McCall Aviation, Inc.'s response to the Department's Order 2010-5-4 

requesting proposals for essential air service at Ely, Nevada. McCall Aviation has provided 

three different options, which are summarized on page 3 of the response. These proposals 

provide for different service levels and different aircraft types for service to Ely. We propose 

non-stop service to the Salt Lake City, UT hub. 

McCall Aviation currently operates twelve aircraft averaging over 4,000 flights per year, flying 

thousands of passengers between 250 airports in the Intermountain West. Our service 

reliability is excellent. We pride ourselves on 100% dispatch reliability and first class 

customer service. While 100% reliability is not unheard of in the on-demand charter 

environment, when you perform thousands of flights a year, it is a big accomplishment. We 

would bring this same reliability and service commitment to Ely. With a portion of our fleet 

dedicated solely to the route, we will not be negatively impacted by upline delays or 

cancelations. 

McCall Aviation will provide internet based on-line ticketing via our website along with 

ticketing by phone. While we do not currently have interline baggage agreements or codeshare marketing agreements with major domestic air carriers operating at the hub, we do not 

see this as an insurmountable hurdle like it was years ago. This is primarily due to the strong 

presence of Southwest Airlines and other low cost carriers that do not participate in interline 

agreements. Today's air traveler is accustomed to this and does not see it as burdensome. 

McCall Aviation currently operates without such agreements from Boise, ID, and by having 

appropriate numbers of qualified gate agents and baggage handlers on staff, we are able to 

minimize any inconveniences. 

1 
A key to all our options is the flight schedule. Increased enplanements and more satisfied 

customers will be the result of providing Ely with non-stop schedules that are defined with 

their community needs at the forefront. With non-stop flight times of less than 90 minutes 

enplanements will increase because air travel becomes convenient again, which it currently is 

not. We are confident that Salt Lake City is a better hub for Ely than the current hub because 

passengers that are traveling beyond the hub will have a shorter total travel time and their 

travel costs will be less by traveUng via SLC instead of DEN. West coast cities and Las Vegas 

are better served from SLC. 

McCall Aviation is proposing 8 seat aircraft for all options. While Federal regulations support 

the selection of 15 seat aircraft, clearly historical enplanements at Ely do not justify anything 

larger than 8 seats and the taxpayer would be better served by smaller aircraft. If more seats 

per day are a necessity, we have provided an option with 2 non-stop roundtrips per day. This 

results in more than 15 seats daily, and with two flights the scheduling options are superior. 

We acknowledge that smaller aircraft may require an increased marketing and customer 

service effort, however we feel strongly that enplanements can increase with our program, 

which is the goal of both the EAS program and the community. 

The cost savings are the greatest by using piston powered twin-engine aircraft. Nonetheless, 

we have also provided an option utilizing turbine powered, pressurized, Beechcraft 200 aircraft 

as an alternative to non-pressurized piston aircraft. A Beechcraft 200 aircraft would provide 

the pressurized service desired by some community members without either the expense of 

subsidizing larger aircraft or the expense of maintaining a 14 CFR Part 139 airport at Ely. 

Questions and comments concerning this proposal can be directed to: 

Laura M. Scott 

President 

McCall Aviation, Inc. 

300 Deinhard Lane 

McCall, ID 83638 

(208)634-7137 
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CO 
Option 1 - Ely, NV to/from Salt Lake City, UT using Piper Chieftains 

1 Round Trip per Day 

7 nonstop roundtrip flights / week 

SLC/ELY 280 statute miles one way 

Using 8 passenger PA-31-350 Piper Chieftain aircraft 

See representative 

schedule attached 

CY 2008 ELY Estimated Passengers 

CY 2009 ELY Estimated Passengers 

CY2008-CY2009 Avg ELY Passengers 

552 estimate based on 9 months of data available 

355 estimate based on 10 months of data available 

454 

97.5 % Completion Factor 

ELY/SLC Departures 

ELY Flight Hours 

ELY Block Hours 

ELY Revenue Passenger Miles 

ELY Available Seat Miles 

710 

1,092 

1,310 

126,980 

1,589,952 

Operating Revenues 

Passengers SLC-ELY 

Other (freight) 

Total Operating Revenue 

454 at $ 300.00 $ 136,050 

$ 680 

$ 136,730 

Direct Operating Expenses 

Aircraft 

Fuel/Oil 

Crew 

Maintenance 

Insurance 

Flight Operations 

Total Direct Operating Expenses 

Indirect Operating Expenses 

Sales/Marketing/Reservations 

Ely Expenses 

Salt Lake City Expenses 

Management/Administration 

Total Indirect Operating Expenses 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

154,940 

277,917 

159,388 

114,200 

12,225 

18,912 

96,000 

50,880 

200,625 

75,000 

$ 737,581 

$ 422,505 

Operating Loss 

Profit (5% of operating expenses) 

$ (1,023,356) 

$ 58,004 

Annual Subsidy Requirement $ 1,081,360 
Option 2 - Ely, NV to/from Salt Lake City, UT using Beechcraft B200 King Airs 

1 Round Trip per Day 

7 nonstop roundtrip flights / week SLC/ELY 280 statute miles one way 

See representative 

schedule attached 

Using 8 passenger BE200 Beechcraft King Air aircraft 

CY 2008 ELY Estimated Passengers 

CY 2009 ELY Estimated Passengers 

CY2008-CY2009 Avg ELY Passengers 

552 estimate based on 9 months of data available 

355 estimate based on 10 months of data available 

454 

97.5 % Completion Factor 

ELY/SLC Departures 710 

ELY Flight Hours 801 

ELY Block Hours 1,019 

ELY Revenue Passenger Miles 126,980 

ELY Available Seat Miles 1,589,952 

Operating Revenues 

Passengers SLC-ELY 

Other (freight) 

Total Operating Revenue 

Direct Operating Expenses 

Aircraft 

Fuel/Oil 

Crew 

Maintenance 

Insurance 

Flight Operations 

Total Direct Operating Expenses 

454 at 

$ 475,200 

$ 424,549 

$ 189,200 

$ 212,700 

$ 50,000 

$ 23,229 

$ 300.00 $ 136,050 

$ 680 

$ 136,730 

$ 1,374,879 

Indirect Operating Expenses 

Sales/Marketing/Reservations 

Ely Expenses 

Salt Lake City Expenses 

Management/Administration 

Total Indirect Operating Expenses 

$ 96,000 

$ 50,880 

$ 206,625 

$ 75,000 

$ 428,505 

Operating Loss 

Profit (5% of operating expenses) 

$ (1,666,653) 

$ 90,169 

Annual Subsidy Requirement $ 1,756,822 
Option 3 - Ely, NV to/from Salt Lake City, UT using Piper Chieftains 

2 Round Trips per Weekday + 1 Round Trip per Weekend Day 

12 nonstop roundtrip flights / week SLC/ELY 280 statute miles one way 

See representative 

schedule attached 

Using 8 passenger PA-31-350 Piper Chieftain aircraft 

CY 2008 ELY Estimated Passengers 

CY 2009 ELY Estimated Passengers 

CY2008-CY2009 Avg ELY Passengers 

552 estimate based on 9 months of data available 

355 estimate based on 10 months of data available 

454 

97.5 % Completion Factor 

ELY/SLC Departures 1,217 

ELY Flight Hours 1,872 

ELY Block Hours 2,246 

ELY Revenue Passenger Miles 126,980 

ELY Available Seat Miles 2,725,632 

Operating Revenues 

Passengers SLC-ELY 

Other (freight) 

Total Operating Revenue 

Direct Operating Expenses 

Aircraft 

Fuel/Oil 

Crew 

Maintenance 

Insurance 

Flight Operations 

Total Direct Operating Expenses 

454 at 

$ 284,540 

$ 467,738 

198,625 

192,200 

24,450 

36,533 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 300.00 $ 

$ 

136,050 

680 

$ 136,730 

$ 1,204,086 

Indirect Operating Expenses 

Sales/Marketing/Reservations 

Ely Expenses 

Salt Lake City Expenses 

Management/Administration 

Total Indirect Operating Expenses 

Operating Loss 

Profit (5% of operating expenses) 

$ 96,000 

$ 50,880 

$ 230,565 

$ 75,000 

$ 452,445 

$ (1,519,801) 

$ 82,827 

Annual Subsidy Requirement 1,602,627 
Salt Lake City, UT to/from ELY, NV 

Representative Schedule for Option 1 

Flight # Frequency Route Departure Arrival Equip 

2111 

2112 

1234567 

1234567 

SLC - ELY 

ELY - SLC 

0715 

0830 

0800 

1115 

PAG 

PAG 

Salt Lake City, UT to/from ELY, NV 

Representative Schedule for Option 2 

Flight # Frequency Route Departure Arrival Equip 

2111 

2112 

1234567 

1234567 

SLC - ELY 

ELY - SLC 

0715 

0800 

0730 

1015 

BE20 

BE20 

Salt Lake City, UT to/from Ely, NV 

Representative Schedule for Option 3 

Flight # Frequency Route Departure Arrival Equip 

2111 

2112 

2113 

2114 

12345 

12345 

1234567 

1234567 

SLC - ELY 

ELY - SLC 

SLC - ELY 

ELY - SLC 

0715 

0830 

1530 

1645 

0800 

1115 

1615 

1930 

PAG 

PAG 

PAG 

PAG 

All times shown are local time