Order 2011-1-17

Served: January 18, 2011

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 18th of January, 2011

Essential Air Service at

MACON, GEORGIA

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

DOCKET OST-2007-28671

ESSENTIAL AIR SERVICE FOR MACON, GEORGIA

Summary

By this order the Department is terminating the carrier-selection case at Macon, Georgia, and relying on 

Pacific Wings, LLC, d/b/a Georgia Skies (Pacific Wings) to provide subsidy-free essential air service 

(EAS) at the community as it proposed. We are also terminating Pacific Wings’ current subsidy at the 

community effective seven days after the issuance of this order. 

Background

By Order 2008-5-43, we selected Pacific Wings to provide EAS to Macon, Georgia, through 

September 30, 2010, for $1,386,306 annual subsidy, and by Order 2010-10-5 we extended that 

rate until further Department action. In anticipation of the end of that contract, Order 2010-5-33 

requested proposals for EAS at Macon. We received proposals but by Order 2010-10-5 we 

rejected the proposals of all four carriers. We rejected the proposals of Charter Air Transport and 

Sovereign Air because those carriers did not have the requisite operating authority. One of the 

remaining carriers, Gulfstream International Airlines, Inc. (Gulfstream) requested $2,733,975 

annually for a total of twelve round trips per week --six nonstops to Orlando and six nonstops to 

Tampa. We rejected that proposal because “it requires $1.35 million more subsidy than Pacific 

Wings, and noted that Gulfstream’s subsidy request would result in a subsidy per passenger in 

excess of $900. Pacific Wings resubmitted its prior proposal, requesting the same level of 

subsidy it had previously requested for the same level of service –26 nonstop round trips per 

week to Atlanta with Cessna 208 aircraft. We did not accept Pacific Wings’ proposal because it 

contemplated service with 9-seat Cessna 208 aircraft, and Macon did not waive its right to 

service with 15-seat or larger aircraft. We therefore decided to reject all of the proposals and 
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rebid the case. Finally, Order 2010-10-5 noted that Macon’s most recent subsidy per passenger 

was $464, based on historical passengers and that the Department is prohibited from subsidizing 

air service at a community if the subsidy per passenger at that community exceeds $200, unless it 

is more than 210 miles from a medium or large hub. In fact, Macon is 82 miles from Atlanta, a 

large hub airport, and is therefore subject to the subsidy-per-passenger ceiling. However, we 

chose not to terminate Macon’s eligibility for subsidy at that time. “Rather than terminate 

Macon’s service eligibility, at this stage, the Department will solicit proposals for EAS, but the 

Department will evaluate all proposals submitted before committing to a two-year contract or 

making a final determination on Macon’s continuing eligibility.”

In response to the latest request for proposals, on November 16, we received proposals from 

Charter Air Transport, Gulfstream, and Pacific Wings. Gulfstream and Pacific Wings requested

the same level of subsidy as they proposed originally, although Gulfstream offered to cap its 

subsidy at the lower of its annual subsidy request and the number of passengers carried times 

$200. On December 10, the Mayor of Macon indicated the community continued to prefer 

Gulfstream. On December 14, Pacific Wings filed the following:

“At this point, [Pacific Wings] has invested far too much in Macon to simply walk 

away. Please accept this correspondence as notice that [Pacific Wings] is withdrawing 

its bid for subsidized service at Macon, but will continue to serve the community 

without subsidy. Obviously, pricing and other adjustments will be necessary to make 

non-subsidized service viable; however, Pacific Wings has successfully done so in a 

number of formerly subsidized EAS locations across the country.” 

Decision

In light of these developments, we will terminate this carrier-selection proceeding and rely on 

Pacific Wings’ subsidy-free service to meet Macon’s EAS needs. The Department is authorized 

to pay EAS subsidy only when a community would not otherwise receive any scheduled air 

service at all. Specifically, the program’s governing statute, 49 U.S.C 41733(d), states “The 

Secretary shall end payment of compensation to an air carrier for providing basic essential air 

service to an eligible place when the Secretary decides that compensation is no longer necessary 

to maintain basic essential air service to the place.” Based on that statute, we alert all parties that 

if we receive a subsidy-free proposal, we will rely on that service and terminate the carrierselection proceeding. See footnote five of Order 2010-10-5 that resolicited proposals for Macon. 

Under another provision of the law, most communities are guaranteed service with 15-seat or 

larger aircraft. However, there are several exceptions. 49 U.S.C 41732(b)(3) states that 

communities that are otherwise guaranteed service with 15-seat aircraft are not so guaranteed if 

15-seat proposals require subsidy while a proposal with smaller aircraft does not. Further, 

49 U.S.C. 41732(b)(5) states that communities are guaranteed service with twin-engine, twopilot operations “...unless scheduled air transportation has not been provided to the place in 

aircraft with at least two engines and using two pilots for at least 60 consecutive days at any time 

since October 31, 1978.” In this case, Pacific Wings has served Macon for the last two years

with single-engine aircraft. 
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Nonetheless, Macon remains an eligible EAS community. In that regard, should Pacific Wings 

decide at some point in the future to suspend service at Macon, it would first have to file a 90-

day notice of its intent to suspend that service and be subject to being held in until we could 

secure replacement service. Finally, we will terminate the rate set by Order 2010-10-5 to 

compensate Pacific Wings’ for its subsidized service while we processed the carrier-selection 

proceeding.

This order is issued under authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.56a(f).

ACCORDINGLY,

1. The Department terminates the carrier-selection proceeding at Macon, Georgia, and relies on 

the subsidy-free service of Pacific Wings to meet Macon’s essential air service;

2. The Department terminates the subsidy rate set by order 2010-10-5 effective 7 days after the 

service date of this order; 

3. Docket DOT-OST-2007-28671 will remain open until further Department action; and

4. We will serve copies of this order on the Mayor and Airport Manager of Macon, Georgia, 

Charter Air Transport, Sovereign Air, Gulfstream International Airlines, and Pacific Wings.

By:

Susan L. Kurland

Assistant Secretary for

Aviation and International Affairs

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available on the World Wide Web at

http://www.regulations.gov