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October 11, 201 3 Bob Be vila cqu a Town S u perv isor Town ofHarrietstown 3 9 Mai n Street Saranac Lake , N Y 129 83 Re: A di r ondack Es s ential Ai r Service De ar Supervi s or Bev il acqua , O n beh alf of the Bo ard o f Direc t or s f or th e Ad i ro n dack N orth Country A s s ociation (A NC A), an indep e ndent n ot - f

o r- pr of i t or g ani zation working to s trengthen ke y sector s of the e c onomy in the Adirondack North Co u ntry, we w rite to request that DOT explicitly soli c it i n the f o rthcomin g EAS 

### RFP a s u mmer - s e a s on i ncrea s e in capac i ty in accord with o u r summer influ x of pass e ng e rs . Thi s is especiall y important as the F ebruary 2 01 4 e x p i r ati on of o u r c urrent E AS con tra ct ap p r o a ch es . W e app eal to D O T to c aref u ll y conside r the in cre a sed rider s hip at our regional ai rport . W e want to p o int o u t that si nc e 2008, passenger enpl an e ments into and out of the Lake Clear airpo rt have increased by 45% . Th e re is clearly d e m an d fo r this serv i ce . Since 2010 our i ncumbent airline, Cap e Ai r , has been operating increased fligh t s in s u mmer on their Bosto n

- Saranac Lake route . We requ es t th at this summe r -s e as o nal increase in frequenc y be codified in the RF P' s f re quenc y s peci fi c ation . Frequ enc y and s chedul e c on v e ni enc e is ke y to the s u cces s of our ai rport an d lo c al economy. At the same time, we are mos t ea g er t o conn e ct our ai rport with th e N e w York m e tropoli tan area , in addition t o th e thri v ing hub c o nn e ctiv i ty we h ave at Boston. We do not want t o div e rt t o Ne w Yo rk o n e o f our just three d ai l y authorized fr equen c i e s ( leav in g onl y two fligh ts to th e hub at Bo st on ) a s that w o u ld undermin e th e c ri ti cal ma ss of f requen c i es n e ce s sary for a v i br ant conn e c tion with th e n ati o n al air transportation system. An RF P solici ting 

### four daily flights 

### in summer wo u ld allow an ai rline l i ke C ape A i r to retain cri tical m a ss of fr e que n cy to the Bo s ton hub ( at le a st 

### 3 d ai ly n o n - st o p fli g ht s) and us i n g a 4t h EAS fre quency add I n crement al s e rvice to the New Y ork City market, wh i ch i s o u r p ri mary s o u rce marke t for vi sitors. We note w ith admiration the success of Cape Air's Lebanon

- New York City service in the EAS program , and understand that Cape Air is eager to add flights between Saranac Lake and New York Cit y under th e auspices of the EAS program . Incorporated in 1955, ANCA ha s a long histo ry of leadership i n the ongoing effort to strengthen the economy of the 14 county Adirondack North Country region. From the out s et , o ur goal has been to build stronger and more self-rel i ant communities and to improve qu ality of l if e . w ww.adirond a ck . o r g . Inc reas i ng vi s itor access to this region has and contin u es to be a strong A N CA priori ty. Th ank y ou fo r y ou r consideration. Sincerely, 

### f
. 

### t : « 

# h K at e Fish E xe c u ti ve Director The 

### Adirondack North Country Asso c iation OtNCA) 

### is an independent not-for-profit organization working to

strengthen key sectors of the economy in the Adirondack North Country.