Raleigh County 

Memorial I M 9 Memorial 0 

Airport 

176 Airport Circle • Room 115 

Beaver, WV 25813-9475 

Phone 304.255.0476 • 

October 7,2010 

Fax 304.253.2095 

cri 

cr> 

— 1 

CO 

XI 

^p 

t n 

cr 

^ ;. ,. ; 

m-JJr n 

^§5 

CO 

Mr. Dennis J. DeVany, Chief 

EAS & Domestic Analysis Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

US Department or Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

RE: Essential Air Service Docket OST-1997-2761, Served: June 29, 2010 

Dear Mr DeVany: 

On behalf of the Raleigh County Airport Authority, and as their manager, I am regretfully 

registering a formal complaint of the Air Service provided to the this airport and 

Commimity by Colgan Air Inc. through the Essential Air Service Docket OST-1997-

2761. 

As of August 1,2010 and since our new contract was placed in service, the carrier 

(Colgan Air Inc.) has taken a total disrespectful attitude of the word "scheduled service", 

(as shown in the attachment). Delays and cancellations have taken over the majority of 

the past two months, and it isn't every week, as in the past, it is everyday and practically 

every flight. We are re-positioning all of our passengers to other airports to get them to 

their destination. This area is the induction center for the military and their airport of 

choice, however that service has been lost due to the neglect of the carrier and their 

inconsistent service. 

Maintenance issues create a significant number of cancellations. In some cases the 

aircraft scheduled into Raleigh County Memorial Airport, have been used to fill in for an 

aircraft for some other city, most common, Charlottesville, VA (CHO) and Johnstown 

PA (JST). Delayed flights landing 2 to 3 hours later offer nothing, to the passenger, the 

airport, or the commimity. We continue to see our disgruntled passengers, as they should 

be, disappear, not wanting to return to horrifying travel experiences created daily. 

On numerous occasions, I have spoken to individuals and in group conference calls to 

upper management of Colgan Air and Pinnacle Air (principal owner), about my concerns 

and the direction our service has taken in the past two months. Neither have I been 

satisfied of the action promised nor the unpliciation that it would get better. It has proven 

to be just the opposite. 
No less than three months ago, we spoke out with unanimous support on behalf of Colgan 

Air Inc. They were our choice of carriers for the EAS contract bid and the destination 

they offered. The thought they could take our airport and commimity to another level 

with the potential of growth in our area of the local market, the new Boy Scout High 

Adventure Center locating here and high end Resorts served by this airport, has been 

fruitless. The experience of the past two months has proven to be a total embarrassment 

not only to the airport and commimity, but the staff of Colgan Air Inc., who have been 

desperate in their efforts to fix the problem fi-om this end, which is impossible. 

This is not the intent of the EAS program nor the airport or community to witness a total 

melt down and abuse of the system. There are thousands of Federal dollars being spent 

daily by the carrier, TSA and Law Enforcement to provide us with air service that we are 

not getting. We are appreciative and respectful of the EAS funding available to our area 

and the positive impact it has on our economic future and service it is capable of 

providing to the traveling public not just local but southern West Virginia. 

We are hopefiil of a quick solution in restoring our "scheduled service" back to normal 

and the confidence in the service provided to the traveling public in our area. Any 

assistance and support you may offer, is most appreciated in rectifying this issue. 

Sincerely 

Tom Cochran 

Airport Manager 

Cc Kevin Schlemmer 
Flight Schedule Cancellations and Delays 

Raleigh County Memorial Airport (BKW) 

From August 1, 2010 to Present 

Date 

8/5/2010 

8/6/2010 

8/9/2010 

8/12/2010 

8/13/2010 

8/16/2010 

8/19/2010 

8/24/2010 

8/25/2010 

8/26/2010 

8/26/2010 

9/10/2010 

9/12/2010 

9/13/2010 

9/13/2010 

9/14/2010 

9/23/2010 

9/25/2010 

9/27/2010 

9/27/2010 

9/28/2010 

9/29/2010 

9/30/2010 

9/30/2010 

10/1/2010 

10/4/2010 

10/5/2010 

10/6/2010 

United Express/Colgan Air 

Fiiglit Number 

7828 

7828 

7828 

7828 

7828 

7828 

7828 

7828 

7830 

7829 

7828 

7828 

7830 

7829 

7828 

7828 

7828 

7829 

7829 

7828 

7828 

7828 

7828 

7830-2153 hrs sch dep IAD>BKW 

7828 

7828 

7829 

7828 

Status 

Cancelled 

Delayed 1 hr. 15 min. 

Delayed 2 hrs. 5 min. 

Cancelled 

Delayed 25 min. 

Delayed 20 min. 

Delayed 13 min. 

Delayed 3 hrs. 15 min 

Cancelled 

Cancelled 

Cancelled 

Delayed 45 min. 

Cancelled 

Cancelled 

Cancelled 

Cancelled 

Cancelled 

Delayed 2 hrs. 20 min 

late Flight 7830 delayed 

Delayed 2 hrs. 20 min 

yesterday @2000 hrs. when 

Cancelled 

Delayed 28 min. 

Delayed 1 hr. 45 min. 

Cancelled 

Cancelled 

Cancelled 

Cancelled 

Delayed 3 hrs. 

Delayed .5 hr. 

Reason 

Weather at IAD 

Late arrival 

Late arrival 

Weather at IAD 

Late arrival 

Late arrival 

Late arrival 

Late arrival 

No plane available 

No plane available 

No plane available 

Late arrival 

No plane available 

No plane available 

No plane available 

No plane available 

Mechanical/Lost 5 PAX 

Crew rest due to previous day's 

arrival. Lost 1 PAX 

Knew co-polit computer was bad 

Fit 7829 arrived at BKW. Lost 1 PAX. 

Reported as mechanical 

Late arrival 

Late arrival. 45 min. grnd hold @ BKW 

Weather at IAD 

Unknown. PAX arrv. 10/1 at 4:45 a.m. 

Unknown/Lost 5 PAX 

No plane available/Lost 11 PAX 

8 hr. crew rest required 

Late depart, from IAD/no crev^