Q 

U.S Departmen t o f Assistant Secretary 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Thintportat»On Vf ^ r O i:!j 3 Washington, DC 20590 

Office Of the Secretary 

of Tronsportotion 

OCT 2 5 2010 

Ms. Denyse Ferguson 

President and CEO 

Lansing Economic Area Partnership, Inc. 

500 E. Michigan Avenue, Suite 202 

Lansing, MI 48912 

Dear Ms. Ferguson: 

Thank you for your letter of October 8 to Secretary LaHood supporting Sun Country 

Airlines to serve Lansing, Michigan, in the ongoing slot-exemption proceeding at Ronald 

Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The Secretary has asked that 1 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 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 cannot 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. 
M.S. Denyse Ferguson 

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. 

cerelv vour 

»usan L. KurIi 

Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 
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October 8,2010 

The Honorable Raymond L LaHood 

Secretary of Transportation 

United States Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Ref: Sun Countrv Airlines Application - #DOT-OST-2000-7182 

Dear Honorable Raymond L. LaHood: 

On behalf of Lansing Economic Area Partnership {Leap, Inc.), I want to express our strong support of the 

recently submitted application for Sun Country air service between DCA and Lansing, Michigan. 

TTi(s (s a very important air service development opportunity for Greater Lansing. Sun County's 

proposed routes would directly link Washington, O.C. to Central Michigan - the seat of state 

government, the third largest metropolitan area in the state (exceeds 450,000), and a very significant 

economic center. The region is also within 90 minutes ground travel to 90% of the state's population. 

Capital Region International Airport is designated a Foreign Trade Zone in addition to passenger service, 

and Is Central Michigan's only U.S. Port of Entry, allowing goods and passengers to clear customs 

through the airport's state-of-the-art Federal Inspection Station. This tremendous transportation facility 

is fully equipped to accommodate this added service. 

The Greater Lansing region boasts a diverse industry base. In addition to state government as the 

region's largest employer^ it is also home to some of the most technologically advanced automobile 

manufacturing assemblies in the world, one of the world's leading scientific centers in Michigan State 

University, the largest law school in the country, and more than 14,000 companies across strong sectors 

of business including insurance, financial services, healthcare, information technology, blo-sciences and 

others. 

Greater Lansing is a growing region, and the addition of this air service would greatly enhance our region 

by provided this direct link to the nation's capital and its service hub to rest of the world. Leap is 

pleased to support this application. 

Best regards, 

Denyse Ferguson 

President and CEO 

GREATER <St » LANSING 

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