U.S. Department Assistant Secretary 

of Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation January 22, 2013 

Mr. Bill Imada 

Founder, Chairman and Chief 

Collaboration Officer 

IW Group 

8687 Melrose A venue, Suite 0540 

West Hollywood, CA 90069 

Dear Mr. Imada: 

1200 New Jnrsey Avenue. SE 

Washington. DC 20590 

Thank you for your .letter to Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, supporting the application 

of Southwest Airlines (South\vest) for two within-perimeter slot exemptions at Ronald Reagan 

Washington National Airport (DCA). Southwest proposes to serve Houston's William P. Hobby 

Airport with one nonstop round trip per day from DCA. Secretary LaHood asked that I respond 

to you on his behalf. 

We received Southwest's application on December 5, 2012. Other timely applications were 

received from JetBlue Airways, proposing one nonstop round trip to Jacksonville International 

Airport, Florida, and from US Airways, proposing one nonstop round trip to Will Rogers World 

Airport in Oklahoma City. 

As the matter is still pending, I cannot comment on the merits of the points raised in your letter. 

However, I can assure you that all applications received by the U.S. Department of 

Transportation will be given due and careful consideration. 

The Department's action on this matter is being administered through a public docket, which 

allows all interested parties the opportunity to comment. Following our normal practice, I am 

placing a copy ofyourJetter and this response in docket number DOT-OST-2000-7182. 

1 appreciate your interest in this matter. 

Sincerely yours, 

Susan L. Kurland 

Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 
'0 

IW 

group 

December.23, 201.2 

The Honorable Ray LaHood 

Secretary of Transportation 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. 

Washington, DC 20590 

Re~ Docket No. DOT-OST-2000-7182 

Dear Secretary LaHood: 

I am a frequent flyer on several different airline carriers, including American, Delta, 

Southwest, United and Virgin America. Each and ew~ry year for the last 10 years, I have 

traveled more than 100,000 from Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and 

Washington to points all over the U.S. As a small business owner who travels weekly, I rely 

heavity on finding the best schedules and the best prices. Competition between the 

different airline companies provides me with affordable options, an array of scheduling 

choices, and access from different points around the country, including th.e route between 

Washington, D.C. and Houston. 

Smaller airports such as Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and Houston 

Hobby Airport (HOU) are oftentimes more convenient for business and leisure travelers 

than some of the larger airports such as Washington Dulles (lAD) and Houston George 

Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). Traveling to these smaller airports also saves me time, 

money ($14-20 vs. $60+ for IAD)and a great deal of headaches. Therefore, when 

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Southwest Airline$ seeks two specific slot exemptions at DCA to offer daily nonstop.service 

to HOU, I feel a need to endorse their request wholeheartedly. Currently, there is no 

scheduled airline se·rvice between DCA and HOU, which makes it more complicated and 

costly to travel between Washington and Hou:ston. 

As you can well imagine, the Houston-DCA market is currently a costly and complicated 

situation for many travelers. By providing these slots to Southwest Airlines, we ca·n open up 

an underserved and currently overpriced market to more airlines. This would be welcome 

news for busy travelers like me. Southwest Airlines is one of the best-priced airline 

companies and I use them frequently. They are also one of the rnost reliable airline 

companies in the country, offering great value, service and travel options for people who 

have to travel for business. 

We need more options at our nation's busy airports for business travelers. We also need 

quality .service that is reliable, timely and hassle-free. Please approve Southwest's 

application for two-slot exemptions at DCA. 

Also, please keep me posted on this matter. If you should have any questions, comments 

or thoughts about this, please do not hesitate to contact me. I would be happy to offer a 

small-business perspective on this. 

Thank you in advance for your anticipated support and approval of these slot exemptions. 

Sincerely yours, 

~,~ 

-~~ 

Billlmada 

Founder, Chairman and Chief Collaboration Officer 

IW Group, Inc. 

(Owner of a small, minority.:owned and operated firm and frequent business traveler) 

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