U.& Departmen t o f Assistant Secretary , - [ Tir^ri-: ' Qr'^O O New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Thinsportatio n Washington, DC 20590 

Office of the Secretary 

of Transportation \- U! 

OCT 2520 W 

Mr. John B. Czamecki 

President & CEO 

Clinton County Economic Alliance 

12800 Escanaba Drive, Suite D 

DeWitt, MI 48820 

Dear Mr. Czamecki: 

Thank you for your letter of October 6 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 I 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. 
Mr. John B. Czamecki 

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. 

,/i /^'Susan L. Kurland 

/ / ''Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 
I 

S1{)-1()H)I5-()1^ ) 

CLI NTO N 

COUNT Y 

ECONOMIC 

ALLIANCE 

GO Jpc^tMt± '^CiA^ed " ^ ^ai^>r\^M± C^iiyvrv\ittect 

12800 Escanaba Drive 

Suite D 

DeWitt, Ml 48820 

517-669-1345 

clintoncountyeconoinicalliance.org 

Octobers, 2010 

The Honorable Raymond L. LaHood 

Secretary of Transportation 

United States Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Re: Sun Country Airlines Application - #DOT-OST-2000-7182 

Dear Secretary Hood: 

The Clinton County Economic Alliance strongly supports and requests approval of the Sun 

Country Application referenced above. 

Clinton County is the home of the Capital Region International Airport. To enable the airport to 

grow and prosper it is vital that the airport provide service to as many destinations as possible. 

In tum this will provide greater economic development opportunities to the region. 

Non-stop service to Washington DC is in great demand in the Greater Lansing Region. This 

service would replace the successful independence air service that was lost in 2005 due to the 

airline bankruptcies. Since then, Lansing has remained one of the few state capitals without 

non-stop service to Washington. 

Accordingly, the new Sun Country service will begin to fill the void in airline service for MidMichigan. Your approval of the Sun Country slot application is vital to the economic 

development of the region. 

Sincerely, 

John B. Czamecki 

President & CEO 

cc: Robert F. Selig