OoT-OST- QOQS- 03 VlJoint Comment Letter to U.S. Department of Transportation 

from 

City ofKake 

P.O. Box 500 

Kake, Alaska 99830 

State Chartered Municipal Government 

Organized Village ofKake 

P.O. Box 316 

Kake, Alaska 99830 

Federally Recognized Tribal Government 

July 29, 2010 

Dennis J. DeVaney, Chief 

Essential Air Service Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 f I 3 

RE; Essential Air Service Provider for Kake Alaska 

Dear Mr. DeVaney: 

Per our telecons earlier this month, thank you for your willingness to allow additional time for review 

and consensus by the two local governments in Kake in regard to Essential Air Service (EAS) 

providers for KaJke beginning September 1, 2010 for a two-year period. With that additional time, 

representatives from both the City ofKake (City) and the Organized Village ofKake (OVK) met 

with the two applicants. Wings of Alaska, Inc. (Wings) and Air Excursions LLC (Air Excursions) on 

two separate days (plus the local Kake Schools gathered input as well and provided comment into the 

decision process). 

Based on all input gathered, including proposed services and airline equipment/capability, plus 

experience in the past, the group consensus is in support of Air Excursions. The following 

summarizes the information we gathered and our decision process. 

Since our Southeast Alaska weather can be challenging at times, the ability to operate 

services in IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) conditions and effectively utilize the FAA Capstone 

System is of the highest importance. People, freight and mail rely on dependable airline 

service for the most basic of day-to-day needs in our rural community. We have to be able to 

travel for business & personal needs, health care, freight in and out, timely delivery of mail in 

and out, and the list goes on. All of this needs to have the assurance that sufficient flights are 

regularly available and provided on a daily basis. 

Both Wings and Air Excursions promise such service, with each having nuances as pluses 

and minuses (e.g. Wings has two IRF aircraft and Air Excursions only one, although Air 

Excursions has de-icing already installed whereas Wings does not but promises to do so). To 
Joint Comment Letter from City of Kake and Organized Village of Kal<e 

to U.S. Department of Transportation 

RE: Essential Air Service Provider for Kake, Alaska 

page 2 

compliment IRF capability, de-icing is a must if we want to get the most out of the IFR 

routes, which in our climate can end up being at icing levels. 

Freight capacity is another consideration. The Caravan operated by Wings offers more 

payload capacity, but Air Excursions commits to adding an extra freight flight whenever 

possible as needed and at a minimum, getting a passenger's excess baggage on the next 

available flight. Air Excursions charges $.50/pound for both excess baggage over 70 pounds 

per passenger and $.50/pound for freight. Wings is the same for excess baggage but charges 

up to $.65/pound for freight (16-99 pounds) and $.60 over 100 pounds. Seat fares, frequent 

flyer programs, etc. are close enough to each other to be a wash. 

As the dust settles on the above comparison, which promises very similar service and weather 

capability by both, the scale is tipped by customer service. A locally owned airline such as Air 

Excursions, which apparently is more in tune with our rural community needs, promises passenger 

pick-up & drop-off from travelers' homes, freight delivery, and willingness to work with us when the 

weather looks too bad even for IFR and not require us to sit all day at the airport when a periodic 

phone call to update the fly/no-fly works instead. As an example of how some of this affects our 

people, something as simple as passenger pick-up here in Kake means a lot to folks when groimd 

transportation is not readily available to them. 

In addition to our consensus recommendation to your office, we also plan to provide Air Excursions 

a letter that reviews their commitments made to us. We trust that Air Excursions will follow through 

for our community, with such a letter providing an agreed upon benchmark of services for our 

citizens. To keep you in the loop, we would like to "cc" that letter to your office. 

We also trust that your office will work with Air Excursions as they offer their services, so that they 

may do so in a maimer that not only fulfills Kake's needs, but also allows them to operate in a 

fiscally viable manners - for that to occur, we thank the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Department of 

Transportation for the Essential Air Service Subsidy Program that is so critical in rural communities 

such as Kake, Alaska. 

In closing, we wish to thank your office for its willingness to work with us - to seek community 

comment on the Essential Air Service that is so important and critically needed by our rural 

community. 

Sincerely, 

Henrich Kadake Casimero A. Aceveda 

City ofKake Mayor OVK Tribal Council President