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Office of the Secretary 

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Mr. Scott Wardwell 

Airport Director 

Northern Maine Regional Airport 

650 Airport Drive 

Suite 11 

Presque Isle, ME 04769 

Dear Mr. Wardwell, 

I would like to update you on the essential air service (EAS) situation at Northern Maine 

Regional Airport and give you an opportunity to offer any comments on the record before 

we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International 

Affairs. As you know, Colgan Air Inc., operating as US Airways Express (Colgan), is 

the current EAS provider at your community, and their contract expires May 31, 2010. In 

anticipation of that, we issued Order 2010-3-3, March 3, 2010, soliciting proposals from 

carriers interested in providing subsidized EAS for a new, two-year period, beginning 

June 1, 2010. In response to our request, three carriers responded: Charter Air Transport 

(Charter), Colgan, and Sovereign Air, Inc. (Sovereign Air). 

You should have received a copy of the proposals from each carrier, and they can be 

accessed at www.regulations.gov by entering the number DOT-OST-2000-8012 in the 

search block. As a result, we will only briefly summarize them here. 

Charter has proposed one service option using 30-seat Embraer EMB-120 aircraft 

operating two nonstop round trips, six days a week, over a Presque Isle-Boston routing 

for an annual subsidy of $2,737,133. 

Colgan has proposed one service option that would provide three nonstop round trips 

each weekday and two nonstop round trips on Saturday and Sunday (19 a week), over a 

Presque Isle-Boston routing for an annual subsidy of $2,812,853 using 34-seat Saab 340 

aircraft. Colgan does make clear, however, that due to the length of haul and flight time, 

and FAA approved passenger and baggage weights, the actual number of seats available 

for sale is fewer than 34. Due to these conditions, Colgan states that on the Boston to 

Presque Isle leg the aircraft is limited to 28 passengers, and from Presque Isle to Boston 

the aircraft is limited to 31 passengers. Therefore, Colgan believes its proposal of three 

round trips a day is required to meet the community's guaranteed 67 seats per day in each 

direction. 

Sovereign Air has proposed two service options over a Presque Isle-Boston routing. 

Option 1 would offer four daily nonstop round trips using 19-seat Jetstream 32 aircraft 
for an annual subsidy of $2,082,548. Option 2 would offer five daily nonstop round trips 

using 12-seat Beechcraft 350 aircraft for an aimual subsidy of $1,867,936. Option 2, 

however, does not meet the 15-seat requirement in the EAS program's governing statutes 

(49 us e §41732 (b)(3)). 

The schedules that the carriers have proposed are illustrative only and they may make 

schedule changes to reflect changing conditions, e.g., to better meet shifting connecting 

bank times at the hub. However, the Department does expect a subsidized air carrier to 

maintain well-timed and well-spaced flights in order to ensure full compensation. 

We request that you review the proposals and submit any comments you may have as 

soon as possible, but no later than April 26. We will carefully consider your comments 

before we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. 

Please send your comments via e-mail to EAS@dot.gov or by fax to 202-366-7638. If 

you have any questions, please feel free to contact Michael Martin of my staff at 

michael.f.martin@dot.gov or 202-366-6494. 

Sincerely, 

Dennis J. DeWny, Chief O 

Essential Air Service Division 

Office of Aviation Analysis 

cc: Mr. Thomas Stevens, City Manager