CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY

OFFICE OF THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE

Gerace Office Building- 3 N. Erie 51.- Mayville, NY 14757-1007

(716) 753-4211 - FAX (716) 753-4756 - horriganv@co.chautauqua.ny.uswww.co.chautauqua.ny.us

VINCENT W. HORRIGAN

County Executive

Mr. Michael Gonnas

Office of Aviation Analysis

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Ave, SE

Washirigton, DC 20590

Dear Mr. Gonnas,

June 6, 2014

»

Recently, a meeting was held at the Jamestown Airport to review the results of the recent

(original) Request for Proposals for providing scheduled airline service for our community under

the Essential Air Service program. That meeting was attended by many of the most important

and influential members of our business, community, political and travel leaders including our

County Executive, the CEO of the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency

(CCIDA), Chainnan ofthc Board of the CCIDA, Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce,

Executive Director of the Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau, owners and CEOs of two of the

major manufacturing companie.s in our community, the District Manager ofthe American

Automobile Association, the Manager of the \\Tarren, PA AAA Club, and all of the Airport

Commission Members. Eilch.ofthe attendees had received a copy of the two proposals, along

with a list of possible advanta&es and disadvantages of each.

After reviewing the proposals, the committee decided unanimously that the airline of choice for

serving Chautauqua County Airport - Jamestown, is Sun Air International.

Upon receiving the second round of proposals that included a new proposal from City Link,

theirs, along with the amended proposals from Sun Air and Boutique, were forwarded to all

members of the committee. After much discussion, particularly among the members of the

Chautauqua County Airport Commission, the original decision to support Sun Air's proposal

was affirmed.

The reasons for this selection are as follows:

1. Aircraft - There were numerous inputs from representatives of various local businesses

and corporations that their employees were forbidden to fly on single-engine aircraft

when travelling on business.

2. Length of Contract - Sun Air International's bid for four years is strongly supported, as it

will give both the airline and the community an opportunity to invest significant time and
money to build up the enplanements that we all believe are still available. (As recently as

the '90s, our enplanements were in excess of 50,000/year). We feel that their asking for a

four year contract speaks positively to their stated goal of regaining lost ridership.

3. Schedule - Sun Air's proposed schedule of24 flights/week versus both of the other

airlines limiting their service to 18 flights/week, results in a very significant increase of

33% .. We strongly believe that one of the key factors in increasing enplanements to the

point of not needing EAS subsidy is increasing flight frequency.

4. Fares - Sun Air's proposed fare schedule is another of the key factors we believe is

critical to the success of rebuilding our enplanements. Every poll that has been taken in

. the past seven years related to reasons our citizens are not flying from the Jamestown

Airport shows one of the prime reasons is high fares. We feel that combining lower fares

with increased frequency will provide the impetus to stop the leakage to more distant

airports.

5. Reliability - a major factor! We found that since the current ownership/management

took over Sun Air, their reliability in the Lancaster and Hagerstown markets has proven

to be exemplary. As of mid-April, their controllable completion factor was 100%. The

manager of the Lancaster, PA airport commented that there had been a significant

improvement in reliability since the ownership change.

6. Scheduled Airline Experience - the management team at Sun Air has many years of

experience operating a scheduled airline, both under FAR Part 121 and Part 135.

Boutique Air, on the other hand, has only operated a schedule to one destination (Las

Vegas), and only for two days/week. City Link has no scheduled airline experience.

7. Interline Opportunity - Sun Air has established interline agreements with numerous

airlines, whereas both Boutique and City Link have not. This is an absolute MUST for

our businessmen and women. The airline consultant working with many of the airports

affected by the EAS proposals now under consideration in New York, Pennsylvania and

West Virginia has confirmed that, although both Boutique and City Link have stated they

are working to achieve Interline status with the larger carriers, that process generally

takes many months, or longer. We do not feel that we can risk the uncertainty of not

having Interline agreements in place as of the beginning of our new airline's operations.

8. Marketing Partnership - Sun Air's owner has pledged significant marketing dollars and

efforts to developing the market believed to be lying dormant in our surrounding

communities. In his presentation to our Airport Commission, he iterated his belief that

community involvement is absolutely essential for the development of increasing

enplanements.

9. Regaining Passenger Trust - If we are ever to gain back a good percentage of the 1980s

& 90s 4000+/month passengers we cannot afford another failure in reliability and

inadequate flight schedules. Sun Air, since its recent ownership change, has

demonstrated outstanding reliability. While we wish Boutique and City Link well, we do

not feel it would be wise to invest our future in their unproven ability to provide the

reliability in air service that we so desperately need.
Our community has suffered high fares, unreliable service, and connections to a hub airport

(Cleveland) that just didn't work for most of our citizens. Our businessmen and women have

stated over and over again the importance of having easy access to the cities and states along the

eastern seaboard. The Pittsburgh hub will undoubtedly provide much more access to those areas.

We're optimistic and confident that we can return Chautauqua County's enplanements

significantly with Sun Air International as our partner.

Respectfully yours, {/~ft..- Vincent W. Horrig

Chautauqua County ecutive