### BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

March 18, 2015

Ninety-Day Notice of

Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd.

Of intent to terminate servi ce at Docket OST-2000-8322 Alliance, Nebraska & Chadron, Nebraska Pursuant to Title 49 of the U.S. Code, Section 41719, Air Service Termination Notice

NOTICE OF GREAT LAKES AVIATION, LTD.

TO TERMINATE SCHEDULED AIR SERVICE

AT ALLIANCE, NEBRASKA & CHADRON, NEBRASKA

Pursuant to Title 49 of the U.S. Code, S ection 41719, air service termination notice, Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. hereby serves its not ice of intent to te rminate the scheduled air service it is providing at Alliance and Chadron, Nebraska.

In accordance with Section 41719, Great Lake s Aviation, Ltd. supplies the following information:

1. Identification of Carrier

Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. 1022 Airport Parkway Cheyenne, WY 82001

Communications with respect to th is document should be directed to:

Chuck Howell ,CEO Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. 1022 Airport Parkway Cheyenne, WY 82001 Telephone: (307) 432 7020 Fax: (307) 432 7001

### 2. At the time of the filing of this notic e, Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., operating as Great Lakes Airlines, provides service at Alliance and Chadron Nebraska. Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. is a certified FAR Part 121 ca rrier that provides air transportation exclusively with aircraft having a seating capacity of no more than 30 passengers. Service is currently provi ded in a Beechcraft 1900D configured for nine seats.

3. Great Lakes Airlines provides the only sc heduled passenger air service at Alliance and Chadron, Nebraska.

4. The Great Lakes Airlines service being offered is as follows:

Flight Number From Departure To Arrival Equip Frequency

3005 DEN 1300 AIA 1355 *BEH Daily X6 AIA 1410 CDR 1410 *BEH X6 CDR 1446 DEN 1553 *BEH X6

3009 DEN 1015 AIA 1110 *BEH Daily X 67 AIA 1125 CDR 1151 *BEH X67 CDR 1201 DEN 1308 *BEH X67

AIA – Alliance, Nebraska CDR- Chadron, Nebraska DEN – Denver, Colorado

*BEH- Beechcraft 1900D configured for 9 seats. All flights operate one-stop. All times listed are local time in effect as of the date of this notice.



### 5. Changes to FAA pilot qualification rules have created an industry-wide pilot shortage which has had an acute impact on Great Lakes. These rules mandated that prior to employment by a FAR Part 121 air carrier, first officers obtain an Airline Transport Pilot certification (“ATP”). A key factor to enable a pilot to receive an ATP certificate is the accumu lation of 1,500 flight hours. While the FAA did provide exemptions for accred ited flight schools to reduce the 1,500 flight hour requirement to 1,250 flight hours for two year accredited programs and 1,000 flight hours for four year accredited programs; the reality that was not considered by Congress and the FAA is th at on average, students graduate from these programs with fewer than 300 hours of actual flight time.

Attachment A of this document, illustrate s a 52,212 reduction in certificated pilots from 2009 to 2013 (year ending 2014 data has not yet been made available). This trend is likely to continue and illustra tes a clear industry wide problem that has directly affected small community air service. Attachment B, illustrates approximately 2 million fewer domestic departures, or an approximate 20% reduction in domestic departures in the past 10 years. This is another trend that is

### Attachment A

TABLE 12
ESTIMATED ACTIVE PILOT CERTIFICATES HELD

BY CATEGORY AND AGE GROUP OF HOLDER as of December 31, 2013

Type of Pilot Certificates Flight

Age Group Total Student Sport Recre- Private 1/ Commercial 1/ Airline CFI 3/ ational Transport 1/

Total 599,086 120,285 4,824 239 196,848 123,466 153,424 98,842

14-15 162 162 0 0 0 0 0 0 16-19 16,253 12,505 30 5 3,397 316 0 50 20-24 55,990 30,180 98 53 14,990 10,372 297 3,122 25-29 63,257 24,404 123 34 14,585 19,248 4,863 8,805 30-34 53,844 15,519 162 8 13,480 13,361 11,314 11,553 35-39 48,020 10,720 187 6 12,949 9,544 14,614 10,195 40-44 53,699 8,982 255 7 15,592 9,504 19,359 11,136 45-49 54,363 4,915 468 9 16,661 8,704 23,606 10,779 50-54 64,158 4,742 669 18 22,808 10,141 25,780 10,078 55-59 64,940 3,529 885 22 26,870 11,111 22,523 9,517 60-64 52,883 2,225 807 32 23,655 10,862 15,302 8,243 65-69 39,917 1,357 593 17 17,460 10,862 9,628 7,506 70-74 18,306 686 349 16 8,287 5,146 3,822 4,358 75-79 8,448 217 140 5 3,876 2,643 1,567 2,185 80 and over 4,846 142 58 7 2,238 1,652 749 1,315

1/ Includes pilots with an airplane and/or a helicopter and/or a glider and/or a gyroplane certificate. Pilots with multiple ratings will be reported under highest rating. For example a pilot with a private helicopter and commercial airplane certificates will be reported in the commercial category. 2/ Not included in total active pilots. 3/ Certified Flight Instructor

Age Group Certified Pilots excluding Students, Sport and Recreational

20-39 221,111 80,823 139,617 56,004 52,525 31,088 33,675

40-59 237,160 22,168 212,659 81,931 39,460 91,268 41,510

Totals 2013 458,271 102,991 352,276 137,935 91,985 122,356 75,185 Totals 2009 464,856 57,959 404,488 173,959 109,380 121,149 74,253 4 year change (6,585) 45,032 (52,212) (36,024) (17,395) 1,207 932 Percentage Change -12.91% -20.71% -15.90% 1.00% Total 2013 Pilots 60 years and older 117,749 55,516 31,165 31,068 Total 2009 Pilots 60 years and older 109,714 52,020 31,118 26,576 4 year change 8,035 3,496 47 4,492 Percentage Change 7.32% 6.72% 0.15% 16.90%

In July 2010, the FAA issued a rule that increased the duration of validity for student pilot certificates for pilots

under the age of 40 from 36 to 60 months.
This resulted in the increase in active student pilots to 119,119 from 72,280 at the end of 2009. Instructor 2/

### Attachment A

TABLE 12
ESTIMATED ACTIVE PILOT CERTIFICATES HELD

BY CATEGORY AND AGE GROUP OF HOLDER as of December 31, 2009

Type of Pilot Certificates Flight

Age Group Total Student Sport Recre- Private 1/ Commercial 1/ Airline CFI 3/ ational Transport 1/

Total 594,285 72,280 3,248 238 229,767 141,027 147,725 94,863

14-15 202 202 0 0 0 0 0 0 16-19 14,492 10,159 13 3 3,788 529 0 65 20-24 47,785 16,251 49 31 18,184 13,098 172 5,000 25-29 54,318 10,719 65 7 17,217 22,423 3,887 10,632 30-34 46,612 6,512 96 11 15,291 14,673 10,029 9,947 35-39 53,636 5,563 124 10 18,539 12,767 16,633 10,177 40-44 61,254 5,415 241 21 21,960 11,407 22,210 10,308 45-49 66,118 5,447 432 15 23,753 10,931 25,540 9,837 50-54 71,157 4,719 608 30 29,706 11,882 24,212 9,458 55-59 63,976 3,333 632 37 29,309 12,199 18,466 8,894 60-64 53,419 2,059 480 25 23,221 12,843 14,791 8,752 65-69 33,477 1,085 305 16 15,398 9,564 7,109 5,754 70-74 15,248 507 143 9 7,183 4,536 2,870 3,303 75-79 8,136 208 50 13 3,992 2,657 1,216 1,745 80 and over 4,455 101 10 10 2,226 1,518 590 991

1/ Includes pilots with an airplane and/or a helicopter and/or a glider and/or a gyroplane certificate. Pilots with multiple ratings will be reported under highest rating. For example a pilot with a private helicopter and commercial airplane certificates will be reported in the commercial category. 2/ Not included in total active pilots. 3/ Certified Flight Instructor

Age Group Certified Pilots excluding Students, Sport and Recreational

20-39 202,351 39,045 162,913 69,231 62,961 30,721 35,756

40-59 262,505 18,914 241,575 104,728 46,419 90,428 38,497

Totals 464,856 57,959 404,488 173,959 109,380 121,149 74,253

Total 2009 Pilots 60 years and older 109,714 52,020 31,118 26,576 Instructor 2/AttachmentBUnitedStatesDepartmentofTransportationOfficeoftheAssistantSecretaryforResearchandTechnology03/18/15BureaufoTransportationStatistics10:52 AMDomesticPassengerAirlines‐DeparturesPerformed(Flights)2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005January 624,843 662,112 677,716 681,174 694,866 709,936 793,275 803,924 785,364 807,338February 576,768 607,640 647,034 625,559 623,022 659,905 746,679 724,657 715,843 760,955March 696,039 710,309 728,653 754,694 739,935 747,367 817,511 830,373 823,793 866,593April 676,183 693,861 707,046 720,117 722,593 728,892 799,666 809,663 794,390 838,122May 695,597 721,437 725,746 743,824 741,616 749,038 820,130 844,074 824,051 872,961June701,838 719,339 735,119 756,735 751,359 760,198 815,936 832,163 820,310 863,422July733,359 751,520 757,513 783,853 782,506 794,077 844,755 863,659 852,114 887,084August 724,109 747,073 753,513 767,983 781,460 781,361 823,531 872,349 866,551 890,938September 665,163 683,380 678,037 706,423 718,697 709,839 728,389 805,076 799,777 814,935October 690,381 708,575 694,760 723,246 737,265 726,611 758,540 841,179 828,218 831,265November 644,736 655,890 669,426 682,682 704,414 694,780 707,252 804,635 792,523 797,460December 659,523 662,343 670,923 701,368 702,620 704,870 720,064 803,981 805,058 802,067Totals 8,088,539 8,323,479 8,445,486 8,647,658 8,700,353 8,766,874 9,375,728 9,835,733 9,707,992 10,033,140Yr/Yrdif‐234,940‐122,007‐202,172‐52,695‐66,521‐608,854‐460,005127,741‐325,148SOURCE:BureauofTransportationStatistics 10yearchange‐2014vs2005‐1,944,60110yearpercentagechange-19.38%

### Service List

The Honorable Ralph Yeager Mayor of the City of Alliance 324 Laramie Ave P.O. Box D Alliance, NE 69301

J.D. Cox City Manager 324 Laramie Ave P.O. Box D Alliance, NE 69301

Lynn Placek Airport Manager 5631 Sarpy Road Alliance, NE 69301

The Honorable Paris Fisher Mayor of the City of Chadron 234 Main St P.O. Box 390 Chadron, NE 69337

Wayne Anderson City Manager Chadron Municipal Airport PO Box 390 234 Main Street Chadron, NE 69337

Mr. Ronnie Mitchell Director Nebraska Department of Aeronautic P.O. Box 82088 3431 Aviation Road Suite 150 Lincoln, NE 68501

Mr. Kevin Schlemmer Chief, EAS and Domestic Analysis U.S. Department of Transportation 400 7 th 

### Street, SW Washington, DC 20007

Mr Albert Muldoon U.S. Department of Transportation 400 7 th 

### Street, SW Washington, DC 2000