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Salina KS (SLN) - Kansas City, MO (MCI) 

Proposal 

Essential Air Service 

January 2010 
structure of Operations 

TransportAzumah will function as a Part 380 Indirect Air Carrier. We plan 

to hire Charter Air Transport of Cleveland, Ohio to physically operate this 

essential air service from Salina, KS to Kansas City, MO. Charter Air 

Transport is a certificated air carrier and also has commuter authority as 

well. 

Potential of the Salina. KS Market 

A leakage study conducted by Sixel Consulting Group in 2005 determined 

that only 1.8% of passengers in SLN's catchment area actually use the 

airport. Although SLN's catchment area overlaps with both MHK and ICT, 

this percentage of use indicates that SLN isn't seen as an option at all. Sixel 

estimated that 255,000 passengers fly to/or from the SLN catchment area. It 

is our intention to recapture as much of that traffic as we can. It is not 

unreasonable to estimate that the amount of traffic that can be realistically 

captured at SLN is 25,000 passengers. During the late 1980s and early 

1990s, traffic at Salina peaked at 13,000 passengers with four 19 passenger 

round trip flights per day. 

Fare Policy 

The 2005 leakage study indicated that Salina customers paid an average of 

$265 each way to fly out of ICT and $237 each way to fly out of MCI. Since 

59% of Salina's air passengers fly out of ICT, it is not unreasonable to think 

that customers will pay for the convenience of flying from SLN as long as 

the fares are reasonable. Our goal is to make sure that we price our services 

to allow customers to complete their total journey since they often have to 

buy a second ticket at MCI. Therefore, it will be TransportAzumah's policy 

to make sure that the average cost of flying out of SLN to the passenger's 

final destination is in line with fares at MHK and ICT at all times. 

Proposed One Way Fares: Salina KS - Kansas City MO 

Advance 

Purchase 

Period 

Fare 

0-3 days 

$125 

4-7 days 

$110 

8-14 days 

$100 

15+ days 

$90 
Government Fare 

If awarded this contract, TransportAzumah will bid to establish a 

government fare between SLN and MCI. This will allow passengers 

traveling on GSA schedules to be routed to SLN's air service as their first 

option. TransportAzumah will evaluate the GSA fares in place to ICT and 

MHK in order to determine what the appropriate GSA fare would be for this 

market. In the interim, a temporary government fare will be set at $90 each 

way. 

Reliability 

Essential air service markets have a reputation for being unreliable. There 

are several definitions of reliabihty. The typical definition involves making 

scheduled trips on or close to schedule. Other definitions include a 

predictable air fare structure as well as sufficient payload to avoid bumping 

passengers. It is clear that many EAS communities are needlessly burning 

subsidy money because their air service is unreliable. TransportAzumah will 

change this by offering a larger aircraft (the EMB 120 with 30 seats), a 

compressed fare structure, and high completion levels. 

Subsidy Suppression Program 

If the USDOT permits, we will apply our Subsidy Suppression Program to 

the market. Our program will consist of promotional fares and enhanced 

marketing designed to reduce the subsidy provided by USDOT. It is similar 

in concept to Air Midwest's program that increased enplanements in 

numerous markets. Every dollar that is put into this program will reduce the 

subsidy amount by $1.25. In order to be effective, the Subsidy Suppression 

Program must be put into action as soon as award is made. 

Joint and Through Fares 

As a new carrier, airlines will require us to be in the air 3-6 months before 

signing an interline agreement. Our contract with Charter Air Transport 

includes access to this capability. At that point, joint and through fares can 

be considered and interline access can be set up. 
Service Levels & Subsidies 

SLN's service should be set up in a complementary manner with MHK's 

services. Since the MHK-DFW route flown by American is best for 

customers heading west, the SLN-MCI route can best service traffic heading 

east. TransportAzumah has provided two options for consideration: 

Option 1:12 weekly RT SLN - MCI (Subsidy: $2,806,156) 

Option 2:18 weekly RT SLN - MCI (Subsidy: $3,868,860) 

Contact Information 

Joel Anabilah-Azumah 

jazumah@transportazumah.com