Johnstown-Cambria County Airport ,:'-:{,r ri ki i f ' ^ 

Altoona-Blair County Airport 

Questions regarding EAS Subsidized Air Service >> ' ^ 

M^U8 

The Silver Airways Proposal 

1) Is this a valid proposal? It is contingent upon a codeshare agreement between Silver Airways 

and United Airlines, which is not in place. This means that an actual proposal was not received 

by the deadline. 

2) Is it prudent to have only one proposal? Should another round of proposals be solicited so that 

we can leverage the benefits of competition? Is it realistic to expect competitive bids if another 

solicitation is undertaken? 

3) The fourth paragraph in the proposal appears to commit specific maintenance resources and a 

spare aircraft, but there is no detail about the nature of the commitments. For example, will the 

spare aircraft be dedicated to the Johnstown-Altoona service, or is there one spare to support 

all of Silver Airways' commitments? Due to the demands of the Johnstown-Altoona routes could 

there be a spare dedicated to our locations. What portion of the maintenance resources will be 

dedicated to the Johnstown-Altoona service? Will additional maintenance resources be added, 

or will existing resources simply be used to cover the new Johnstown-Altoona routes. 

4) Are there standards to which Silver Airways will perform that can be expressed in terms of 

metrics, e.g. percentage of completed flights, percentage of on-time flights? If the standards 

are established as part of the EAS program, should the Silver Airways proposal at least reference 

them and make an affirmative commitment to adherence? Can monthly meetings be scheduled 

to evaluate performance and discuss additional needs? Can the airline provide statistics for its 

performance of service at other airports? 

5) Should there be more backup data to support the subsidy calculation? Where did the figures 

come from? Is a more detailed pro-forma available? Are operating cost standards established 

for the EAS program? If so, how do these figures compare to the standards? 

6) Is the schedule presented in Service Option 1 a commitment? Will this schedule be guaranteed, 

or will the Airline be able to change it at will? 

7) What will Silver Airways do in the event of a cancelled flight? Can they describe the actions they 

will take, e.g. conduct the flight at a later time, bus the passengers, etc.? 

8) How will Silver Airways work with Johnstown and Altoona airports to directly communicate 

runway maintenance status and priorities to mitigate weather-related delays and cancellations? 

9) Johnstown and Altoona have an unusually high number of low IFR days. What commitments 

can Silver Airways make to ensure that Johnstown and Altoona flights are consistently crewed 

by experienced pilots who are qualified to fly the airports instrument approaches at no less than 

circling minimums? 

10) Where will crews and aircraft be overnighted? In Johnstown? In Altoona? 

11) Does the proposed schedule effectively coordinate with the banks at Dulles? Can more detail be 

provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the schedule? 
12) Will Silver Airways market its services in the Johnstown and Altoona markets? What is the 

marketing plan? What is the financial commitment? Is the $24,000 promotion item in the 

subsidy calculation the total commitment? How much will be used specifically to support 

Johnstown and Altoona individually? What is Johnstown and Altoona's role? Can the marketing 

budget be controlled directly by each airport? 

13) What is Silver Airways' overbooking policy for the proposed service? 

14) Can the airline provide documentation of its financial stability and ability to sustain itself 

through the startup period and through possible future economic downturns? 

15) How will the service be priced? Fixed add-on fee to the main fare to-from Dulles? Can details 

be provided? 

16) Will Silver Airways consider a reduced rate for walk-up fare passengers with available seating 

from either airport. With the Metrorail extending to Dulles International Airport in the near 

future, this would allow a customer to fly into IAD and take a train anywhere within the 

metropolitan area including Reagan Washington National Airport. 

The Solicitation, Selection and Contracting Process 

1) Should we solicit additional bidders? 

2) What happens after a selection is made? Is there a contracting process? Is there a standardform contract for EAS service? Can we review it? 

3) What is Johnstown and Altoona's input into and role in the contracting process? Can we add 

requirements to the contract? Can we modify it? How do we do that? Does the DOT or 

another agency approve all contract content? 

4) How is the airline held to the standards established for the service? What are the remedies if 

performance does not meet standards? To whom does the airline answer? Us? DOT? 

Building a Self-Sustaining Environment 

1) Is funding available for a thorough, professionally executed market research effort to assess air 

travel demand and determine the customers' priorities (e.g. reliability vs. price). How can 

communities such as ours gather data about our needs and priorities so that a fact-based, 

market-driven strategy can be developed to elevate enplanements? 

2) Are there examples of communities who have "graduated" from EAS funding scenarios? How 

did they do it?