Order: 2014

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- 17 Served: November 25, 2014



### UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation on the 25th day of November , 20 1 4

DOT

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ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE PROPOSING TERMINATI ON OF E SSENTIAL A IR S ERVICE ELIGIBILITY

Summary By this O rder, the Department is directing interested persons to show cause as to why the Department should not terminate the eligibility of Kingman, Arizona

, under the E ssential A ir S ervice (EAS) program and allow Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. (Great Lakes)

, to suspend service at the community . Objections to the Department’s tentative decision are due within 20 days of the service date of this O rder. An area map is attached as Appendix A.

Background By Order 2013

- 6

- 1 (June 3, 2 013) , the Department re

- selec ted Great Lakes to provide subsidized EAS at Kingman utilizing 19

- passenger Beech 1900D turboprop aircraft, for the two

- year period from May 1, 2013, through April 30 , 2015 , at a n annual subsidy of $ 1,635,180 . Subsidized service c urrently c onsist s of 12 weekly round trips to Denver (DEN) and Los Ang e les (LAX)

. The complete public file for EAS at Kingman may be accessed online at : http://www.regulations.gov by entering “ DOT

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- 199 6

- 1899 ” in the “ SEARCH for: Rules, Comments, Adjudications or Supporting Documents :” field.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Public Law 112

- 95) , signed into law on February 14, 2012 , amended the definition of Essential Air Service at

KINGMAN, ARIZONA

under 49 U.S.C. 41731 et seq.- 2

-

“eligible place” for the p urpose of receiving EAS. 1 The amendment, among other things, states that to be eligible, a community must have had an average subsidy per passenger of less than $1,000 during the most recent fiscal year, as determined by the Secretary of Transportation.

Passenger Traffic and Subsidy History Great Lakes has served the community since April 2009

. Historical traffic and annual subsidy rates are detailed in Appendix B, including the complete data for the most recent fiscal year. For FY 201 4

, Great Lakes tra nsported 1,059 total passengers at an annual subsidy rate of $1, 635,180

. Thus, the corresponding average per passenger subsidy for FY 201 4 was $1, 544

. 07. See Appendix B, pages 1 and 2.

Decision After careful consideration of this matter, the Department has tentatively determined that, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 41731(a)(1)(C), it is required to terminate the subsidy eligibility of Kingman under the EAS program and allow Great Lakes to end service a t Kingman at the end of its current contract on April 30, 2015, due to the fact that the communit y is no longer eligible to receive EAS.

The Department will give interested persons 20 days after the service date of this O rder to submit objections. Objections should be fully documented and contain complete information on the data used by the persons objecting. If the Department finalize s the tentative findings in a subsequent Order, the Department would make the Order eff ective April 30, 2015, or 30

- 45 days there after , whichever is later, to allow for an orderly shutdown of service . In that event, if Great Lakes decides to suspend service upon the effective date of that Order , the Department will expect it to contact all passengers who hold reservations for flights that will be suspended to inform them of the suspension, and assist them in arranging alternative transportation or to provide a refund of the ticket price, without penalty, if requested.

This O rder is issued u nder authority delegated in 49 CFR Part 1.56a(f).

ACCORDINGLY, 1. The Department has tentatively determined that, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 41731(a)(1)(C), it is required to terminate the subsidy eligibility of Kingman, Arizon a;
2. The Department directs all interested persons to show cause within 20 days of the date of service of this Order why we should not make final the tentative findings and conclusions set forth above. O bjections should be filed with Docket Operations, M

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1 See 49 U.S.C. § 41731

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West Building Ground Floor, Room W12

- 140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, D

. C

. 20590 ; 2

3

. The Department directs Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd . to retain all books, records, and other source and summary documentation to support claims for paym ent, and to preserve and maintain such documentation in a manner that readily permits its audit and examination by representatives of the Department. Such documentation shall be retained for seven years from the service date of this Order or until the Depa rtment indicates that the records may be destroyed, whichever comes first. Copies of flight logs for aircraft sold or disposed of must be retained. The carrier may forfeit its compensation for any claim that is not supported under the terms of this O rder;

4. The Department will afford full consideration to the matters and issues raised in any timely and properly filed objections before we take further action. 3

5 . This docket will remain open until further order of the Department; and

6

. The Department will serve copies of this O rder on the parties listed in Appendix C

. By:

BRANDON M. BELFORD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs

(SEAL)
An electronic version of this document is available at : http://www.regulations.gov/

2 In addition, copies of objections may be e

- mailed to kevin.schlemmer@dot.gov

, michael.gormas@dot.gov

, eas@dot.gov , or faxed to the Chief, EAS & Domestic Analysis Division, at (202) 366

- 7638. Regardless of whether copies are faxed to the EAS & Domestic Analysis Division, all objections should be fi led with Docket Operations, M

- 30, at the above address.
3 Since the Department is providing for the filing of objections to this Order, we will not entertain petitions for reconsideration.Appendix A

AREA MAP

Copyright © 1996

- 2014 Karl L. Swartz. All rights reserved. The Great Circle Mapper name and logo are trademarks of the Great Circle Mapper.Appendix B Page 1 of 2

Passenger Totals and Subsidy per Passenger for

Essential Air Service Subsidy at Kingman , AZ 1

Summary 2

Enplaned + Annual Subsidy
Year Enplaned Deplaned Deplaned Federal Per Ended Passengers Passengers Passengers Subsidy Passenger 9/30/2012 1,026 1,037 2,063 $1,168,390 $566 9/30/2013 805 856 1,661 $1,362,886 $821 9/30/2014 541 518 1,059 $1,635,180 $1,544

1 For Year Ended 9/30/2013, Annual Federal Subsidy was calculated by pro

- rating 7 months from 10/1/12

- 4/30/13, plus, 5 months from 5/1/13

- 9/30/13, for an annual subsidy rate of $1,36 2

, 886

. 2 See Appendix B, page 2 for passenger traffic by month in each of the fiscal years (2012, 2013, and 2014)

.Appendix B Page 2 of 2 Apt Year Month Air Carrier Enplaned Deplaned Totals
IGM 2011 10 Great Lakes Airlines 87 88 175
IGM 2011 11 Great Lakes Airlines 71 71 142
IGM 2011 12 Great Lakes Airlines 107 122 229
IGM 2012 1 Great Lakes Airlines 109 86 195
IGM 2012 2 Great Lakes Airlines 75 78 153
IGM 2012 3 Great Lakes Airlines 105 104 209
IGM 2012 4 Great Lakes Airlines 80 92 172
IGM 2012 5 Great Lakes Airlines 97 111 208
IGM 2012 6 Great Lakes Airlines 73 75 148
IGM 2012 7 Great Lakes Airlines 65 69 134
IGM 2012 8 Great Lakes Airlines 91 65 156
IGM 2012 9 Great Lakes Airlines 66 76 142 1,026 1,037 2,063

IGM 2012 10 Great Lakes Airlines 65 76 141
IGM 2012 11 Great Lakes Airlines 42 28 70
IGM 2012 12 Great Lakes Airlines 52 49 101
IGM 2013 1 Great Lakes Airlines 65 61 126
IGM 2013 2 Great Lakes Airlines 90 75 165
IGM 2013 3 Great Lakes Airlines 90 119 209
IGM 2013 4 Great Lakes Airlines 74 80 154
IGM 2013 5 Great Lakes Airlines 82 101 183
IGM 2013 6 Great Lakes Airlines 68 66 134
IGM 2013 7 Great Lakes Airlines 66 80 146
IGM 2013 8 Great Lakes Airlines 55 50 105
IGM 2013 9 Great Lakes Airlines 56 71 127
805 856 1,661

IGM 2013 10 Great Lakes Airlines 91 93 184
IGM 2013 11 Great Lakes Airlines 52 49 101
IGM 2013 12 Great Lakes Airlines 73 74 147
IGM 2014 1 Great Lakes Airlines 75 46 121
IGM 2014 2 Great Lakes Airlines 39 32 71
IGM 2014 3 Great Lakes Airlines 32 34 66
IGM 2014 4 Great Lakes Airlines 24 38 62
IGM 2014 5 Great Lakes Airlines 35 41 76
IGM 2014 6 Great Lakes Airlines 44 32 76
IGM 2014 7 Great Lakes Airlines 29 27 56
IGM 2014 8 Great Lakes Airlines 24 32 56
IGM 2014 9 Great Lakes Airlines 23 20 43
541 518 1,059

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics: Schedule T

- 100Appendix C

SERVICE LIST

Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. , Chuck Howell Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. , Doug Voss Kingman

, Mayor Janet Watson Kingman Airport Authority, Inc. Dav id C. French, Executive Director