The Honorable Laura Richardson U.S. House ofRepresentatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Congresswoman Richardson: Aprill6, 2012 

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Thank you for your Iette1· supporting the application ofVirgin America, Inc., for four beyondperimeter slot exemptions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). Ifawarded those**exemptions~** Virgin Ameriqa would provide two daily**round~**trip flights from DCA to San Francisco. Under authority granted in the FAA Modernization**~d** Reform Act of2012, the U.S.Department ofTransportation 

### will be awarding to new entrant or limited incumbent carriers a total ofeight slot exemptions atDCA, which would support fnur daily round trips. Wereceived Virgin America's application on March 12,2012. Other timely $pplications were received from Air Canada, proposing one round trip to Vancouver, British Coh;unbia; Alaska Airlines, one round trip to Portland, Oregon, and one round trip to San Diego; FrontierAirlinest one round trip to Colorado Springs and beyond to San Diego; JetBlue Airlines, one round trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and one round trip to Austin, Texas; Southwest Airlines, one round trip to Austin and SanDiego beyond; and Sun Coll1ltry Airlines, one round trip to LaS Vegas. As the m.atter is still pending, I cannot comment on the merits ohhepoints raised in. your letter. However, Ican assure you that all applications the Department received will be given full and fait considenttion and will be evaluated against the selection criteria speoifie.d in the statute. The Departmentts**a~tion** on this matteds b¢ing administered through apublic docket, which allows all interested parties 

### the opportu · comment. Following our normal practice, 

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### arn placing a copy ofyour letter and this se in docketnumber**DOT~20l** -0029. !appreciate your interestin tb·•

The Honorable Ray H. LaHood Secretary U.S. Department ofTransportation 1200 New JerseyAvenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20590 March 30, 2012

Re: Docket No. OST-2012-0029. Application of Virgin America Inc. for "Beyond-Perimeter" Slots Dear Secretary LaHood: I am writing to express my strong supportfor Virgin America's proposal to provide two nonstop flights between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Reagan National Airport (DCA). With no current service at DCA and as the only airline headquartered in California, Virgin America is uniquely suited to bring meaningful low-fare competition to the largest market in the nation previously without nonstop flight service to DCA: the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result ofthe workbyyou, your department and Congress, the President recently signedthe FAA Modernization and Reform Act of2012, which included a provision authorizing you to award new flights between DCA and domestic airports locatedbeyondthe current 1,250 mile perimeterlimit. Historically, the Bay Area hasbeen shut outfrom DCA nonstop service, with all "beyond-perimeter" flight awards being made to non-California airports

- with the exception ofa dailyflight at Los Angeles. Previous DCA awards have been made to smaller markets, including: Denver (four roundtrip frequencies) and Phoenix (three roundtrip frequencies). Interms ofpassenger traffic, San Francisco dwarfs these and all otherbeyond-perimeter markets. Because SFO has beenthe largestbeyond-perimeter market without nonstop flights to DCA, local consumers have suffered with higher fares and limited options

- either travel to Washington Dulles or a one-stop connecting flight when traveling to downtown Washington, D.C. When making this critical decision, I urge you to consider the positive impact of improving the connection betweenWashington D.C. and Silicon Valley's powerful innovation-based economy. Allocation oftwo round-trip flights toVirgin America

- our hometown carrier

- will provide assurance thatthe Bay Area will finally have efficient, modern and low-fare nonstop flight service to DCA. 

### It will also guaranteethatlocal consumers andbusinesses reap the benefit that only real competition can provide. 

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# .. Since its launch in 2007, Virgin America has lowered fares and provided a unique new service option. According tothe airline, when it enters long-haul markets with less competition from SFO ittypically sees fares drop byone-third. The 

### Wall StreetJournal went so far as to describe the low-fare airline's impact on fares as "the Virgin effect." 1 In addition, the carrier's decision to headquarter in my district (in Burlingame, California) has created thousands oflocaljobs. The airline has grown to over 2,500 employees, with plans to add 500 newjobs on an annual basis over the next three to five years. When more airlines compete, consumers andlocal economies win

- with lower fares, improvedservice andlocaljob growth. Virgin America hasbeen a case studyfor the positive impacts ofcompetition in the BayArea. The award oftwo roundtrip flights to the carrierwill both spur continued local economic growth and ensure that SFO-DCA travelers will finally benefit from real competition. Thankyou for your consideration. Sincerely,

# ~~ Laura Richardson Member ofCongress

S'I 0-120402-005 ower Cross-Country Fares," Wall StreetJournal, October 30, 2007.