e •io:-T"-;;9onwiOM 

US-Departrntt f o f 1200 New jersey Avenue, SE 

•""WporfOflO n Washington, DC 20590 

Office Of the Secretary 

of Transportation 

April 27, 2010 

Tom Cochran 

Airport Manager 

Raleigh County Memorial Airport 

177 Airport Circle 

Beaver, West Virginia 25813-9760 

Dear Mr. Cochran: 

I would like to update you on the essential air service situation at Beckley, 

Clarksburg/Fairmont, Morgantown, and Parkersburg, West Virginia, and give you an 

opportunity to submit any comments if you wish. In anticipation of the end of Colgan 

Air's current contract on July 31, 2010, the Department issued Order 2010-2-16, 

March 12, 2010, to solicit proposals from all interested air carriers to provide service at 

all four communities. In response to that order, we received proposals from three 

carriers: Colgan Air, Inc. d/b/a United Express (Colgan), Gulfstream International 

Airlines (Gulfstream), and Charter Air Transport. 

We have directed each carrier to serve its proposal(s) on you; in addition, copies 

of the proposals may be accessed online through the Department's Dockets Management 

System at: http://www.regulations.gov/by entering "DOT-OST-1997-2761 (Beckley), 

DOT-OST-2005-20734 (Parkersburg), DOT-OST-2005-20735 (Morgantown), or DOTOST-2005-20736 (Clarksburg/Fairmont) in the "Enter Keyword or ID" field, but we have 

summarized the proposals in the attachment provided. 

My purpose in writing to you at this time is to request any final comments you 

might have on the carriers' service and subsidy proposals before we submit a 

recommendation on the carrier-selection issue to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and 

International Affairs. 

Please note that the average passenger fares shown in each proposal do not 

necessarily reflect the average local fare Beckley passengers would actually pay, but, 

rather, reflect a prorated portion of the total ticket price, e.g., the Beckley-Washington, 

D.C. portion of a Beckley-Washington, D.C.-San Francisco ticket that the subsidized 

carrier would realize. Also, the fare shown is net of certain charges such as Federal 

transportation security fees, excise or ticket taxes, and Passenger Facility Charges. Of 
course, carriers have the discretion to charge fares they deem appropriate, and the 

passenger fares presented in their proposals have been developed for subsidy rate 

computation purposes only. 

You should also note that the schedules that the carriers have submitted are 

illustrative only, and that they may make schedule changes to reflect changing conditions, 

e.g., to better meet shifting coimecting bank times at the hub. The Department expects 

subsidized air caniers to maintain well-timed and well-spaced flights in order to ensure 

full compensation. 

We request that you review each proposal and service option and submit any 

comments you may have before we submit a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary. 

We ask that you submit any comments you may have as soon as possible, but in any case 

no later than May 19, 2010. We will carefully consider your comments before we submit 

a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. We appreciate that there are 

significant issues for you to consider, so if you have any questions or if you find that you 

need additional time to draft your conmients, please let us know. 

Please send your comments to me at the following e-mail address: EAS@dot.gov 

or by fax to 202-366-7638. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kevin 

Schlemmer of my staff at kevin.schlemmer@dot.gov or 202-366-3176. 

Similar letters have been sent to the civic officials of the other three EAS 

communities at issue here. 

Sincerely, 

Dennis J. DeVany 

Chief, Essential Air Service Division, X-53 

Office of Aviation Analysis 
Attachment 

Cpmmunity 

Beckley 

Parl<ersburg/ 

Marietta 

Clarksburg/ 

Fairmont 

Carrier 

Colgan 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Colgan 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Colgan 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Hub (# of flights 

per week) 

IAD (24) 

CLT(24)/IAD{12) 

IAD (24) 

CLT(24) 

CLT (24) 

CLT(24) 

IAD (24) 

CLT (24) 

CLE (24) 

PIT (24) 

IAD (24) 

CLT(24)/IAD(12) 

IAD (24) 

CLT (24) 

CLT (24) 

IAD (24) 

CLE (48) 

CLE (36) 

PIT (48) 

PIT (36) 

IAD (36) 

IAD(24)/CLT(12) 

IAD (24) 

CLT (24) 

CLE (48) 

PIT (48) 

CLE (36) 

PIT (36) 

Aircraft 

Saab 340 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

J32 

J32 

B-1900 

B-1900 

Saab 340 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

Saab 340 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

Subsidy amount 

per community 

$2,313,457 

$2,330,866 

$1,821,239 

$1,555,803 

$1,931,964 

$2,198,850 

$1,893,863 

$1,724,161 

$2,399,389 

$2,322,422 

$2,598,975 

$2,330,866 

$1,821,239 

$1,555,803 

$1,931,964 

$2,287,944 

$2,642,237 

$2,112,390 

$2,573,454 

$2,040,004 

$1,488,219 

$1,548,570 

$1,815,272 

$2,446,250 

$1,547,242 

$1,373,478 

$2,265,024 

$1,832,897 

Cpmbined with 

n/a 

Parkersburg 

Parkersburg 

Parkersburg 

Parkersburg 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

Beckl ey 

Beckley 

Beckley 

Beckley 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

n/a 

Morgantown 

Morgantown 

n/a 

n/a 

Morgantown 

Morgantown 

n/a 

n/a 

Notes 

aircraft based at PKB 

aircraft based at BKW 

aircraft based at PKB 

aircraft based at BKW 

Morgantown Colgan 

CAT* 

CAT* 

CAT* 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

Gulfstream 

IAD (36) 

IAD (24)/CLT (12) 

IAD (24) 

CLT (24) 

CLE (48) 

PIT (48) 

CLE (36) 

PIT (36) 

Saab 340 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

EMB-120 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

B-1900 

$1,488,219 

$1,548,570 

$1,689,077 

$3,203,424 

$1,547,242 

$1,373,478 

$2,030,281 

$1,421,065 

Clarksburg 

Clarksburg 

n/a 

n/a 

Clarksburg 

Clarksburg 

n/a 

n/a 

CAT=Charter Air Transport 

CLT=Charlotte; IAD=Washington-Dulles; PIT=Pittsburgh 

' CAT proposes 1 single-stop or nonstop round trip to Myrtle Beach per week that would be unsubsidized