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EAS at Topeka, Kansas 

Order 97-10-13 | OST-96-1352 | Issued October 17, 1997 | Served October 20, 1997

Order Revising Service Level and Subsidy Rate, and Tentatively Reselecting Carrier

By this order, the Department is authorizing an increased service level and subsidy rate for the subsidized essential air service provided by Air Midwest, Inc., d/b/a US Airways Express, at Topeka, Kansas, beginning on or about December 1, 1997, through the remainder of the carrier's present rate term ending December 27,1997. In addition, the order tentatively reselects Air Midwest to provide subsidized service at Topeka for a further two-year period, and provides for objections and competing proposals from other interested carriers

• Appendix A: Map
• Appendix B: Air Midwest EAS Service Proposal
• Appendix C: Historical Enplanements
• Appendix D: Air Midwest EAS
• Appendix E: Service List

By: Charles Hunnicutt

Air Midwest, Inc. 

By:  Bradley Mims

Essential Air Services At Muscle Shoals, AL; Owensboro Davies County Regional Airport; Jackson, TN; Topeka, Kansas; Alamogordo/Hollman AFB, New Mexico; Hot Springs and Jonesboro, Arkansas; Pueblo, Colorado; Hana, Hawaii; Kamuela, Hawaii; Augusta/Waterville; Oneida County Airport; Massena, New York; Enid, OK; Oil City/Franklin, Pennsylvania; Ponce, Puerto Rico; Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Because a $50 million budget can no longer cover the program's current commitments, the Administration's budget proposal also includes a proposal to revise some of the standards under which communities are ineligible for subsidy-supported scheduled air service. Under the proposed revisions, communities would not be eligible if they are:

• Located within 100 highway miles of the nearest large or medium hub airport² The current standard is 70 highway miles for both large and medium hubs. Located within 70 highway miles of the nearest small hub airport. There is no current standard addressing communities' proximity to small hub airports.
• Located within 50 highway miles of the nearest non-hub airport offering jet service. There is no current standard addressing communities' proximity to non-hub jet service.

The statutory prohibition against continuing to subsidize communities requiring subsidy of more than $200 per passenger, except for exceptionally isolated points, would remain unchanged.  The proposed revisions would allow the Department to continue to meet its core obligation of ensuring that truly isolated communities continue to receive at least a minimum level of scheduled air service and thereby remain connected to the national air transportation system. At the same time, it would curtail spending for local service at communities that are within reasonable driving distances of service at other airports.

In light of the program's current spending rate and the Administration's budget proposal, we have decided to issue this statement of proposed policy now, to give the communities and carriers ample notice of the program reductions that we will implement in the event that Congress enacts them into law. Those reductions will result in the termination of subsidy at the 17 communities listed below as of October 1, 2001 -- the first day of fiscal year 2002 -- and will allow the carriers providing subsidized service at those communities to discontinue service on the same date, if they choose, without the need to provide individual notice. Implementation of the reductions at the very outset of the next fiscal year is necessary for program spending to remain within the proposed $50 million budget. Waiting to initiate the process until Congress has already acted could delay implementation of the reductions and require us to make even deeper program cuts, affecting more communities, in order to remain within our budgetary constraints.

By:  Susan McDermott

Air Midwest, Inc.

By:  Susan McDermott

Air Midwest, Inc.

By:  Regional Aviation Partners, Maurice Parker

Essential Air Services At Alamogordo/Hollman AFB, New Mexico; Massenaand Ogdensburg, New York; Oil City/Franklin, Pennsylvania; Air Midwest, Inc.

By:  Mesa Air Group, Jonathan Ornstein

Air Midwest, Inc.

By:  City of Topeka, Harry Felker

Air Midwest, Inc.

By:  Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority, David Stremming

Air Midwest, Inc.

By:  State of Kansas/Office of the Governor, Bill Graves

Essential Air Service at Topeka, Kansas

By this order, the Department is requesting interested persons to show cause why we should not terminate subsidy for essential air service at Topeka, Kansas, and allow Air Midwest, Inc. d/b/a US Airways Express to suspend service there as of May 1, 2003.  Objections to the Department's tentative decision are due within 20 days of the service date of this order.

By: Read C. Van De Water

Essential Air Service at Topeka, Kansas

As the Governor I respectfully request that you reconsider your decision. I understand the need for cuts in budgets but there must be another way. It is ironic that the State who is recognized as the air capital of the county (Wichita) would not have air service its capital city. Please reconsider your decision and keep the promise made when de-regulation occurred.

By: Joe Aleshire, Harry Felker, Dean Feller, David Stremming, Randy Tomlin

Essential Air Service at Topeka, Kansas

After giving careful consideration to the objections and all other relevant information, we have decided to finalize our tentative decision in Order 2003-2-28 to terminate subsidy for essential air service at Topeka as of May 1, and to allow Air Midwest to suspend service there on the same date. As we have explained, we are legally bound to discontinue subsidy for Topeka's service because its subsidy requirement is well in excess of the statutory limit of $200 per passenger. The community does not dispute our application of the law, nor the data used in our calculation.

Topeka is just a 71-mile drive along Interstates 70 and 435 from Kansas City International Airport, a medium hub where numerous carriers offer frequent jet service to many destinations. Among the services available there are the low-fare services of Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways; the latter began service at Kansas City in October 2002. Topeka's high subsidy per passenger is a clear indication that local turboprop service cannot compete effectively with the highway, and that we cannot justifiably continue to subsidize the operation of virtually empty aircraft between Topeka and Kansas City.

By: Read C. Van de Water

EAS at Alamogordo/Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico and Topeka, Kansas

Order 04-3-21
OST-96-1901 - EAS-Alamogordo-Holloman AFB
OST-96-1352 - EAS- Topeka

Issued March 22, 2004 | Served March 25, 2004

Order Establishing Final Subsidy Rates | Word

As a result of discussions with Department staff, Mesa has agreed that the interim rates set by Order 2002-2-13 for Alamogordo/Holloman Air Force Base and Topeka should now be established as the final rates. Upon review, we find that those rates are reasonable for the services at issue, and we will establish them as the final rates for the balance of the carriers’ contract periods: from October 1, 2001, through May 26, 2002, for Mesa’ service at Alamogordo/Holloman Air Force Base, and from October 1, 2001, through April 30, 2003, for Air Midwest’s service at Topeka.

By: Karan Bhatia

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