Order 02-3-7

Order 02-3-7

Chautauqua Airlines, Inc. d/b/a US Airways Express

Order 02-3-7 OST-02-11450	Issued March 8, 2002 Served March 13, 2002	Order to Show Cause	Termination of Service at Lancaster, PA
		Attachment: Map

Under Public Law 106-69, the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2000, the Department is precluded from compensating a carrier under the Essential Air Service program for serving any community within 70 driving miles of a medium or large hub airport. We tentatively find that Lancaster is within 70 driving miles from the Philadelphia International Airport, a large hub. Since we are prohibited from paying subsidy to Chautauqua for providing air service at Lancaster under the Essential Air Service program, we are thus also precluded from requiring the carrier to continue service at the community after the end of its 90day notice period. Consistent with program practice, we will give the community 20 days after the service date of this order to file an objection if it believes that we have made a mistake in our distance calculations.

Although we have no authority to require Chautauqua to continue to serve Lancaster, we note that the community generated a total of 29,605 O&D passengers for the year ended June 2001. With traffic levels exceeding 80 passengers a day, we would encourage other carriers to examine the feasibility of providing service to the community.

By: Read Van de Water