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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

Related Pages:

• Essential Air Service Program

• Air Service Trends at Small Communities Since October 2000 - GAO Report on Commercial Aviation

• OST-2003-15065 - 2003 Small Community Air Service Development Program
  OST-2004-17343 - 2004 Small Community Air Service Development Program
  OST-2005-20127 - 2005 Small Community Air Service Development Program
  OST-2006-23671 - 2006 Small Community Air Service Development Program
  OST-2007-27370 - 2008 Small Community Air Service Development Program
  OST-2008-0100 - 2008 Small Community Air Service Development Program

Implementation of Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program

Order 2002-2-11 is instituting a new small community air service development pilot program by soliciting a initial round of proposals from interested communities and consortiums of communities. Proposals should be submitted no later than 60 days after the date of service of this order to ensure priority consideration.

By:  Read Van de Water

The Department of Transportation is instituting a new small community air service development program by soliciting an initial round of proposals from interested communities. 

By:  Read Van de Water

By:  Terri Bingham

By this order, the Department awards financial grants to the communities listed in the attached Appendix to implement the air service initiatives proposed in their respective grant applications. Each grant is subject to the signing by each community of a grant agreement with the Department.

By:  Read Van de Water

By this order, the Department sets a final deadline of July 19, 2002, for the filing of all applications and supplements thereto under the Small Community Air Service Development Program.

By:  Read Van de Water

Order 2002-12-16, the Department awards financial grants to Telluride, Colorado, and Chico, California, to implement the air service initiatives proposed in their respective grant applications. Each grant is subject to the signing by the community of a grant agreement with the Department.

By: Read Van de Water

Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program

Order 04-8-30
OST-04-17343
OST-03-15065 - Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program
OST-02-11590 - Implementation of Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program

Issued and Served August 30, 2004

Order Awarding Grants

The many proposals submitted were carefully considered. This year's selections will provide financial assistance to over 40 communities in 30 states. In every award, the communities are contributing to the grant project from other than airport revenues. Many will also contribute to the project from airport revenues and provide in‑kind airport benefits to further the goals of the proposed service/fare initiatives. In addition to the communities' participation and involvement in designing the grant projects, these financial contributions reflect a commitment to the grant projects that is important to the success of the proposed service/fare initiative. Nearly all of the communities either have, or will establish, public/private partnerships to increase community participation and to facilitate access to air service for the community.

By: Karan Bhatia

Abilene Regional Airport is regarded as a fertile ground for economic development. The arrival of Eagle Aviation Services, Inc. and Texas State Technical College's aircraft maintenance program represent two solid examples of successful economic development projects that would not exist in our community without the airport. In recent years, air service has been a priority for our community, as air service is consistently seen as Abilene's connection to the world and vital to the recruitment of industry, a healthy business climate, and good quality of life for this region. The Airport Master Plan recommends pursuit of a marketing program that will help the Airport build activity within its business segments.

By:  City of Abilene, Roy McDaniel

A

By:  Akron/Caton, Ohio

The only service provider in the Albany market is Atlantic Southeast Airlines/Delta Connection, with non-stop service to Delta/ASA's hub operation at Atlanta. The carrier recently made the decision to reduce the number of daily frequencies offered at Albany essentially in half by replacing EMB-120 Brasilia aircraft with Canadair Regional Jets. While the number of seats offered dropped slightly, the more important factor for small community air service is schedule frequency.

The Southwest Georgia Regional Airport is fully cognizant of the fact that there are limited airlines that have the ability and/or interest in initiating service to small markets such as Albany. With increasing costs and more expensive fleets, the focus of most airline systems is upon larger markets where the return on investment is more apparent than at smaller communities such as Albany. This does not change the fact that Albany does offer a strong and profitable opportunity for specific airline systems. These "target" carriers are identified below, along with the traffic and revenue potential Albany offers each.

By:  Richard Howell

Enclosed, please find two proposals by the State of Alaska to participate in the above referenced Docket Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT & PF), which operates 262 of the 282 public use - publicly owned airports in Alaska, is the sponsor of these proposals. All communities serviced by these proposals are public non-hub and smaller airports serving rural communities that have limited and expensive air service. Nearly all such communities affected do not have any highway access; none are within one hour by roadway to a hub airport. Proposal One is statewide. Proposal Two addresses the communities on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska. The essence of statewide Proposal One is to hire a consultant to evaluate and address how aviation insurance costs are adversely affecting air service in rural Alaska and to develop a plan to remedy this situation. Projected budget is less than $240,000. Air carrier insurance has become a significant cost driver for air service in rural Alaska. It is anticipated the results of this analysis could have national benefits.

By:  State of Alaska, Paul Bowers

The Aleutians East Borough, representing the communities of King Cove, Sand Point, Akutan, Cold Bay, False Pass and Nelson Lagoon, is seeking a Federal grant of $240,000 under the Small Communities Air Service Development Pilot Program. We are applying for this grant to address several air service issues that are important to general economic conditions in these communities and the region as a whole.

By:  Aleutian East Borough, Dick Jacobsen

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

The current financial climate for airlines is very demanding. As a result, they are very risk averse at the present time. For Angel Fire to be successful in establishing new air service, we will undoubtedly have to address the issue of risk for the airline. This means that we will need to provide some level of revenue guarantee for the airline to initiate the service. Our grant application addresses this need by calling for funds set aside to meet this guarantee, if needed during the first year of service.

By:  Angel Fire

By:  Arizona Airports

By:  Asheville Regional Airport, Mike Armour

The overall goal is to achieve a strong market at Aspen Airport, attract new air carriers, lower air fares through competition, increase enplanements, and improve the overall quality and safety of air service that relies on the quality of operating equipment. On the attached Exhibit "C", Aspen Airport's start-up expense projections for a new entrant airline is estimated to cost at over $1,000,000 Dollars. A portion of this grant request is for $250,000 to partially offset start-up cost related to the new service at the Aspen Airport. Additionally, the local community through the Aspen Ski Co. and Stay Aspen/Snowmass have committed their share of $30,000. The following outline presents our view of allocation of funds.

By:  Aspen, Thomas Busker

The innovativeness and simplicity of the plan revolves around the acquisition of an aircraft, jointly owned and administered via an inter-governmental agreement by the City of Newport, Oregon and the Port of Astoria, Oregon. The aircraft would be purchased using Federal Government grant money derived from the Small Community Air Service Development Program under AIR 21. That aircraft would then be dryleased back to Big Sky Airlines of Billing, Montana for a nominal annual lease payment. In exchange, the Consortia of Communities would receive an average of 8 block hours each weekday (diminishing on the weekend) that would be used to provide three daily roundtrip flights from each Astoria and Newport to/from either Portland International Airport and/or Seattle/Tacoma International Airport. In exchange for the nominal lease payment the airline would provide the requested service and is willing to pass the cost savings realized back to consumers using the Astoria and Newport airports.

By:  Astoria Regional Airport

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

Grant of this application will benefit two severely underserved communities. It will provide the Ohio University/Athens community with direct access to the national air transportation system for the first time, and will restore service between Morgantown and its primary community of interest, Washington/Baltimore. As is described in the application, the parties have already invested substantial funds to develop the strategic plan and infrastructure to accommodate the proposed service. The total grant requested is $2.585 million, to be authorized as a single grant and disbursed over a three­year period. Service will be performed by Boston-Maine Airways, d/b/a Pan Am Clipper Connection, which will stress affordable fares and quality performance. The parties project that the proposed service will attain self-sufficiency by the end of the three-year timeframe. Ohio University will serve as the legal sponsor. It will be responsible for implementation of the service contemplated under the grant, including monitoring performance and serving as the clearinghouse for disbursements under the grant.

By:  Gerchick Murphy, Patrick Murphy, 202.298.7262

Atlantic City, New Jersey - See South Jersey  Transportation Authority

The Augusta-area qualifies for the Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program: 1) 206,171 passengers were enplaned in calendar year 1997. 2) Delta Connection Carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines and US Airways Express provide our service. Fifty-one percent of our one-connect destinations are served by only one airline. Delta serves 90 percent of these monopoly markets. 3) Fares paid by travelers out of AGS are the highest in the region, and 21 percent higher than the U.S. average for trips of the same length. We are proposing a simple plan of landing two new airlines to provide non-stop jet service to our top destinations of New York, Washington, DC, and Chicago. It is our desire to establish the Augusta Regional Airport as the portal to the national air transportation system, and the economic engine for the CSRA. Our private partners and corporate community have a cooperative focus committed to the plan. The total cost of our plan is $2,180,270. The public share is 30 percent, private share 35 percent, and the federal grant request is for $759,004 (35 percent).

By:  Augusta Regional, Marcie Wilheimi

B

As shown in the Air Service Development Action Plan (Exhibit B) and "Franchise Summary" (Exhibit C), Baker City intends to provide air service to residents of Baker City and nearby communities through the use of the "Sky Taxi" Program. Sky Taxi is an on-demand air service utilizing centralized dispatch to make more efficient use of the fleet of aircraft available to it, while still providing timely service to the passenger. This is a startup operation with first flights being conducted April 1, 2002. Presently, there are eight franchisees in the Sky Taxi system although, as yet, only three of the franchises have their aircraft flying. The others have either purchased aircraft and they are in the process of renovation, or are still seeking appropriate aircraft.

Because of the newness of the Sky Taxi model, and its attendant uncertainty, the City Council of Baker City has been reluctant to finalize purchase of the Sky Taxi franchise and associated airplane. The operating budget of the Municipal Airport has historically been between $15,000 and $25,000. These funds are entirely spent on maintenance. Income, derived from ground leases and a small fuel flowage fee, has never reached expenditure levels. These amounts are clearly far below the funding levels necessary for an air taxi business.

By:  Baker City

May 15, 2003

OST-02-11590 - Implementation of Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program

Ex Parte Letters to Honorable Peter DeFazio, Darlene Hooley, Earl Blumenauer, Greg Walden and David Wu

Ex-Parte Letters supporting reallocation of grant funds returned by the City of Baker, Oregon, to other Oregon communities under the Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program.

By: Read C. Van de Water

BGR's present air service situation is perhaps best summarized as stable yet fragile. The Airport is able to offer the traveling public a modest range of options consisting of connectivity via four hubs (CVG, PHL, BOS, LGA), an increasing number of regional jet flights, and one leisure oriented large jet flight to Florida (SFB) with an intermediate stop at Baltimore (BWI). The service mix is highly seasonal, with the peak occurring during the busy Maine summer months, and airline presence is via regional, express or niche carriers. BGR has 21 daily nonstop departures the majority of which are jet service. Of the current daily total seat capacity of 886, 76.3% are seats on jet flights while 23.7% are seats on turboprop flights.

New and/or expanded regional jet service to national hubs on network carriers is critical to the economic health of the Bangor region's marketplace. The Airport and its air service consulting group, have identified the addition of new service by new or resident carriers to hubs as a priority. At present, the Airport lacks non-stop service to Chicago (ORD), Detroit (DTW), Washington-Dulles (IAD), Newark (EWR), Cleveland (CLE), Atlanta (ATL), and Pittsburgh (PIT).

By:  Bangor Airport, Rebecca Hupp, 207.947.0384

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

A significant deficiency exists in service to the western United States. Four of BTR's top ten destinations are in the west Denver (DEN), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO). All customers flying west must travel east to ATL or transit hubs at Dallas/Ft. Worth or Houston. Travel to the state capitols of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, or New Mexico can't be reached without transiting two major hubs to the east. These state capitols could be accessed directly if a hub to Salt Lake City, Utah; Denver, Colorado; or Phoenix, Arizona was available.

By:  Baton Rouge, Anthony Marino

Currently, the airport only has charter service available. The charter service is cost-prohibitive to most people. Baxter County Regional Airport lost its commuter service September 30. 2001, when Big Sky Airlines discontinued service, hence, the need for this grant.

By:  Baxter Airport Commission, David Floyd

By:  Beaumont, Carl Griffith

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

The Raleigh County Memorial Airport is located 31/2 miles south east of Beckley, West Virginia, 3 miles from the intersection of (2) two interstate highways, geographically the hub of the Southern Corridor, serving a 5 county region with a population of over 200,000. The Airport is currently served by US Air Express under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, with three flights daily to Pittsburgh, PA, and 1 flight to Washington DC Dulles. The lack of completive air fares, and poor connections prompted our decision to request consideration for the Air Service Development Grant.

By:  Beckley/Bluefield, Tom Cochran

By:  St. Clair

The amount of Federal Funds requested under this application is $301,500. Bellingham International Airport (BLI) is owned and operated by the Port of Bellingham and is classified as a commercial service airport providing scheduled and charter air service to the public, and General Aviation facilities and services to the community and region. Currently, Horizon Air provides direct service to Seattle (SEA-TAC) on regional airline-class turboprop aircraft. In addition, West Isle Air provides passenger service to island destinations west and southwest of Bellingham. An additional regional airline (United/Skywest) served Bellingham prior to the terrorist attacks last September.

By:  Port of Belligham, Jim Darling

The airport has identified two distinct air service upgrade needs: Washington, DC Service. The current service to Washington is operated by United Express with Jetsream-41 aircraft. These 29-seat airliners do not provide the capacity to support the market. In particular, the small cabin precludes carry-on, including, depending on seat assignment, items as small as a laptop computer. Cabin comfort levels are poor as well. Finally, these aircraft often are load-restricted, leaving passengers or baggage off. Studies done by the Airport indicate that major defense and high-tech employers in the region who do much business in Washington are avoiding flying out of Binghamton because of this.

Another identified need for Binghamton is more westbound access. Currently, Northwest Airlink provides service to Northwest's Detroit hub with four daily Saab-340 turboprops. For reasons similar to those above, this service is felt to be able to attract significantly more traffic were it upgraded to regional jet service.

By:  Binghamption, Carl Oslon, 607.763.4471

Enclosed is our proposal for the subject program. Our program proposes the creation of a new regional route system that links Bismarck with other cities in the northern plains states. Existing air service from Bismarck primarily connects through Minneapolis or Denver. This service is expensive, time consuming, and not practical for businesses, professionals, and others with a need for efficient air service within this region. We are considering the following cities for this route system.Fargo, ND, Sioux Falls, SD, Rapid City, SD,Billings, MT

By:  Bismarck, Bill Sorenson

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

CIRA has emerged as the second busiest airport in Illinois outside of Chicago. Because of economic and demographic shifts, CIRA is now depended upon by over 1 million people for air service access. CIRA is the gateway for a range of global industries located in Central Illinois. However, access to and from large portions of the Western United States, Mexico, Central and South America remains limited. CIRA's analyses have indicated that the addition of access to a true westbound gateway hub will allow the airport to fill the needs of industries and employers seeking to expand and create more jobs in Central Illinois. The proposal meets the spirit and the letter of the intentions of Congress by stimulating traffic at a centrally located regional airport facility while generating incremental traffic through a major hub airport.

Central Illinois Regional Airport herein requests a grant under the terms of The Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program to recruit and incubate specific additional air service that will help resolve the region's problem of insufficient air service to the West. Specifically, this proposal entails a risk-abatement program for the recruitment of Continental/Continental Express jet service to Houston Intercontinental or Frontier JetExpress/Mesa service to Denver International. Central Illinois is currently an entire region of the country with inadequate air service access to communities in the Western United States, as well as Latin America.

By:  CIRA, Micheal Lapier, 309.834.7375

The Brunswick Golden Isles Air Service Partnership wishes to participate in the Department's Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program. As the public sponsor of the Partnership's application, the Glynn County Airport Commission hereby proposes to implement a new "Brunswick Golden Isles Air Service Initiative", and applies to the Department for a grant under the program in the amount of $400,000. The Partnership has identified $125,000 in local funding from members of the Partnership to augment funds available under the grant.

Glynco Jetport (soon to be renamed Brunswick Golden Isles Airport) has inadequate air service for the needs of the community. Service has been historically limited to small turboprop service to one destination, Atlanta, our number one O&D market. Inadequate capacity, inferior equipment, insufficient frequencies and high fares have resulted in the majority of the air travel market to and from the Brunswick area opting to use jet services at Jacksonville and Savannah.

By:  Glynn County Airport Commission, Steven Brian, 912-265-2070

This Grant Request seeks 5500,000 n federal funding to be combined with a $150,000 contribution from the airport, local Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development. Per the attached Application, these funds would be used to leverage Southeast Iowa's regional air service and economic development initiatives - promotions to support incumbents and incentives to attract additional carrier service to BRL and the region. The Southeast Iowa Regional Airport Authority will serve as the grant sponsor, working in cooperation with the Southeast Iowa citizen-based air service task force, which will serve is community contacts.

By:  Burlington, Sharon Leeper

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

C

The Camden Regional Airport Commission and the Ouachita Partnership for Economic Development, Inc respectfully request a grant amount of $500,000.00. A combined, dedicated fund of $50,000.00, pr ten per cent (10%) of the grant amount requested could be offered as a local share in support of this grant request.

By:  Camden, Fred Duplantis

By:  Cape Giradeau, Bruce Loy

The Commission proposal seeks $2,750,000 in federal funds to be combined with $375,000 from airport resources to produce $3,125,000 in available air service development funds for The Eastern Iowa Airport. The attached application outlines the use of these funds for activities directly related to maintain or increase incumbent airlines' mainline aircraft service, to develop new airline service including but not limited to, research and analysis of The Eastern Iowa Airport air service needs for new air routes and lower airfares, to develop airline revenue guarantee programs, and to utilize advertising assistance programs.

By:  Cedar Rapids, Lawrence Mullendore

This Grant Request seeks $315,000 in federal funding to assist the Task Force in meeting its objectives. Combined with $100,000 from the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Authority, these funds will be used to leverage our community's air service initiatives. As outlined in the attached application, our project proposal includes a variety of air service activities - an incentive program to achieve fare parity with nearby airports, advertising to promote the benefits of flying from Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport and marketing support to attract new service to our community.

By:  Chattanooga, Bob Corker

The consortia is asking for matching funding from the Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program in the amount of $500,000 (An additional $700,000 will be invested by the local communities and the State of Wyoming.) The total project cost is $1,200,000. The initial $1.2 million will be used toward the initial aircraft purchase, initiation of service and marketing costs. (Average cost of proposed aircraft is $884,100.) The consortia will draft a lease agreement and operating agreement with Big Sky pursuant to grant funding, before the aircraft purchase. Initially, the aircraft will be leased to Big Sky at a minimal amount for three years. Following the three year period, a reevaluation and negotiation of future lease agreements shall be forged. Big Sky code shares with Northwest, Alaska, and America West airlines; neither community currently has access to these carriers. To promote the sustained, long-term support of the service: following the initial marketing and start up period, the consortia will devote at least $60,000 annually to marketing campaigns and a minimum of $100,000 in pre-purchased travel programs which are part of local business' commitment to this public-private partnership.

By:  Natrona, Dan Mann

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

The City of Chico is submitting this application for funding our Air Service Development program. The City operates the Chico Municipal Airport (CIC) which serves northern California as a non-hub commercial service facility. The City is working with the Chico Chamber of Commerce in attracting new or improved air service. This grant would augment the existing air service development program underway since 2000. The City of Chico has budgeted $30,000 in airport revenues in developing a Ticket Lift Survey, an air service profile and recommendation analysis with its consultant Sixel-Boggs, & Associates, and marketing materials. A $44,000 grant award to the City of Chico will allow us to complete the third, fourth, and final phases of our air service development program. We have identified the following remaining critical requirements: Analyze the routes to determine air carrier costs and profitability of operating in that market. • Identify best methods of solicitation. Solicitation of the air carriers.

By:  City of Chico, Robert Grierson

As you review our proposal, you will note that 20 years ago, we had close to 35,000 passengers depart from our airport each year. Today, our annual enplanements are around 10,000, due to inconvenient flight schedules and unfavorable ticket prices. If awarded the D.O.T. funds, we will utilize the money to provide incentives for our existing airline to minimize the financial risk of adding a third daily flight (fourth flight in summer months). We would also conduct a feasibility study to add a fourth daily flight. We are committed to making this program work. Together, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the surrounding communities, and the Chisholm-Hibbing Airport Authority have the potential and will contribute the necessary financial support to this program. A committee of surrounding community leaders has already been working on improving our air service for the past year. Given this opportunity to improve our air service, we respectfully submit the following proposal that includes a grant request of $597,500.

By:  Chisolm-Hibbing

Money from this grant would be used to subsidize scheduled air service operations by Pan Am, Boston-Maine Airlines, for o period for up to three years.  There is no question that Cincinnati travelers pay among the highest air fares in the country. It is also no secret that many air travelers drive to other airports in order to avoid the high ticket prices at CVG (see sample letter). Most of the people we spoke with in regards to our questionnaire, immediately identified the high tickets prices at CVG as their main reason for wanting to take advantage of Lunken Airport if a scheduled service became available. Among other advantages, Lunken is located within a fifteen minute drive for the great majority of business travelers, and our North Wing Terminal is presently equipped to immediately handle passenger service.

By:  Cincinnati Airport, Daniel Dickten

By:  Clovis-Hobbs, Bill Gatchell

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

Our application to the DOT requests that a grant of $300,000 be made available to assist in the funding of a new Columbus Regional Air Service Marketing and Development Program. This grant from DOT FY2002 funds, combined with $100,000 in funding from the Coalition and $30,000 in in-kind services made available by the Commission, would be dedicated to support the implementation of the Program for one year from the date of the execution of the grant agreement. We anticipate that this first year of the program will extend from the summer of 2002 to the summer of 2003.  The immediate focus will be on hiring an advertising agency to create an aggressive media campaign to encourage regional travelers to fly to and from CSG, rather than driving to Atlanta Hartsfield. This effort will be augmented by the initiation of incentive programs that support this same immediate objective. Marketing to airlines will continue, with the added element of incentive funds for new services and upgrades of service to jet equipment.

By:  Columbus Metropolitan Airport, Mark Oropeza, 706-324-2449

Kinetic Enterprise Systems, Inc has been actively involved in starting JetLink (a business concept name, not the actual airline name), a Part 135 Scheduled Airline. JetLink will provide short haul air service that connects small communities to major hub airports. JetLink will connect small markets within 200 miles of the Washington Baltimore metropolitan area to one or more of the five regional hub airports. High frequency service will be provided with single engine turbo-prop aircraft (i.e., Cessna Grand Caravans), having 9 passenger seats, and providing as many as 8 departures and arrivals per day at small community airports. 1998 changes to FAA regulations permit using this class of aircraft for commercial passenger operations under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). This class of aircraft permits for the first time an economically viable solution to short haul "Third Tier" air transportation demands. Culpeper County has offered to sponsor Kinetics efforts to start and base the proposed operation at the Culpeper Regional Airport.

A total of $ 4.0 Million dollars is requested as grant-in-aid funding under the PL 106-181 Small Community Air Service Development Program. This funding will be used to initiate and provide service to six communities within 18 to 24 months and will thereby service an estimated 120,000 customers across a large geographic area. If this pilot program is successful continued expansion to new regions is anticipated.

By:  Culpepper, Frank Bossio

By:  Wayne Leery

D

By:  Danville, Jerry Gwaltney

The Coalition has a Well-Defined Plan for Use of Air21 Funds. Below efforts assume that DAY would be granted $1.5M in Air21 funding - Requested amount based on short-fall for DAY programs outlined in following pages Coalition would use all Air21 funds to improve DAY's low-fare service - AirTran Airways would be Coalition target for east coast service.  Frontier Airlines would be Coalition target for west coast service. Specifically, Coalition intends to use Air21 funds for three purposes:

• Portion of AirTran/Frontier revenue guarantee

• Co-op marketing campaign for AirTran/Frontier

• Defrayal of service launch costs related to new AirTran/Frontier service

By:  Dayton Airport, Eugene Conrad

OST-02-11590 - Implementation of Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program

August 17, 2004

Re: Request for Final Determination from Daytona Beach International Airport

In accordance with Article A.2. of the above referenced Grant Offer and Agreement, this letter is to request final determination of the Federal Share of the aforementioned Grant in accordance with the approved Grant Application and Grant Offer and Agreement dated September 20, 2002, copy enclosed as Attachment 2.

To date, Continental Airlines' performance at Daytona Beach International Airport has greatly exceeded projected traffic levels presented in the 2002 SCASDPP Application to DOT. Between December 2002 and July 2004, Continental has generated 118,927 total passengers in Daytona Beach through the daily nonstop service to Newark / New York, and additional nonstop seasonal service to Cleveland and Tampa. At the same time, Delta Air Lines passenger traffic has also continued to increase. In December 2003, Continental extended its Airport Use Agreement for two additional years and Delta air Lines extended their Use Agreement for five additional years. Further discussion in June 2004 with Continental executives indicated the carrier is well satisfied with its decision to restart Newark / New York service in Daytona Beach. We are now in position to look forward to additional frequencies to Newark / New York as well as a continuation of nonstop seasonal service to Cleveland and Tampa in December 2004. Other airlines are also now considering serving the Daytona Beach market. These positive changes could not have developed without DOT assistance under the Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program.

By: Daytona Beach Intl. Airport, Stephen Cooke, Director of Business Development, 386-248-8030

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

The City of Del Rio had air service to Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas supplied by Lone Star Airlines/Aspen Mountain Air until September 1998. All passenger service was terminated when the company encountered financial difficulty due to problems in another State. Local businessmen report the Del Rio leg of their service was self-sufficient. A copy of the Aspen Mountain Air and the Lone Star Airline schedule is attached as EXHIBIT A.  The Del Rio International Airport is a general aviation airport. Our airport is scheduled for major improvements and runway extension to 6,300 feet in the current Texas Department of Transportation Aviation Capital Improvement Program.

Surveys consistently identify Dallas/ Fort Worth (DFW) as the preferred destination because of the ease in making connections to any place in the world. Due to our history of keeping air service, we believe a 19 passenger turbo prop such as the Metro Liner would be the airplane that would deliver the most seat miles per dollar invested. Air One express has six (6) Metro Liners in operation. One (1) is set up as a passenger aircraft, one (1) is set up as a "Combi" capable of delivering passengers and cargo, and the remainder are presently utilized in air cargo operations.

By:  City of Del Rio, Texas, Rafael Castillo

The City of Del Rio, Texas submitted their proposal for the Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program on April 8,2002. I have reviewed the proposal and found an error on page 3 of the proposal. I used the word "month instead of the word week". Please substitute the corrected page in our proposal.

By:  City of Del Rio, Texas, Rafael Castillo

The public sector participants, who include the U.S. Department of Transportation, will provide $1,000,000 in financing for the revenue guarantee element of our program, $25,000 in assistance with service promotion, and $100,000 in reductions in airport operating costs during year one. Private sector businesses will provide a minimum of $1,000,000 in pre-paid travel commitments during year one. Our program has been designed to help mitigate the business risk a low fare airline faces during the critical start up phase. Our program also mitigates the risk for the US DOT by incorporating a significant pre-paid ticket element - if the low fare airline meets its performance forecasts the revenue guarantee would not be needed and the Small Community Air Service development funds would not be expended.

By:  City of Des Moines

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

We are requesting this grant to help this Community retain the new airline service which, at this time, is being offered on a trial basis and is artificially sustained by revenue guarantees. For this service to continue, a significant marketing effort is needed in both the local area and in the new markets served to allow for these routes to attain financial self-sufficiency, without subsidy, in this market. We are also requesting this grant to assist this Community in obtaining an additional, competing carrier in the Durango-Denver market. Durango is at a significant fare disadvantage, paying as much as a100% fare premium over business fares to Denver from Farmington, NM, a 50 mile drive and a significantly smaller airport. To attract service on this route, vie propose the use of a "Travel Bank" to guarantee support from the business community without requiring direct subsidies or revenue guarantees.

By:  Durango, Fred Klatt

E

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

The cities of El Dorado, Camden, Magnolia, and Hampton, Arkansas are pleased to submit this proposal to improve airline service in South Arkansas and make the Essential Air Service investment pay off. Our proposal requests funding assistance of $400,00 0 to stimulate local air traffic with a new, more reliable airline carrier. We will offer subsidized introductory fares and enhanced regional advertising to restore public confidence and market this new service. Community businesses and organizations have committed $100,00 0 of their own in cash matching funds to support this proposal. Enplanements are projected to double as a direct result of this program after the first year. Our ultimate objective is to grow off subsidy with self-sufficient air service.

By:  South Arkansas Consortium, Mike Dumas

Included with this letter is the City of Eugene's Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program grant application. The City of Eugene, sponsor of the Eugene Airport, Mahlon Sweet Field, and the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce have formed a public-private partnership for the purpose of securing commercial air service deemed critical to the economic development of the region. Prior to filing this application, the Eugene Airport conducted extensive research and analysis of the local air service market and completed passenger and profitability projections for the air service proposed herein. Because of its route system and aircraft type, Delta Connection is the logical airline to provide the air service proposed. Under separate cover, Delta Air Lines has provided a letter-of-support for this grant request. The purpose of this grant request is to: Improve air access from the Eugene region to key destinations in the eastern United States that are currently capacity-constrained from the Eugene Airport. Meet local demand and stimulate air travel from Eugene to Salt Lake City and primary destinations in the eastern United States.Proposed service: Eugene - Salt Lake City, two round-trips daily provided by Delta Connection, (50-seat) Canadair Regional Jet aircraft.

By:  Eugene, Bob Noble

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

By:  Evansville, Robert Working

F

By:  Bishop International/Flint, Pat Corfman and Ungaretti Harris, Edward Faberman

Dubuque and Fort Dodge are 208 miles apart. Dubuque serves the Northeast quadrant and Fort Dodge serves Northwest quadrant of the State. While both communities have identified different needs and different strategies, we feel we can cooperatively move forward to enhance the air service for our regions. While our varied economic sectors are currently under financial stress (agriculture, manufacturing, distribution, education and service sectors), we feel strongly that improved service qualities and more accessible air service will enable these sectors to again become viable by connecting to other regions and to the global economy.

By:  Fort Dodge and Dubuque

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

By:  Fort Smith

The success of attracting a low-cost airline at FWA would, we believe, result in a decrease of average air fares and less restrictive air fare rules by our incumbent carriers. Additionally, new service initiatives for non-stop/one stop service to our two largest origination and destination markets would be expected to increase passenger enplanement activity above the record year of 2000 via these service enhancements. Assistance with funding to facilitate these changes will bring positive results and would reclaim the nearly 15% loss of passengers which was experienced during 2001. Passenger enplanements are presently continuing a downward spiraling trend even over the 2001 result due to non-competitive air fare pricing and restrictive fare rules which the community is presently having to deal with.

By:  Fort Wayne, Ct. T. Miller

To address this lack of low fare service, the City of Fresno's Department of Transportation, along with the Fresno City and County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Economic Development Corporation of Fresno, proposes to establish a "travel bank" to attract a low fare carrier. It will work as follows: $1 million as "seed money" for the travel bank will be provided by the Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program. Local businesses, public and private agencies, and individuals will put up $1 million to match. Once a written agreement with a carrier is reached, travel bank stakeholders will begin depositing money in an escrow account. From the date of the agreement, the community partnership will have 180 calendar days to collect $1 million in local matching funds. If after 180 days the full $1 million in matching funds has not been met, the $1 million grant will be returned to the U.S. D.O.T.

By:  Fresno, Severo Esquivel

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

G

The Gainesville Alachua-County Regional Airport Authority is requesting $500,000 for a Small Market Air Service Development grant from the FAA in fiscal year 2002 as a pilot program funded through Air 21. As described above, Gainesville has struggled over time to capture the air travel market that exists in this community. Award of this grant will allow the community to implement a focused program that helps capture "leakage" and entice new competition to Gainesville Regional Airport. The airport, as the sponsor of this grant application, will be responsible for the overall administration of this program.

By:  Gainesville Regional Airport, Richard Crider

Please accept this application from Grand County, Utah on behalf of Canyonlands Field for consideration of funds from the Small Communities Air Service Development Pilot Program. The requested amount of funding is $280,000.  The money we are requesting would be used to advertise in numerous national and regional magazines, in private airport newsletters, and through television and radio. It would also be used to build a covered outdoor picnic/observation area to add to the existing landscaped area. The scenery from Canyonlands Field is unequalled, and being able to spend time outdoors at the airport would make wait-times much more appealing.

By:  Grand County

The Walker Field, Colorado, Public Airport Authority, respectfully submits this application and proposal under the Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program to address air service challenges and opportunities unique to the Grand Junction, Colorado area. The Airport Authority is the sponsoring governmental entity for this application and proposal, and is the operator of the Airport. The requested amount of funding is $89,842.  Currently, Walker Field receives service from three (3) affiliate airlines operated by 2 regional air carriers-Mesa Airlines (America West Express) and SkyWest Airlines (Delta Connection and United Express), with non-stop service to Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Denver, respectively. The three (3) affiliate carriers provide up to eighteen (18) departures per day, with connecting service at each of the large hub cities. Of these eighteen (18) flights, only one is operated with regional jet equipment. All other flights are operated with propjet aircraft.

By:  Grand Junction, Corrine Nystrom

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

The Greenbrier Valley Airport is located in Lewisburg, West Virginia in the southeastern portion of the state. In recent years economic development in this region has been hampered by limited local air service and high fares. Community leaders and the airport have created an air service development strategy designed to promote regional economic growth by improving local air service, and we are requesting DOT support in implementing this plan. Our plan includes a substantial local financial commitment to complement the DOT funding.

We are requesting DOT support for launching year-round daily regional jet service to Pittsburgh. Approximately 60 percent of local air passengers are traveling to or from markets in the North, and the Pittsburgh hub offers convenient access to the majority of those markets. Based on the strong response to the peak season regional jet service to Atlanta launched in 2001 we believe that service to Pittsburgh will be self-sustaining by the third year of operation.

By:  Greenbriar, Jerry O'Sullivan

In order to accomplish this objective the Coalition has engaged a firm that specializes in air service programs for small resort communities. In working with this firm, it has become clear that the community will need outside financial assistance if the objective of establishing a competitive affordable year-round air service program is going to be achieved. We need assistance with the start-up of this service, but are confident that once it's initiated, it can be successful with the hard work of the Coalition.

By:  Gunnison County, Fred Field

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

H

Hagerstown, Maryland - See Washington County, Maryland

This application requests federal support for an air service initiative for service between Friedman Memorial Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. Los Angeles is Sun Valley/Wood River Valley's number one market. The total cost of the Action Plan associated with this air service initiative is $944,243. This application requests federal assistance in the amount of $600,000. The balance, $344,243 (36.4% of the total cost) will be provided by the Sun Valley/Wood River Valley community. It is our assessment that the proposed air service will be self-sufficient within the 12-month period outlined herein.

By:  Hailey and Blaine County

Our proposal explains in detail the problems we have identified in service to our region, the solutions we propose, and how a grant of $ 1,000,000 in Federal funding tinder the Small Communities Air Service Development Pilot Program could provide the necessary seed money for a long-term, self-supporting pattern of improved air service here. The Consortium has already committed to $450,000 in local funds as well. The DOT funds will be used to provide for cost offsets and start-up costs for the new airline. The Consortium funds will be used for marketing and promotion expenses as well as pre-purchased tickets.

By:  Hall County, William Stovall

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

By:  Hays County, Randy Gustafson

We hope to accomplish the implementation of new air service at HKY from a major airline. Mesa Airlines withdrew the only commercial service at Hickory on April 15, 2002. Although Delta has not committed to serving HKY, efforts are underway to secure $2.0 million in Travel Bank funding for Delta service to HKY. Since Delta does not operate 19-seat aircraft, any potential service by Delta would represent a significant improvement in quality and capacity over Mesa airlines' 19-seat Jetstream 32 aircraft.

By:  Hickory, Rudy Wright

The plan proposed by Hollister is unique in that it does not focus on attracting an existing carrier to perform a handful of weekly flights to a community's airport. In contrast, Hollister will use the grant funds to assist a new carrier that is being formed for the sole purpose of serving the Hollister/Branson.. This new carrier, BransonAir, intends to become the "home town" airline of the Hollister/Branson community and the grant funds, along with other financial support from local government entities and local business, which are set forth in more detail below, should help BransonAir establish itself in the market and build a foundation upon which BransonAir can grow and service Hollister/Branson for years to come.

By:  Hollister, David Tate

Hot Springs Memorial Field, located in Hot Springs, Arkansas currently receives an Essential Air Service (EAS) subsidy in support of Big Sky Airlines. The current service provides three daily round trips to Dallas. Big Sky won the EAS route subsidy to Hot Springs after the bankruptcy and departure of Aspen Mountain Air in September of 1998. From the beginning, Big Sky Airlines alienated the business community because of their lack of schedule reliability. In this regard, reported schedule completion rates in the 70% and 80% range were typical of many weeks during 1999 and 2000, with on-time performance averaging much lower. In the early days of Big Sky service, on-time performance in the 50 to 70 percent range was a normal occurrence, particularly when pilot shortages were being experienced by the airline. This lack of reliability was the ultimate problem that eliminated community trust. Numerous times, airline passengers would be waiting in the terminal building for an airplane that was not going to arrive. Notices of cancellations were not given to passengers in time for^- them to make other plans. Business people who have to be at a meeting at a particular time are not willing to take a chance on the failure of the airline to keep its schedule. In the case of Big Sky Airlines, there were repeated failures to the point where no trust remained in the business community.

By:  Hot Springs, Mike Bush, 501.321.6810

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y

The Primary objective of this proposal is the establishment of improved air service for the communities served by CMX through the reintroduction of nonstop service to Detroit. Additional goals include increases in seat capacity and corresponding increases in ridership (enplanements). This plan describes those specific upgrades needed to ensure the long-term financial viability of passenger service at CMX while meeting the needs of the travelers using this facility. Although, this plan does not attempt to immediately lower airfares, it is anticipated that reduced fares are likely as market stimulation increases and provides positive economies of scale for Northwest.

By:  Houghton County, Mike Lahti

Currently, two air carriers serve the community. United Express with 30 passenger Brasilia’s (16 daily flights) and Horizon Air with 37 passenger Dehaaviln Dash-8’s (3 daily flights). United has two aircraft daily to Sacramento and the rest are to San Francisco. Horizon has 3 flights to Portland one via Redding.  Recent studies have revealed that may passengers would prefer destinations/connecting hubs of Salt Lake City, Seattle, Denver or Los Angeles and buy tickets to San Francisco out of necessity.

The service range of the Brazilia and Dash 8 will not allow the longer flights. Delta Airlines and United Express are currently purchasing 50 passenger Regional Jets and Horizon is adding Regional Jets and 73 passengers Q400 aircraft. All of these will service the areas mentioned. These aircraft also have a much lower breakeven load factor and fares would be lower. All of these carriers are interested in our market with new aircraft, but want to be assured that the initial period of time could be subsidized to ensure the routes success.  I propose that we obtain funds to advertise the additional services in the community and provide a step down subsidy for empty seats that would ensure success of the carrier. The advertising would be approximately $100,000 per year and seat subsidy of 50% of the value of empty seats for the first year, 30% the second year and 20% the third year. This would provide for minimum subsidy and ensure success.