Essential Air Service at Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, and Lewisburg, West Virginia

Order 2006-1-23
OST-2003-15553

Issued January 30, 2006 | Served February 2, 2006

Order Requesting Proposals

By this order, the Department is requesting proposals from carriers interested in providing essential air service at Greenbrier/White Sulphur Springs/Lewisburg, West Virginia, for the two-year period beginning June 1, 2006.

With respect to Greenbrier/White Sulphur Springs/Lewisburg, we expect proposals consisting of service, at a minimum, with two-pilot, twin-engine aircraft with at least 15 passenger seats, and offering a total of 12 round trips a week from the community to a suitable hub or hubs. The community's essential air service determination, as last established by Order 1985-8-77, August 26, 1985, required a minimum of two daily nonstop or one-stop round trips to both Charlotte and Washington/Baltimore, providing a total of at least 67 inbound and outbound seats. During the winter, service could be reduced to six days a week to each hub, providing a total of 45 inbound and outbound seats. However, as we more recently concluded in Order 2003-9-21, September 26, 2003, the minimum-service levels that we have specified at the start of this paragraph are sufficient, as a practical matter, to ensure that the community retains a year-round link to the national air transportation network, in view of the seasonal nature of the community's demand for local air service and its own arrangements with other carriers to provide additional services during the peak season, as noted below. Carriers are welcome to propose more than one service option, if they envision other, potentially more attractive service possibilities with subsidy requirements that remain competitive.

By: Todd Homan