Essential Air Service at Macon, Georgia

Order 2007-7-12
OST-2007-28671

Issued and Served July 13, 2007

Order Prohibiting Suspension of Service and Requesting Proposals

Atlantic Southeast's proposed termination of service at Macon would leave it with no scheduled air service, and, thus, the Department must prohibit the carrier from terminating such service at the end of its 90-day notice period, and require it to maintain service at Macon for an initial 30-day period, through October 30, 2007, consisting of two daily round trips with either regional jets or large turboprop aircraft. Furthermore, we will require Atlantic Southeast to continue to maintain that level of service at Macon for successive 30-day periods until we have completed processing the carrier-replacement case and the new carrier has actually started service.

Macon’s service needs may be met with two round trips a day with either regional jets or larger cabin-class turboprops such as the ATR-72 or Embraer Brasilia. Because of the community’s large traffic generating potential and proximity to Atlanta, we encourage proposals for more frequent service with smaller aircraft, e.g., three or four daily round trips with 19-seat aircraft. All service to Atlanta should be nonstop. At the same time, we would not dismiss any proposal out of hand without first consulting with the community officials. We recognize that there is convenient ground transportation between Macon and Atlanta, and air service to another hub or service with larger aircraft may be more appropriate. We encourage any proposal that would simultaneously satisfy the community’s needs and minimize taxpayer expenditures.

We note that, even though passenger levels have fallen dramatically over thee last several years, Macon is still a strong trafficgenerating community by EAS standards, averaging 33 enplanements per day for the year ended April 30, 2007, the most recent annual period. As a result, we expect either subsidy-free proposals, or proposals at very modest subsidy levels.

Carriers interested in filing proposals at Macon, with or without subsidy, should file them with our staff no later than August 22, 2007.

By: Michael Reynolds