Essential Air Service at

Order 2008-1-16
OST-1997-2842

Issued January 23, 2008 | Served January 28, 2008

Order Resoliciting Carrier Proposals

We received a number of comments in response to Boston-Maine's proposal. On January 16, the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority requested that we resolicit carrier proposals. In support of its request, the Authority states that the carrier does not have a good track record with EAS routes in New York State, and it does not have contractual and marketing arrangements or interline agreements with a major carrier at the hub. It further states that the carrier's subsidy request is not reasonable based on prior EAS contracts. The Authority acknowledged that resolicitation might result in a longer service hiatus.

We have decided that it is in the public interest to resolicit proposals. As we state in all of our Requests for Proposals, we reserve the right to resolicit proposals for any number of reasons. The EAS program exists for the benefit of eligible communities, and we are statutorily required to consider a variety of factors when determining whether to choose an applicant to provide subsidized EAS at a community. These factors include: the demonstrated reliability of the applicant in providing scheduled air service; the contractual and marketing arrangements the applicant has made with a larger carrier; the interline arrangements the applicant has made with a larger carrier; and the preference of the actual and potential users of the service. In this case, for the reasons stated above, two of the three communities have asked that we resolicit proposals, and the third does not object to our resoliciting. Boston-Maine's proposal is fashioned as an inseparable three-city package, thus making it impossible to select it at Watertown while we resolicit proposals for Massena and Ogdensburg. In addition, we note that BostonMaine's continuing fitness has been challenged in a public proceeding, and the Department's Air Carrier Fitness Division is reviewing the case. Finally, we are also concerned that Boston-Maine's subsidy request of $5.5 million is more that double the prior carrier's rates and almost double the program average.

By: Michael Reynolds