U.S.

Department of Transportation
Office of the Secretary of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590

Mayor Robert Reichert City of Macon 700 Poplar Street Macon, GA 31201 Dear Mayor Reichert: I would like to update you on the Essential Air Service situation at Macon, Georgia and give you an opportunity to submit any comments if you wish. As you know, on April 26, 2012, Pacific Wings L.L.C., d/b/a Georgia Skies, filed a 90-day notice of its intent to suspend its subsidy-free service at Macon. In response, the Department issued Order 2012-5-25, on May 24, 2012, to solicit proposals from all interested air carriers to provide service at Macon. In response to that Order, we received two proposals. Copies of the proposals are attached and may be accessed online through the Department's Dockets Management System at: http://www.regulations.gov/ by entering "DOT-OST-200728671" in the "Enter Keyword or ID" field, so I will only briefly summarize the proposals here. Sun Air Express, LLC d/b/a Sun Air International, proposes to offer four daily round trips per weekday, and two daily round trips on Saturday and two on Sunday (24 a w~ek) between Macon and Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport utilizing a nine-passenger twin-engine Piper Chieftain aircraft, for an annual subsidy of $1,946,266. The Department recently found Sun Air fit to conduct scheduled passenger operations as a commuter air carrier, and it is cunently working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to finalize that operating authority. American Aviation Group, Inc. d/b/a Twin Air Calypso proposes to offer six daily round trips (42 a week) between Macon and Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport utilizing an eightpassenger single-engine Cessna Caravan aircraft, for an annual subsidy of $1,555,825. Twin Air Calypso cmTently has an application pending before the Department for authority to conduct scheduled passenger operations as a commuter air carrier. That application can be accessed online through the Department's Dockets Management System by entering "DOT-OST-20110143" in the "Enter Keyword or ID" field. Also, I wish to remind you that the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Public Law No: 112-95) amended 49 U.S.C. 41731(a)(l)(B) changed the definition of "eligible place" for the purpose of receiving EAS. The amendment states that to be eligible, a community must maintain an average of 10 enplanements or more per service day, as determined by the Secretary,

during the most recent fiscal year beginning after September 30, 2012.1 The legislation exempts locations in Alaska and Hawaii and communities that are more than 175 driving miles from the nearest large or medium hub airport. As Macon is only about 81 miles from the Atlanta airport, the community must meet the 10-enplanement-a-day threshold for EAS to continue after FY2013, barring a waiver from the Secretary. In the most recent fiscal year for which data are available, FY2011 (October 2010-September 2011), Pacific Wings generated a total of 1,988 passengers (inbound and outbound), or an average of about 3 enplanements per day.2 The community should also be aware that the Department will continue to monitor Macon's eligibility to receive EAS in light of these new requirements throughout the life of any executed contract. The Department may cancel a contract for any community receiving EAS if enplanements remain below 10 Qer day during FY2013. I want to give you an opportunity to submit any formal comments for the record before submitting a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs. We request that you submit any comments you may have as soon as possible, but in any case no later than August 1, 2012. We will carefully consider your comments before submitting a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for a decision. If you have any questions or if you find that you need additional time to draft your comments, please let me know. Please send your comments to the Department at the following email address: EAS@dot.gov or by fax to 202-366-7838. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at scott.faulk@dot.gov or 202-366-9967.

Scott Faulk Essential Air Service Division Office of Aviation Analysis U.S. Department of Transportation

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1 The Secretary also has authority to waive the I 0 passenger requirement, on an annual basis, if the community can demonstrate that the reason the location averages fewer than I 0 passengers per day is due to a temporary decline in enplanements. See 49 U.S.C. 41731(e). 2 Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics; Form 41, Schedule T -100. Daily averages are based on one-half of the O&D passengers, divided by J 13 service days ( 314 during leap years).