Durbin, Costello: DOT Will Maintain Air Service In Marion, Quincy, Decatur

Press Release

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Representative Jerry Costello (D-IL) announced that the Department of Transportation (DOT) will require Great Lakes Airlines to provide air service in Marion, Quincy and Decatur with no interruption until a new carrier is found. In letters sent to Durbin and Costello, the DOT announced that it has already begun the process of soliciting proposals from air carriers interested in providing service in the downstate communities. The deadline for submission is August 12th.

"The DOT has expressed a strong commitment to maintaining air service which is good news for residents and businesses in downstate Illinois," said Durbin. "I will continue to work with Congressman Costello to see that the DOT follows through on their commitment."

"This is a very positive step toward upgrading the level of air service for these communities," said Costello, Chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee. "Importantly, service will continue while this process goes forward."

Great Lakes Airlines is currently providing air service without a critical codeshare agreement with American Airlines - a key component of the communities' support for Great Lakes Aviation's application to become the EAS provider in those areas. According to Durbin and Costello, this has resulted in a drop in ridership that could potentially impact these airports federal funding.

The Essential Air Service (EAS) contracts to Quincy, Marion/Herrin and Decatur were formerly held by Regions Air which abruptly halted service on March 8th, 2007. Following the shutdown, the U.S. Department of Transportation entered into a contract with Great Lakes Airlines to resume passenger air service from downstate Illinois to St. Louis Lambert International Airport in November 2007.

The two year EAS contract signed by DOT and Great Lakes Aviation consists of a $3.5 million per year federal subsidy to operate commercial service in Decatur, Quincy and Marion, Illinois. The EAS program was established by Congress in 1978 to ensure communities with commercial air service before airline deregulation could continue scheduled flights. Without the EAS program, many communities would not receive any scheduled commercial air service. Great Lakes will continue to provide service until a new contract can be awarded. Without EAS, many rural communities would have no commercial air service at all, and residents of smaller cities would have to travel significant distances for flights.

The text of the letter appears below:

July 14, 2009

The Honorable Richard J. Durbin
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Durbin:

Thank you for your letter of July 9, cosigned by Congressman Jerry F. Costello, regarding

Essential Air Service (EAS) in Decatur, Marion, and Quincy, Illinois.

As you appropriately stated in your letter, Decatur, Marion, and Quincy experienced difficulties when RegionsAir suddenly ceased all operations more than 2 years ago. Actions like that can have a chilling effect on communities and enplanement levels. We share your strong concerns that the passenger levels continue to be very low, and arc similarly disappointed that Great Lakes Aviation did not follow through to finalize a code share agreement with American Airlines. Based on these facts, you asked that we issue a request for proposals to open up the bidding to all carriers, including Great Lakes Aviation, for a new, 2-year period.

As you know, on July 9, we issued an Order Requesting Proposals for Essential Air Service in Decatur, Marion, and Quincy, (and other cities outside Illinois). DOT Orders 2009-7-9, and carrier proposals arc due August 12. During this period, we will use all our resources to contact all potential EAS providers to advise them of these service opportunities. At the same time, I would strongly recommend that the communities themselves reach out to carriers to make them fully aware of the opportunities available in serving these routes.

We will continue to require Great Lakes Aviation to serve these communities until the issue is resolved - there will be no hiatus in service. Our interest in providing and maintaining air service in small communities remains strong and, by law, we will continue to exercise our authority to require a carrier to fly certain EAS routes in order to maintain a specified level of service.

Copies of your letter and this response were placed in the appropriate dockets as a contact outside the record of this matter. An identical letter was sent Congressman Costello. If I can provide further information or assistance, please feel free to call me.

Sincerely yours,
John D. Porcari
The Deputy Secretary of Transportation

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