Acting Assistant Secretary for Aviation

January 24, 2017

Acting Assistant Secretary for Aviation

and International Affairs

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE

West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140,

Washington, DC 20590

Re: Slot Assignment Phase of the Delta/AeromexicoATI Proceeding

(Docket DOT-OST-2015-0070)

Dear Acting Assistant Secretary,

I write in support of the application of Alaska Airlines, Inc. for an allocation of slots at Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport (MEX) to enable it to introduce double daily nonstop roundtrip scheduled air service between Los Angeles, California, and Mexico City.

Alaska’s proposed service will provide Los Angeles with additional access to Mexico’s capital city, and much-needed additional price and service competition in the Los Angeles-Mexico City market. Mexico City is an important destination fortravelers from Los Angeles. There are strong historic, cultural and economic ties between the two cities.

Alaska is well qualified to provide the type of high-quality, competitive service that the Department of Transportation is seeking to select in this proceeding. Alaska’s proposed service will provide not only new nonstop service for Los Angeles area passengers but also new connecting service options for tens of thousands of business and leisure air travelers in cities and communities throughout California and other western states. Los Angeles is a primary western U.S. gateway to Mexico. As leading West Coast-Mexico carriers, Alaska and its affiliate Virgin America have a very successful track record of providing lower fares and high-quality service for consumers in numerous U.S.-Mexico markets and Alaska will do the same in the Los Angeles-Mexico City market.

I am very pleased that Alaska has proposed to introduce double daily nonstop service to Mexico City from Los Angeles. I strongly urge the Department to award Alaska the MEX slots necessary to implement this service.

Sincerely,

,

On behalf of the California Travel Association and hundreds of leaders in our industry throughout the state, congratulations on your historic election to the U.S. Senate! We look forward to working with you to promote one of the greatest economic drivers in our state – travel and tourism.

In 2015, California hosted more than 257 million travelers, who spent $122.5 billion in our state. This spending supported 1,063,000 jobs and generated $5.3 billion in state taxes and $4.6 billion in local taxes to support vital public services including police and fire protection, park maintenance, health and homes services, education, and road repair. We are eager to collaborate with you and the California delegation to promote the travel economy, infrastructure investment, and job creation.

To that end, it is our honor to invite you to a travel roundtable meeting with leaders of California’s travel industry at your convenience in the months ahead. Annually, we host dozens of community meetings and roundtables with our elected congressional delegation throughout the state, and we would love to have an opportunity to introduce you and your staff to leaders in our industry so we can discuss the role that travel can play in growing our economy during the 115th Congress.

Congratulations again on your election to the United States Senate, and I hope we will be able to continue this conversation in the upcoming months. We will be in touch with your newly announced state staff and legislative staff in Washington to discuss scheduling opportunities.

Sincerely,

Barbara Newton

President & CEO

California Travel Association

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California Travel Association • PO Box 339 Menlo Park, CA. 94026

Phone: 408.888.7863 •