|
Local air service delayed to July
(Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, KY) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun. 7--Commercial air service at Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport is still at least a month away -- and maybe longer.
George Smith, airport manager, said he talked to Chuck Howell, chief executive officer of Wyoming-based Great Lakes Airlines, last week about when local air service will begin.
The target date had been mid- to late June.
"He said it's been pushed back about four weeks," Smith said. "They're still trying to work out problems with the Federal Aviation Administration."
But rising fuel costs may delay the start of service even longer.
Great Lakes predicted in January that it will carry 8,500 passengers a year from Owensboro at an average fare of $87.72.
In February, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the company the contract for essential air service to serve Owensboro for the next two years with a subsidy of $1.45 million a year for two flights a day.
But fuel costs have soared since then.
On Wednesday, the Ely, Nev., Times reported that Great Lakes had been scheduled to begin serving that city on Sunday with direct flights to Las Vegas.
The paper quoted Monica Taylor, Great Lakes' director of marketing, saying that the company would require a larger subsidy before the service could begin.
"There's no way we can start the service at the current subsidy. There's just no way," Taylor told the Nevada newspaper. "If we were able to start yesterday, we would have started over $1 million in the hole because of the fuel costs. It's a tragic environment right now. There are several airports out there with no air service."
One of them is Owensboro's. The city has had air service for only six weeks since RegionsAir, which had served the city since 2001, was grounded by the FAA on March 8, 2007.
Montana-based Big Sky Airlines got the contract to serve Owensboro on March 9, 2007, but didn't actually begin service until Nov. 18.
The airline shut down service in the eastern United States on Jan. 7 and later went out of business.
Great Lakes said it has been trying to lease planes and hire pilots since getting the Owensboro contract in February.
Asked if the company will have to have an increase in its $1.45 million subsidy before it starts service to Owensboro, Taylor said in an e-mail, "I can't answer that at this time. There is a good chance that we would need to go back to the DOT. However, that decision has not been made."
Smith said Great Lakes hasn't mentioned the subsidy in his talks with them.
In Cortez, Colo., the Cortez Journal reported last week that Great Lakes had been awarded a $1.3 million subsidy to continue to serve that city.
That subsidy, which takes effect Aug. 1, went up from $800,000 last year, the newspaper said.
The airline carried 10,000 passengers from Cortez last year, up from 7,000, the story said.
"An increase of 3,000 is a big percentage increase," Howell told the Journal. "So, even though the fuel cost is high, our revenue is up in Cortez."
To see more of the Messenger-Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.messenger-inquirer.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
INDUSTRIES
Activate Email 
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East, January 20-22, 2010. Miami, FL.
