Joplin airport seeks Kansas City, Dallas flights

Airport Manager Steve Stockam said today that the city is recommending that the federal government approve one of two plans for Essential Air Service submitted by Mesa Airlines. The proposal would give the airport 12 nonstop roundtrips a week to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, plus six nonstop roundtrips a week to Kansas City International Airport.

As first reported in Joplin Tri-State Business’ April 24 issue, two carriers presented a total of three options to provide EAS to the airport after current carrier Trans States Airlines announced its intention to leave when its current deal expires on July 31.

EAS is a federal program that guarantees air service to cities that had carriers before airline deregulation. The federal government pays the cost of the subsidy.

“After careful consideration of the two carriers and three options, the city of Joplin strongly endorses Mesa Airlines Option 2, offering Beech 1900D service to both Kansas City and Dallas/Fort Worth, for an annual subsidy of $1,149,875,” Stockam wrote in a letter to the DOT.

“The city believes that two-hub service offers the best foundation for traffic and service growth,” Stockam said. “The Kansas City service will offer low-cost connections to the many low fare air services at Kansas City. The Dallas/Fort Worth service … will reconnect Joplin to a key business, leisure and connect market.”

The other option presented by Mesa called for 18 nonstop roundtrips a week to Kansas City with an annual subsidy of $849,757. RegionsAir proposed 19 nonstop roundtrips a week to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport with an annual subsidy of $1,336,786. All three options called for service on 19-seat turbo-prop aircraft.

The department will now review the proposals and recommendations and decide which airline will get the federal money. Stockam said he anticipates the department will announce its decision before the end of May.

According to its Web site, Mesa currently operates 182 aircraft with more than 1,100 daily departures to more than 165 cities in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Mexico. The company, founded in 1982, has approximately 5,000 employees.

Trans States, operating in Joplin as AmericanConnections, currently offers 14 nonstop roundtrips a week between Joplin and St. Louis with 30-seat aircraft. The current annual subsidy is $755,762.

Jeff Wells is the editor of Joplin Tri-State Business. See the May 8 issues of Joplin Tri-State Business and Springfield Business Journal for more on this story.[[In-content Ad]]