Several regional airports left without carrier

Commercial air service to the Joplin Regional Airport will cease – at least temporarily – after Air Midwest Inc., the airport’s current carrier, ends service to the airport on June 30.

Air Midwest, a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group Inc., has provided subsidized air service to Joplin under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s essential air service program since 2006. Mesa announced earlier this year its intention to end service to Joplin and other EAS cities in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Nebraska.

Among those airports affected is the Boone County Regional Airport in Harrison, Ark.

In May, DOT selected Island Air to replace Mesa in Joplin, as well as Harrison, Ark., but the Hawaii-based carrier announced June 6 that it would relinquish its contract to serve those two cities.

The department is searching for a new carrier for the airports and issued a request for bids June 9 with a June 20 deadline. The airline with the winning bid, however, will not begin service until after Mesa is scheduled to end service to the airport on June 30.

An airline usually wants 60 days to sell advance tickets before starting service, but Joplin Airport Manager Steve Stockam said Joplin would negotiate with the new carrier to encourage the airline to begin flights within 30 to 45 days.

Mesa entered the Joplin market in 2006, and the airport’s latest series of woes began in January when Mesa announced its intention to end service.

The company, which cited record-high fuel prices, insufficient demand and a difficult operating environment as the main factors in its decision, also provides service to airports in Columbia and Hot Springs and Little Rock, Ark.

The EAS program is supposed to guarantee flights to cities with regular passenger service before deregulation. The DOT requires EAS providers intending to exit a market to keep flying until a new carrier begins service, but Mesa announced May 14 that its Air Midwest subsidiary, responsible for the EAS operations, would cease flying June 30 and would liquidate its assets.

On June 16, the department issued an order extending Air Midwest’s obligation to serve the EAS cities through July 21. Stockam said the order is a standard DOT procedure and doesn’t change the situation for Joplin. Mesa plans to liquidate Air Midwest after it ends service to Joplin and the other EAS cities.

Stockam said the DOT would usually threaten to hold an airline’s certificate to keep it serving an EAS city, but Mesa’s decision to liquidate Air Midwest removes that option, he said.

Michael Boyd, president of aviation consulting company The Boyd Group, said Joplin has the demand to be a thriving air facility, if it can find the right carrier.

“(Joplin) is one market where, if it’s given the right air service, it won’t need a subsidy,” Boyd said. “It’s hard to find people that want to serve it right now, but it’s a viable market.”