Home | Search | Help
OST by Number | OST by Order | OST by Carrier | OST by Subject | OST by Day
OIA by Carrier/Subject | OIA by Day | FAA by Number | FAA by Subject | FAA by Day
Carrier Financials | Charter Office | Answer/Reply Calendar
Updated:
OST-2005-20454 - EAS at Victoria, TX
http://www.flyvictoriatx.com/ - Victoria Regional Airport
|
Essential Air Service at Victoria, Texas OST-2005-20454 - 90-Day Notices of Intent to Terminate EAS at Abilene, Waco, Beaumont, College Station Killeen, San Angelo, Texarkana, and Tyler, Texas, and Monroe, Louisiana
February 18, 2005 Re: 90-Day Notice of Skywest Airlines of Intent to Terminate EAS at Texas and Louisiana Communities SkyWest Airlines currently serves the ten communities listed above as the Continental Connection. All service is to/from Houston, Texas utilizing 30-seat Embraer Brasilia aircraft. Working closely with Continental Airlines, we have cooperated in the transition of these routes to Colgan Air which intends to serve them with Saab 340s. All markets should have seamless service with Colgan picking up the trips the same day that SkyWest vacates. Both services will be flown as Continental Connection. Service will be substantially identical including the schedule and the class of aircraft. By: Skywest, Eric Christensen
February 10, 2005 Colgan is working closely with Continental Airlines and Sky West in the transitioning of these routes to Colgan. All communities should experience a gradual and seamless transition between the two carriers without an interruption in air service. All service will be flown as Continental Connection, and will be substantially identical including the schedule and the class of aircraft. By: Michael Colgan
February 10, 2005 Re: Proposal of Colgan Air - Victoria, TX Colgan Air, a Continental Connection carrier, plans, pending DOT approval, to replace SkyWest on or before June 30, 2005. Colgan Air will utilize a 34-passenger Saab 340 aircraft for this service. Colgan agrees to continue this service under the same rate, terms, and conditions as SkyWest has agreed to as set forth in DOT Order 2003-6-34 dated July 1, 2003. By: Michael Colgan
Order 2005-03-03 Issued March 3, 2005 | Served March 8, 2005 Order Allowing Suspension of Service By this order, the Department is allowing SkyWest Airlines, Inc., d/b/a Continental Connection, to suspend its unsubsidized services at the nine communities listed above on various dates from March 3 until June 30, 2005. In reaching this decision, we have carefully reviewed the circumstances at the communities. Sky West and Colgan have agreed on a plan that will ensure that the communities' services to Houston will remain roughly equivalent to their current levels. Moreover, all of the communities receive service to another hub besides Houston: seven of the communities receive service to Dallas/Ft. Worth by American Eagle with aircraft ranging from Saab 340s to Embraer Regional Jets, and the other two receive service to Atlanta by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc., d/b/a Delta Connection, with Canadair Regional Jets. The communities' services will thus remain far above the levels that the essential air service program was designed to ensure. By: Karan Bhatia
Order 2005-03-13 Issued March 8, 2005 | Served March 11, 2005 Order Prohibiting Suspension of Service and Requesting Replacement Proposals By this order, the Department is (a) prohibiting SkyWest Airlines, Inc., d/b/a Continental Connection, from suspending its scheduled service at Victoria, Texas, beyond the end of its 90-day notice period, and (b) requesting proposals from carriers interested in providing replacement service at Victoria, with or without subsidy. While we acknowledge Colgan's readiness to replace Sky West at Victoria for the remainder of the current rate term, we will not select Colgan to do so. Instead, we will follow our normal practice of requesting proposals from all carriers interested in providing service at Victoria, with or without subsidy, for a new two‑year rate period. Carriers should file their proposals within 30 days of the date of service of this order. At the end of that period, our staff will docket the proposals, thereby making them public, and direct each carrier to serve a copy of its proposal on the civic parties and other applicants. Shortly afterwards, we will provide a summary of the proposals to the community and ask it to submit its final comments. We will give full consideration to all proposals that are timely filed. During calendar year 2004, the most recent 12‑month period for which data are available, Victoria averaged 33.2 enplanernents per service day, a decline of 12.8 percent from the previous calendar year By: Karan Bhatia
April 8, 2005 Proposal of Colgan Air to Provide Essential Air Service Colgan proposes to following options:
Although we have provided option #2, we are uncertain if this would be adequate to support the needs of the market. Colgan is a regional airline operating Saab 340 aircraft as Continental Connection under agreement with Continental Airlines. The services currently offered by Colgan allow seamless connection to Continental's route system via Houston's George Bush Intercontinental hub. By: Colgan, Michael Colgan
April 11, 2005 Proposal of Mesa Air Group d/b/a Air Midwest to Provide Essential Air Service All operations proposed would utilize our modem fleet of Raytheon/Beechcrafl B‑1900D airliners. These aircraft offer a very comfortable 19‑seat, pressurized cabin with two turboprop engines. Mesa has a long history of offering Essential Air Service throughout the country, from Arizona to New York.
By: Mesa, Mickey Bowman
April 12, 2005 Re: Request for Comments from The City of Victoria, TX We have received two proposals in response to our request: from Colgan Air, Inc., and from Mesa Air Group, Inc., on behalf of its subsidiary, Air Midwest, Inc. When reviewing the carriers' subsidy computations, it is important to bear in mind that projected passenger revenue is not simply based on the average local fare that passengers would actually pay. Rather, it is based on each carrier's expected revenue per passenger, and therefore largely reflects the prorated shares of ticket prices that the carrier expects to receive for providing the local segments of through trips -- for example, the VictoriaHouston segment of a Victoria-Houston-New York trip. By: Office of Aviation Analysis, Dennis DeVany
April 22, 2005 Community Response to Air Service Proposals The Victoria County Airport Commission has evaluated the proposals for air service to the Victoria Regional Airport. The Commission unanimously embraced the Colgan Air, Inc. option #1 that would replace the current service provided by SkyWest Airlines. While acknowledging that the difference in the subsidy between option #1 and #2, it is our position that the limitations on the number of flights does not provide an opportunity for growth in utilization of air service at this airport. This market has deteriorated significantly over the last several years. We believe that there are factors that can be corrected including schedules and fare structures. We have historical data that proves the VCT‑LAH route can be very successful. We remain dedicated to working to increase the utilization to raise the enpianements to levels of the early 2000's when a subsidy was not required. By: Victoria County Airport Commission, John Roberts
April 22, 2005 Re: County of Victoria Comments We concur with the recommendations of the Victoria County Airport Commission in supporting the Colgan Air, Inc.‑‑option #1. This option will provide some service stability in that they will fly as the Continental Connection. Additionally, this option will provide a number of weekly flights that will provide an opportunity for the utilization of the service to grow back to enplanement levels that will allow reduction or elimination of the need for the essential air service subsidies. By: Donald Pozzi, County Judge
Issued May 9, 2005 | Served May 12, 2005 Order Selecting Carrier and Establishing Final Subsidy Rate After careful consideration of the carriers' proposals and the community's comments, we have decided to select Colgan's Option 2, which offers 12 nonstop round trips to Houston each week with 34‑seat Saabs at a subsidy of $510,185 annually. The proposed subsidy rate is reasonable for the service to be provided, and Colgan's performance continues to be satisfactory. By: Karan Bhatia
Order 2005-6-10 Issued June 13, 2005 | Served June 13, 2005 Order Extending Service Obligation By Order 2005‑5‑2, the Department selected Colgan Air, d/b/a Continental Connection, to provide essential air service at Victoria for a two‑year period. However, the carrier transition is currently scheduled for July 1, after the end of the current hold‑in period. Therefore, in accordance with 49 U.S.C. 41734(c), we will extend SkyWest's service obligation at Victoria for an additional 30 days, or until Colgan's service actually begins, whichever occurs first. By: Randall Bennett
Issued February 1, 2007 | Served February 6, 2007 By this order, the Department is requesting proposals from carriers interested in providing essential air service at Victoria, Texas, for the two-year period beginning July 1, 2007, with or without subsidy. With specific respect to Victoria, we expect proposals consisting of two round trips per service day (12 round trips a week) using aircraft with at least 30 seats, or three round trips per service day (18 round trips a week) using aircraft with 19 seats. Service should be provided to Houston or another nearby hub with two-pilot, twin-engine, pressurized aircraft. We encourage proposals that meet those requirements in an efficient manner. By: Todd Homan
March 8, 2007 Colgan Air, Inc. respectfully submits a proposal to continue providing subsidized service between the community of Victoria, Texas and Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport. Our proposal continues to utilize a Saab-340B aircraft flying under the Continental Connection brand and would require an annual subsidy of $610,049. The proposed service pattern for the community would be 12 non-stop flights each week to Houston Intercontinental operated as Continental Connection with Saab-340B aircraft. By: Colgan Air, Michael Colgan, 703-331-3101
March 12, 2007 Request for Community Comments of:
March 30, 2007 Comments of Victoria Regional Airport and County of Victoria Colgan Air, operating as Continental Connection, provides current Victoria air service. Colgan proposes to continue, in its response to Order 2007-2-3, the same air service it currently provides, although at a higher subsidy level. The Victoria parties find this situation completely unacceptable and detrimental to the Victoria region’s economic growth and well being. The Victoria parties feel as if Continental is holding them hostage. The community has a bare minimum allocation of air service, paid for and made profitable by a hefty federal subsidy, while enplanements continue a steady decline. It is the contention of Victoria that Continental and Colgan intend to 'milk' Victoria for subsidy supported profits until the current traffic decline accelerates to a deep spiral and then decline to re-bid in a future EAS cycle. This would in effect leave the market for dead. By: Airport Manager, Larry Blackwell
Issued April 6, 2007 | Served April 11, 2007 Order Selecting Carrier and Establishing Subsidy Rate | Word By this order, the Department is selecting Colgan Air, Inc., d/b/a Continental Connection to continue providing essential air service at Victoria consisting of 12 weekly nonstop round trips to Houston with 34-seat Saab 340B turboprop aircraft for an annual subsidy of $610,049. By: Michael Reynolds
April 12, 2007 Comments of County of Victoria The Victoria Regional Airport has received Order 2007-4-8, which selects Colgan Air to provide essential air service of Victoria for the two-year period beginning July 1, 2007. We are disappointed that the DOT has decided to allow Colgan and Continental to continue the schedule pattern that has, for the past year, caused such a significant decline in Victoria enplanements. However, we do note on page two of the order the comment “Nonetheless, we encourage Colgan and Continental to reexamine the schedule in concert with the community to see if any further improvements can be made.” The Victoria parties need guidance from the DOT on how to proceed with this suggested reexamination. We are not sure how to proceed to fulfill the DOT’s suggestion to “encourage Continental and Colgan Air to reexamine the schedule in concert with the community...” Any guidance from the DOT on how to proceed in this matter, given the rather emphatic “no” recently received from Continental, would be appreciated By: County Judge, Donald Pozzi |
|||||||||||||||