Order 03-02-19

Order 03-02-19

Essential Air Service at Texarkana, Arkansas

Order 03-02-19
OST-03-14264

Issued February 25, 2003
Served February 28, 2003

Order Allowing Suspension of Service and Granting Exemption Request

Texarkana, AR-Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX

ASA currently operates four daily nonstop round trips to Dallas/Ft. Worth, three wi th 30-seat Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia aircraft and one with a Canadair Regional Jet. Texarkana also receives unsubsidized service by American Eagle Airlines, Inc., which operates three daily nonstop round trips to Dallas/Ft. Worth with 34-seat Saab SF 340 aircraft.

We will allow ASA to suspend service at Texarkana after April 30, as it intends. American Eagle will continue to provide the community with a link to the national air transportation network. As noted earlier, American Eagle operates three daily nonstop round trips to Dallas/Ft. Worth with 34-seat Saabs -- a total of 102 inbound and outbound seats a day. That level of capacity easily meets Texarkana's guarantee of 67 inbound and outbound seats a day, which represents the maximum seating guarantee under the essential air service program. Consequently, Texarkana's remaining service will remain above the level that the program was designed to maintain.

By: Read C. Van de Water