Essential Air Service at Manhattan, Kansas

Order 03-9-17
OST-03-15483 - Notice of Air Midwest to Terminate Service

Issued September 23, 2003 | Served September 26, 2003

Order Prohibiting Suspension of Service and Requesting Proposals | Word

Order 2003-9-17, the Department (1) prohibits Air Midwest, Inc., d/b/a US Airways Express (Air Midwest), from terminating its unsubsidized service at Manhattan, Kansas; (2) requires the carrier to maintain service between the community and Kansas City, Missouri for an initial 30-day period following the end of the notice period; and, (3) requests proposals from carriers interested in providing replacement service at Manhattan. Also, the Department continuous a process of introducing new, streamlined procedures for processing replacement-service proposals throughout the Essential Air Service (EAS) program.

While the number of passengers has been declining for a number of years, during calendar year 2000, more than 12,600 passengers enplaned at the Manhattan Municipal Airport, or an average of 40.1 passengers per day based on 314 service days.

The preceding paragraph reflects streamlined carrier-selection procedures that we first introduced in Order 2003-8-10 for the EAS program generally and are continuing here. In the past, we have accepted initial carrier proposals, reviewed them, and then negotiated final proposals with each applicant before formally presenting them to the community and asking it to submit any final comments.

By: Michael Reynolds