Essential Air Service at Clovis and Silver City/Hurley/Deming, NM

Order 04-08-22
OST-96-1902 - Clovis, New Mexico
OST-96-1903 - Silver City/Hurley/Deming, New Mexico

Issued August 19, 2004 | Served August 24, 2004

Order Setting Final Subsidy Rates and to Show Cause | Word

Because of the extensive past-period rate issues that are combined with the carrier selection process in this case, we have decided to process the carrier selection for Clovis and Silver City/Hurley/Deming through show-cause procedures, rather than by initially soliciting proposals from all interested applicants.  Potential applicants will have an opportunity to submit competing proposals in response to our tentative selection decision here.

As is customary when we use show-cause procedures, we contacted Mesa and requested that if the carrier found that subsidy was necessary for its continued service at the communities, it submit a proposal to the Department.  Mesa responded by submitting and negotiating with us a proposal to continue to provide the current service level, three nonstop round trips each weekday and each weekend to Albuquerque, at each community with 19-passenger Beech 1900D aircraft:  Mesa’s annual subsidy requirements for this service would be $1,439,865 for Clovis and $1,352,983 for Silver City/Hurley/Deming.  (See Appendix B, pages 3 and 6 for summary computations of these rates.)

We have tentatively decided to reselect Mesa Air Group, d/b/a Air Midwest, Inc., to provide essential air service at Clovis and Silver City/Hurley/Deming for the period of June 1, 2004, through July 31, 2006.  We find that Mesa’s proposed subsidy rates are reasonable for the proposed level of service.

By: Karan Bhatia