Essential Air Service at Sheridan, Wyoming

Order 2005-1-7
OST-1998-3506 - EAS at Sheridan, WY

Issued January 10, 2005 | Served January 13, 2005

Order | Word

By this order, we are selecting Big Sky Transportation Co., d/b/a Big Sky Airlines, to provide essential air service with 19-passenger Fairchild Metro III/23 aircraft at Sheridan, Wyoming, for two years for an annual subsidy rate of $336,701. We are also directing Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., to show cause why we should not set the subsidy rate of $806,914 on an annual basis, for its provision of service from November 1, 2004, until Big Sky Airlines inaugurates essential air service at Sheridan.

The community has expressed a preference for a service proposal that would offer more capacity with 30-seat aircraft at significantly greater cost than the 19-seat aircraft proposals we have before us. To evaluate the need for this level of capacity increase, we have updated the summary of revenue passenger traffic data originally presented in Appendix A of Order 2004-8-29. (The updated summary may be found in Appendix A of the instant order.) We note that Sheridan exhibits relatively strong traffic, approaching pre-September-11 levels. Nevertheless, we do not find evidence that passenger demand is exerting the level of pressure on capacity that would warrant an expensive capacity upgrade. For example, for the past three years, Sheridan has generated an average of 35, 34, and 36 passengers a day. Three round trips a day with a 19-seat aircraft provide 57 outbound seats a day, resulting in load factors in the 60-65 percent range. In addition, it is important to note that the Essential Air Service Program provides a safety net level of service, and not necessarily all of the service that communities might prefer.

By: Karan Bhatia