Essential Air Service at Burlington, Iowa, Cape Girardeau, Ft. Leonard, and Kirksville, Missouri, Jackson, Tennessee, Marion/Herrin, Illinois, and Owensboro, Kentucky

Order 2005-6-14
OST-01-8731 - EAS at Burlington, IA
OST-96-1559 - EAS at Cape Girardeau, MO
OST-96-1167 - EAS at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO
OST-97-2515 - EAS at Kirksville, MO
OST-00-7857 - EAS at Jackson, TN
OST-00-7881 - EAS at Marion/Herrin, IL
OST-00-7855 - EAS at Owensboro, KY

Issued June 15, 2005 | Served June 20, 2005

Order Reselecting Carrier and Terminating Show-Cause Proceeding

By this order, the Department is reselecting RegionsAir, Inc. d/b/a American Connection, formerly known as Corporate Airlines (RegionsAir), to provide subsidized essential air service at each of the above communities for a new two-year period from June 1, 2005, through May 31, 2007, for a combined annual subsidy of $7,306,249. Also by this order, the Department is terminating the show-cause proceeding tentatively terminating subsidy at Kirksville, Missouri, as RegionsAir's selected proposal is below the $200-per-passenger cap.

This was a difficult decision based on the number of proposals presented and the fact that all of the applicants, with the exception of Multi-Aero, are current providers of EAS and have demonstrated their ability to provide reliable air service at other communities across the country. It is further complicated by the fact that the carriers' proposals cannot be broken apart. There is no combination of proposals that would provide each community with the service they support. This means we are faced with a decision that, by its very nature, must go against some of the communities' wishes. We also note that some support service options that would provide more service than they currently receive, and we are not in a position to subsidize increased service levels. The EAS program is designed to ensure that every eligible community receives a safety-net level of service that provides access to the national air transportation system, which may not be the level of service that communities would like to receive.

By: Karan Bhatia