Essential Air Service at Decatur, Illinois

Order 2006-2-21
OST-2006-23929 - Termination of Service

Issued February 28, 2006 | Served March 3, 2006

Order Prohibiting Suspension of Service and Requesting Proposals for Replacement Service

On February 10, 2006, Trans States tiled a 90-day notice of intent to suspend its subsidized air service at Decatur as of May 11. Trans States is the only carrier providing scheduled service at Decatur. Under Order 2005-1-17, January 21, 2005, the Department had selected Trans States to operate 19 nonstop round trips a week between Decatur and St. Louis with 30-seat Jetstream 41 aircraft at a subsidy of $954,404 annually for the two-year period beginning April 1, 2005.

Decatur’s essential air service determination, as last established by Order 1980-2-124, February 25, 1980, required at least two daily round trips to both St. Louis (nonstop) and Chicago (no more than one intermediate stop) providing a total of 67 inbound and outbound seats. In recent years, however, the Department has been subsidizing a higher level of service to St. Louis alone in lieu of the dual-hub service stipulated by Decatur’s determination.

Trans States’ suspension of service would leave Decatur without any scheduled air service. In accordance with 40 U.S.C. 41734, we will therefore prohibit Trans States from suspending service at the community. In doing so, we will require Trans States to continue operating the level of service that we currently subsidize: 19 nonstop round trips a week to St. Louis.

We will also seek proposals, with or without subsidy requests, from carriers interested in providing replacement service at Decatur. Carriers should file their proposals within 30 days of the date of service of this order.

Regarding Decatur specifically, we expect proposals consisting of service, at a minimum, with two-pilot, twin-engine aircraft offering at least 15 passenger seats, and meeting the community’s essential air service determination, described earlier. As we noted there, in recent years Decatur has received service a single hub rather than two, but at a higher service level than either hub requires in a dual-hub scenario. Carriers interested in proposing single-hub service should therefore be mindful of the community’s overall seating requirement. For example, single-hub service with 30-scat aircraft would require at least three round trips a day, or 18 a week, and single-hub service with 19-seat aircraft would require at least four round trips a day, or 24 a week. Carriers are welcome to propose more than one service option, if they envision other, potentially more attractive service possibilities with subsidy requirements that remain competitive.

By: Michael Reynolds