Essential Air Service at Manhattan and Salina, Kansas

Order 2006-3-15
OST-2002-11376 - Salina, KS
OST-2003-15483 - Manhattan, KS

Issued March 15, 2006 | Served March 20, 2006

Order Re-selecting Carrier and Establishing Subsidy Rate

By Order 2004-2-14, the Department selected Air Midwest to provide three nonstop round trips on weekdays and on weekends to Kansas City over a Salina - Manhattan - Kansas City routing with 19-seat Beech 1900D turboprop aircraft for the two-year period ending February 28, 2006, at an annual subsidy of $721,605. As the end of that two-year contract period was approaching, the Department issued Order 2005-11-9 on November 7, 2005, requesting proposals from carriers interested in providing EAS at Manhattan and Salina for a new two-year period beginning March 1, 2006, with or without subsidy. In response to our request, we received proposals from three carriers: Air Midwest, the incumbent; Multi-Aero, Inc., d/b/a Air Choice One; and RegionsAir, Inc., d/b/a American Connection.

After carefully considering this matter, including a thorough review of the carriers’ proposals, as well as the communities’ comments, we have decided to select Air Midwest’s Option 1, the status quo option to continue the carrier’s current service at both Manhattan and Salina for a new two-year period beginning March 1, 2006, at the annual subsidy rate of $974,008.

The principal consideration regarding the choice of Option 1 over either Option 2 or the combination of Options 3 and 4 is whether demand warrants our paying additional subsidy to support additional service. During 2004, Air Midwest generated an average of 26 enplanements a day at Manhattan and 9 at Salina. The total of 35 enplanements a day can easily be accommodated on Air Midwest’s three round trips a day with 19 seaters at a load factor of 61 percent over the critical Manhattan - Kansas City segment. Further, Air Midwest forecast an average load factor of only 52 percent over the whole route. Thus, we do not find that there is insufficient capacity on the existing service. Moreover, the EAS program was designed to provide a safety-net level of service, not as a market development tool, nor to support all the service that a community might want.

We shall make this selection at Manhattan and Salina contingent upon the Department’s receiving properly executed certifications from Mesa Air Group, Inc., d/b/a Air Midwest, that it is in compliance with the Department’s regulations regarding drug-free workplaces, nondiscrimination, and lobbying activities.

By: Michael Reynolds