Essential Air Service at Alamosa and Cortez, Colorado

Order 2006-4-5
OST-1997-2960 - EAS at Alamosa, CO
OST-1998-3508 - EAS at Cortez, CO

Issued April 5, 2006 | Served April 10, 2006

Order Requesting Proposals

By Order 2004-7-10, July 15, 2004, the Department selected Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., to provide essential air service with subsidy support at Alamosa and Cortez, Colorado, through July 31, 2006, at annual subsidy rates of $1,083,538 and $853,587, respectively. Under that order, Great Lakes provides three nonstop round trips to Denver on weekdays and weekends, with Beech 1900D aircraft for each community.

As the end of the current rate term approaches, we are here requesting proposals from carriers interested in providing service at Alamosa and/or Cortez, with or without subsidy, for the two-year period beginning August 1, 2006. Carriers should file their proposals within 30 days of the date of service of this order.

With specific respect to Alamosa and Cortez, we expect proposals consisting of service, at a minimum, with two-pilot. twin-engine aircraft with at least 15 passenger seats, and offering three round trips to Denver each weekday and each weekend with 19-passenger aircraft or two round trips a day with 30-seat aircraft. In order to give the Department and the communities as broad an array of proposals as possible from which to choose, carriers are also welcome to prepare more than one service option; they need not limit themselves to these requirements if they envision other, potentially more attractive service possibilities, different hubs, for example, with subsidy requirements that remain competitive.

By: Todd Homan