Essential Air Service at Quincy, Illinois

Order 2007-3-10
OST-2003-14492

Issued March 13, 2007 | Served March 16, 2007

Order Selecting Carrier and Establishing Final Subsidy Rates

With the end of the rate term approaching. the Department issued Order 2007-2-2. February 1, 2007. requesting proposals from carriers interested in providing essential air service at Quincy. with or without subsidy, for a new two-year period beginning August 1, 2007. On March 8. however, RegionsAir informed the Department that it was immediately suspending all operations indefinitely.

By this order, the Department is selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., to provide essential air service at Quincy, Illinois, for a two-year period at subsidies of $1,532,891 for the first year and $1,421,614 for the second.

The community fully supports Great Lakes' proposal, which would maintain nonstop American Connection service to St. Louis, and thus would provide more on-line connecting opportunities than Mesa can offer at Kansas City with US Airways and Midwest Airlines, its code-share partners there.

RegionsAir's current rate term is scheduled to expire on July 31, and it remains eligible for subsidy if it is able to restart service before that date. However, in view of RegionsAir's shutdown, we are here authorizing Great Lakes to begin service as soon as possible. We expect RegionsAir and Great Lakes to coordinate the transition in essential air service responsibilities. In particular, we expect RegionsAir to contact all travelers holding reservations for flights that it has suspended, to inform them of the suspension and of Great Lakes' replacement service, and to secure alternate air transportation fur such travelers or to provide them with a refund of their ticket price, without penalty, if requested.

By: Andrew Steinberg