Essential Air Service at Manhattan and Salina, Kansas

Order 2007-12-25
OST-2003-15483 - Manhattan
OST-2002-11376 - Salina

Issued December 21, 2007 | Served December 28, 2007

Order Re-Selecting Carrier and Establishing Subsidy Rate | Word

By this order, the Department is re-selecting Air Midwest, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, Inc., d/b/a US Airways Express to provide subsidized essential air service at Manhattan and Salina, Kansas, for a total annual subsidy of $1,619,566 for the two-year period beginning March 1, 2008.

This case is straightforward.  Both Salina and Manhattan support the proposal submitted by the incumbent, Air Midwest ($1,619,566); the carrier’s proposal offers significant savings over the proposal submitted by Great Lakes ($1,997,237 – a difference of $377,671); and the carrier offers the advantage of having code-share service with US Airways and Midwest Airlines at the Kansas City hub.  Further, we note that passenger traffic has increased significantly since the upgrade to nonstop service on April 1 of this year.  Based on all of the above, we have decided to re-select Air Midwest’s proposal to provide EAS at Manhattan and Salina, Kansas, at a combined annual subsidy of $1,619,566 for a new two-year term beginning March 1, 2008.

By: Todd Homan