Essential Air Service at Meridian, Mississippi

Order 2008-3-24
OST-2008-0112

Issued and Served March 25, 2008

Order Prohibiting Suspension of Service and Requesting Proposals | Word

By this order, the Department is prohibiting Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc., d/b/a Delta Connection, from suspending service at Meridian, Mississippi, and requesting proposals by April 23 from carriers interested in providing replacement essential air service.

Atlantic Southeast’s proposed termination of service at Meridian would leave it with no scheduled air service, and, thus, the Department must prohibit the carrier from terminating such service at the end of its 90-day notice period, and require it to maintain that service for an initial 30-day period, through July 16, 2008, consisting of thirteen round trips per week with either regional jets or large turboprop aircraft. Furthermore, we will require Atlantic Southeast to continue to maintain that level of service at Meridian for successive 30-day periods until we have completed processing the carrier-replacement case and the new carrier has actually started service.

Meridian’s service needs may be met with thirteen round trips a week with either regional jets or larger cabin-class turboprops such as the Saab 340, or three round trips a day (18 each week), with 19-seat aircraft. We would not dismiss any proposal out of hand without first consulting with the community officials. We encourage any proposal that would simultaneously satisfy the community’s needs and minimize taxpayer expenditures. We note that we subsidize Mesaba’s service between Laurel/Hattiesburg and Memphis, and that carrier may wish to explore linking that subsidized service with Meridian.

By: Michael Reynolds