The Garden City Telegram

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G.C. builds case for jet service

Published 7/6/2011 in Local News

City seeks assistance from Dodge City.

By SHAJIA AHMAD

sahmad@gctelegram.com

Garden City commissioners have agreed to ask Dodge City officials to help build a case to federal transportation authorities for American Eagle regional jet service.

City commissioners who met Tuesday unanimously approved the signing of a formal request to its neighbors 50 miles to the east, asking Dodge City to consider a partnership that they hope will "create regional commercial service for western Kansas" at the Garden City Regional Airport.

Specifically, the request is that Dodge City agree to forego at least part — and maybe all — of their Essential Air Service dollars and combine them with Garden City's federal allocation "for an experimental period (most likely a two year EAS cycle) to truly test whether an airport in western Kansas can become commercially viable," the letter signed by Mayor John Doll and City Manager Matt Allen states.

EAS is a federal program of the U.S. Department of Transportation that subsidizes commercial air service in small, rural communities.

However, federal funding for the program has been in jeopardy for many years, according to Garden City Aviation Director Rachelle Powell, who has said EAS cities like Garden City and Dodge City must consider the future of their small airports "not if, but when" federal funds are no longer available.

Great Lakes Aviation currently is the EAS provider for five western Kansas communities, including Dodge City and Garden City which takes air travelers to and from Denver.

Allen has said informal talks about hosting a regional airport in southwest Kansas have been on the table for a very long time, and became a truly viable option most recently when American Eagle made its bid to the DOT earlier this year to provide two flights daily between Garden City and Dallas at the GCRA.

Subsequently, Garden City voted last month to recommend to DOT officials that American Eagle service be chosen over the other three bids offered by airlines, in the hopes that the airline that has success in other Kansas communities will bolster traffic and help the local airport wean itself off the EAS federal subsidy.

The American Eagle jet service bid, however, is the costliest of the four offers to the DOT for EAS service in Garden City. American Eagle's bid to provide 14 round-trip flights per week on a 44-seater jet comes at a subsidy cost to the DOT at nearly $3.3 million. Thus, city officials believe their recommendation also is the least likely to be adopted by the federal transportation agency, which makes the final decision on air service.

Great Lakes' bid to provide continued air service on a 19-seater aircraft to and from Denver as it currently stands — 30 round-trip flights — comes at a federal subsidy cost of just more than $2.3 million for Garden City, and nearly $11 million for all five western Kansas communities that Great Lakes has bid on altogether.

The contract with the Wyoming-based airline expires sometime this year, airport officials have said.

Great Lakes representatives made an appearance at Tuesday's commission meeting, pleading their case for Garden City officials to reconsider their choice to vie for American Eagle jet service.

Garden City still has until July 15 to submit their proposal for air service at the Garden City Regional Airport to federal transportation officials and may ask for another extension, according to Powell, the city's aviation director.

Great Lakes representatives made their case known to Garden City commissioners Tuesday.

Among his suggestions, Chuck Howell of Great Lakes, said business travelers were especially important to keep in mind.

"For those who are business travelers, five flights a day gives you plenty of opportunities. ... I'd be concerned about two daily flights (to Dallas) because if they do cancel, then you're down to one flight," Howell said Tuesday. "Fifty percent of your (EAS) travelers are coming from somewhere else. ... Denver is more diverse and you have more options that you don't have in Dallas and more diversity for the traveling public that we feel has more credence for airfares and scheduling."

Commissioners didn't budge, however.

"We've had five or six studies done, and our (passenger) leakage is increasing and keeps getting higher," said Mayor John Doll Tuesday. "We have to address this. As a city, we don't want people to drive to Amarillo or drive to Wichita (to fly.) How are our studies wrong? What study would you come up with that Great Lakes is better?"

In addition to Great Lakes which has proposed continued service to Denver, Air Choice One submitted a bid to provide 36 round-trip flights per week to Wichita on a nine-seat aircraft at a cost of $2.6 million; and SkyWest bid to provide 19 round-trip flights per week to Denver on a 30-seat aircraft.

The costliest of all the bids, the American Eagle proposal for Garden City is at least $900,000 more expensive per year than the other apparent lowest cost proposals, according to Allen, who has said the jet service proposal is only feasible if Garden City can come up with an additional local subsidy or fare assurance to the airline.

Part of that difference could be accounted for with Dodge City's help and in the interest of all of southwest Kansas, Allen has said.

In the event the two communities, Garden City and Dodge City, do come to an agreement to consolidate EAS subsidies and the move is approved by federal transportation authorities, Dodge City likely would waive its right to subsidized air service at the Dodge City Regional Airport, according to Dodge City's manager Ken Strobel.

Strobel said the Dodge City Commission which met late Tuesday evening took no action but has received Garden City's formal proposal and intends to schedule a work session within the next week to "explore what our options are" and request additional information from the U.S. DOT.

"(Our commissioners) have been informed that we've been working together on this project for several weeks, so it didn't come to us as any surprise," Strobel said Wednesday, adding that the proposal was well received and there was no "negative" reaction from Dodge City officials.

"We're beginning to think in western Kansas that we really do need to cooperate and work with other. We can be competitive Friday nights at football games, but otherwise, we need to be working as a region when we have the opportunity," Strobel added.

Dodge City Mayor Rick Sowers could not be reached for comment this morning.

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