Montana group drops Great Lakes Airlines trib.com | Posted: Sunday, January 16, 2011 12:00 am
By a near unanimous vote, the Montana Essential Air Service Task Force has selected Gulfstream International Airlines of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to serve seven Eastern Montana cities, rather than renew the contract with Great Lakes Airlines of Cheyenne.
The recommendation now goes to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which is expected to make a decision this week. The Transportation Department has always honored the task force's wishes, said long-term Chairman John Rabenberg of Wolf Point.
So, beginning May 1, he expects to see Gulfstream fly to Lewistown, Havre, Glendive, Wolf Point, Glasgow, Sidney and Miles City, as Great Lakes did. Great Lakes has been using Denver as a hub.
"It all hinges on service," Rabenberg said. "(Great Lakes President) Doug Voss wanted to put all the emphasis on going to Denver, and the Montana people wanted to go to Billings."
The vote Thursday was 6-1 in favor of Gulfstream, Rabenberg said.
Mickey Bowman, Gulfstream's vice president of corporate development, said his airline will have three planes to serve Montana, plus one spare.
"We'd also be looking to establish a maintenance base in Billings, probably around the first of April, and we'd be looking to hire 15 to 20 individuals," he said.
Gulfstream flies half-a-dozen EAS routes and has generally hired almost all of the previous carrier's local employees, a pattern that will continue for Great Lakes employees in Montana, he said.After watching the Eastern Montana EAS situation for a few years, Bowman said he started making some calls when the contract came up for bid.
"I made a couple of cursory calls and was told that Billings was an important destination and that reliable, on-time service was a top priority," he said.Gulfstream's bid for the two-year Montana EAS contract was $10.9 million and Great Lakes' bid was $10.7 million, Bowman said. The federal government heavily subsidizes EAS flights to cities that don't have enough business to attract commercial air service.
Big Sky Airlines, which flew to Eastern Montana for nearly three decades, went out of business in March 2008. Commercial air service didn't resume for nearly a year until Great Lakes started flying the routes in early 2009.
Great Lakes officials could not be immediately reached for comment, but Rabenberg said President Doug Voss was upset at the vote.
"I don't blame them for being unhappy, but when that big a percentage of the communities feel that way, we're voting the wishes of the people," he said.
Gulfstream International mainly flies in Florida, Ohio and the Bahamas. The parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year to restructure its debt brought about largely by high fuel costs and fewer passengers during the economic downturn.
"It's a change in ownership and in order to get previous debts cleaned up, they had to do that (declare bankruptcy)," Rabenberg said.
Billings Logan International Airport, which also has seen air travel fall off during the soft economic times, should get a little more business if Gulfstream starts flying these routes, said Kevin Ploehn, assistant director of aviation.
"We'll get a few more landing fees and more fuel," he said.
Flying in Montana is just like Bahamas flying, right? And, you can't PAY enough for that kind of experience, like doing the VOR/DME ARC into Miles City, MT in the weather. That will be fantastic for 200 hour wonders and their CFI Captains.
Bye Bye--General Lee
