islandhopper
Clone War veteran
- Joined
- May 9, 2003
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Pacific Wings bids for Mainland route
Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - 8:06 PM HAST Tuesday
Pacific Wings, facing competition from Mesa Air's go! interisland service, is bidding to serve Mesa's own core self-branded market: New Mexico. The Maui carrier, voluntarily forgoing federal subsidies on its Hawaii routes, has served notice it intends to phase out subsidies from Albuquerque to the smaller New Mexico cities of Clovis and Silver City by using smaller planes than the current contractor is using. This could put pressure on other Albuquerque routes served by Mesa with federal subsidies.
Pacific Wings said it undercut a bid by current provider Great Lakes Aviation by $1 million and will hit its numbers, if it gets the route, by flying nine-seat Cessnas instead of the 19-seat aircraft Great Lakes Aviation uses. The carrier said a nine-seater is sufficient to serve the market based on current traffic.
Federal "essential air service" subsidies are paid for service on routes that are considered to have too little traffic for profitable service without subsidies. If any airline can serve a given corridor without subsidies, it automatically disqualifies any other carrier from getting them for the same route.
Pacific Wings recently served notice it will not seek renewal of the federal subsidies it gets for service to Hana (Maui), Waimea-Kamuela (Big Island), and Kalaupapa (Molokai). The announcement came at a time when Mesa had been expected through an alliance partner to expand its Hawaii service into smaller routes served by Pacific Wings and Island Air.
Mesa mostly serves as a private-labeled subcontractor for larger airlines that hire it to do regional flights, but it flies under its own name on several subsidized routes in New Mexico from a regional hub in Albuquerque.
Pacific Wings said it intends to phase out subsidies on the Clovis route and hopes to serve other New Mexico markets without subsidies.
Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - 8:06 PM HAST Tuesday
Pacific Wings, facing competition from Mesa Air's go! interisland service, is bidding to serve Mesa's own core self-branded market: New Mexico. The Maui carrier, voluntarily forgoing federal subsidies on its Hawaii routes, has served notice it intends to phase out subsidies from Albuquerque to the smaller New Mexico cities of Clovis and Silver City by using smaller planes than the current contractor is using. This could put pressure on other Albuquerque routes served by Mesa with federal subsidies.
Pacific Wings said it undercut a bid by current provider Great Lakes Aviation by $1 million and will hit its numbers, if it gets the route, by flying nine-seat Cessnas instead of the 19-seat aircraft Great Lakes Aviation uses. The carrier said a nine-seater is sufficient to serve the market based on current traffic.
Federal "essential air service" subsidies are paid for service on routes that are considered to have too little traffic for profitable service without subsidies. If any airline can serve a given corridor without subsidies, it automatically disqualifies any other carrier from getting them for the same route.
Pacific Wings recently served notice it will not seek renewal of the federal subsidies it gets for service to Hana (Maui), Waimea-Kamuela (Big Island), and Kalaupapa (Molokai). The announcement came at a time when Mesa had been expected through an alliance partner to expand its Hawaii service into smaller routes served by Pacific Wings and Island Air.
Mesa mostly serves as a private-labeled subcontractor for larger airlines that hire it to do regional flights, but it flies under its own name on several subsidized routes in New Mexico from a regional hub in Albuquerque.
Pacific Wings said it intends to phase out subsidies on the Clovis route and hopes to serve other New Mexico markets without subsidies.
