United will fly into Aspen with SkyWest

[utahpilot]

Source: Denver Post

United Airlines has found a way to keep flying jets into Aspen
.
In 2005, United announced it was ending its contract with regional air carrier Air Wisconsin Airline Corp., leaving some uncertainty about jet service to Aspen/Pitkin County Airport.

Starting in April, United will replace Air Wisconsin service with flights by SkyWest Inc. United Express will continue to serve Aspen with jet and turboprop flights, but the SkyWest flights will be United's fancier regional "explus" jet service on 66-seat Canadair RJ-700 regional jets that have economy, economy plus and first-class sections.
United Express is the largest carrier serving the area, flying 90,000 passengers into and out of Aspen during an average winter. Eighty percent of Aspen's winter traffic arrives by air, but only some commercial planes can land at Aspen's high-altitude airport. The SkyWest planes will be more comfortable than Air Wisconsin's, said United spokesman Jeff Green.

"We hope to attract a premium traveler with the first-class service as well as our frequent travelers who like to upgrade," he said.

 

[DirkkDiggler]

More comfortable seats than a BAC jet! Ha. Especially when they hit the rocks doing 140 knots.

 

[Ben Dover]

Maybe that will balance the loss of SLC to Cedar City.

Mesa Airlines Picked Over SkyWest to Serve Cedar City
January 26th, 2006 @ 7:02am

CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) -- Phoenix-based Mesa Airlines has been picked by the U.S. Department of Transportation to replace SkyWest as Cedar City's essential air service provider.
SkyWest said it would contest the decision.
The Essential Air Service Program subsidizes air carriers to serve rural communities that otherwise would have no service.
Cedar City officials wanted the service to continue to be provided by St. George-based SkyWest, which provides flights to Salt Lake City. SkyWest has provided air service to Cedar City for more than 30 years. The contract is negotiated every two years.
SkyWest sought a higher subsidy than Mesa Airlines did.
Mesa Airlines' service is to include two nonstop round trips to Las Vegas each weekday and over each weekend, as well as an additional nonstop round trip to Phoenix on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
Michael Reynolds, acting assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs, said in issuing the decision Wednesday that Mesa Airlines could benefit Cedar City airport users by providing additional options in connecting to the national air transportation system.
He said Las Vegas and Phoenix are also served by a wide variety of air carriers, including a significant presence of other low-income airlines.
Reynolds said at $1,602,912 annually, SkyWest's proposal would cost almost twice as much as Mesa's option for $897,535.
"The cost of the SkyWest proposal is also more than twice as much as its current annual subsidy of $770,285, yet would only provide an additional six weekly round trips," Reynolds said.
Cedar City officials said the community needs regular air service to Salt Lake City and they fear the decision could hurt the city's economy.
"The airport brings $25 million dollars to our city each year," Mayor Gerald Sherratt said. "Having a daily schedule ... you can count on, is important to us. Fifty-one percent of our passengers fly to and from Salt Lake City."
Sherratt is not sure if the selection of Mesa is a done deal, but, "If we truly end up with Mesa, we hope we could negotiate where they go and when they go."
Airport Manager Steve Farmer said the airport can best serve the community by SkyWest remaining the air service provider.
In a news release Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said Cedar City hopes to become independent of the Essential Air Service program and that will be harder without flights to Salt Lake City.
"Self-sufficiency for a small airport is directly tied to enplanements and in this case, flights to Salt Lake City are a critical element in the record traffic in and out of Cedar airport," he said.
Southern Utah University President Steven D. Bennion said, "This is terrible, absolutely terrible."
Bennion said he flies three to four times a month to Salt Lake City and travels to other destinations from the Delta Airlines hub. With all the connections in Salt Lake City, the rates are usually reasonable, he said.
"There are a lot of university people who go to meetings in Salt Lake City or connect with Delta. If there is not a Delta connection, it would skyrocket our costs," he said. "This is bad news for Cedar City and SUU. SkyWest has served us well for many years. How that decision was made baffles me."
SkyWest said it would contest selection of Mesa Airlines as the service provider.
"We will pursue any avenues we can to continue our service in Cedar City," said Steven Hart, SkyWest vice president of market development. (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

 

[DCMartin]

It will more than offset it

Maybe that will balance the loss of SLC to Cedar City.

EAS to Cedar city on turboprops vs 8-9 roundtrips a day to Aspen. The revenue from the two arent even in the same ballpark. And thats if Skywest loses Cedar city to the cr4ppy service of MESA.

 

[Victor Meldrew]

Once again MESA pulls the rug from under your feet with industry under cutting and offering a product that helps no-one!!

 

[Victor Meldrew]

More comfortable seats than a BAC jet! Ha. Especially when they hit the rocks doing 140 knots.

A missed in the 146 can be fun try it on 3 engines at under 120kts. Now do it in the RJ at 130+ kts and see what happens. Either they are not going in / out with all 66 seats filled or they have done some very ballsy number juggling on the performance.

 

[Rekks Inbound]

I said this on our company board, anyone want to take bets on when the first 700 plows into the granite? Last I checked the 700 just can't go slow enough.

Rekks

 

[FlyHIToo]

GJ actually got out bid on this flying. SKYwest under cut GJ on this one. In the GJ bid they said to do it safe they could not take 66 pax year around SkyWest said they could. GoodLuck.

Point is GJ was out bid by SKYWEST.

 

[AWACoff]

And Skywest figured out how to make the 70 seater do the overhead and single engine balked procedure how.......??? I think United is better of with the Dash-8s. Oh well, just another blunder sticking another nail in the coffin. At least their exit plan doesn't revolve around $50 a barrel oil...oh wait a second, it DOES. doh...

For you Skywest guys doing this airport, it's a different animal. Be safe.

 

[propjockey]

I'm surprised at the number of people on this board who, even in the face of a published press release, continue to say "it can't be done" with regard to the 700 flying in and out of Aspen. It obviously can, and WILL be done.

Do you people think that SkyWest is venturing into this without studying the issue and conducting flight trials? I personally flew the two flight test guys out to DEN on the morning of their first flight trials into Aspen with the 700.

Those of you who doubt the capabilities of the 700, I'd venture to say, have never flown it. I don't know what, if any, weight restrictions the 700 will face in and out of there -- it will be interesting to see. But for the love of Pete, please stop saying "it can't be done."