United Express aircraftWilliam Howard/Shutterstock
United Airlines contractor SkyWest Airlines on Thursday gave the Department of Transportation 90 days’ notice to withdraw from 29 airports.
All airports are part of the federal Essential Air Service program, which ensures smaller communities have a carrier.
DOT could impose a “suspension” that would force SkyWest to stay until a replacement airline is found.
A persistent shortage of pilots has forced SkyWest Airlines to cut flights to the 29 U.S. cities it serves under the federal Essential Air Service (EAS) program, the company said in a 90-day notice from the Department of Transportation on Thursday.
“As a result of the ongoing imbalance of pilots in the industry, SkyWest expects to end service in several markets starting this summer,” the carrier told an insider.
All affected routes are operated on behalf of United Airlines as United Express. United told Insider in a statement that it is battling a pilot shortage by opening its own flight school, Aviate Academy, to train “up to 5,000 pilots this decade.”
Here are 29 cities:
Alamosa, Colorado
Pueblo, Colorado
Fort Dodge, Iowa
Mason City, Iowa
Sioux City, Iowa
Dodge City, Kansas
Hayes, Kansas
Liberal, Kansas
Salina, Kansas
Paducah, Kentucky
Decatur, Illinois
Houghton, Michigan
Muskegon, Michigan
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri
Joplin, Missouri
Meridian, Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Devils Lake, North Dakota
Jamestown, North Dakota
Kearney, Nebraska
North Platte, Nebraska
Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Victoria, Texas
Shenandoah, Virginia
Oh Claire, Wisconsin
Clarksburg, West Virginia
Lewisburg, West Virginia
SkyWest added that passengers booked after the service date will be contacted to arrange alternative options.
Employees in affected locations “will be offered a variety of options, including in-company transfers.” SkyWest also flies for Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
The story goes on
Routes to regional airports have become a common victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pilot shortages, staffing problems and high fuel costs, among other factors, are forcing airlines to move away from volatile markets.
Henry Harteveldt, travel analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group, told Insider that carriers have no “civil responsibility” to continue serving loss-making markets and will cut cities that “do not give them an edge.”
In November, United announced that it would phase out 11 smaller cities indefinitely, and a month later, Delta would cut three airports. Shortly thereafter, United CEO Scott Kirby said a pilot shortage forced the airline to land 100 regional jets, most of them 50-seat jets that fly regularly to smaller communities.
Luckily for the airports that SkyWest is ditching, they are all part of the federal Essential Air Service program that was enacted after the deregulation of the airline industry in 1978. do not lose air communication with the rest of the country.
SkyWest’s announcement means that more than a quarter of the 100 airports on the EAS list may temporarily cease commercial air service. However, the Department of Transportation may require the carrier to operate until a replacement is found.
Aircraft SkyWest Airlines Bombardier CRJ200. Heather Dunbar / Shutterstock.com
For example, SkyWest notified DOT in January that it would be leaving Ogdensburg International Airport and New York’s Plattsburgh International Airport by mid-April, citing staffing issues.
However, the agency has imposed an “order” on SkyWest to prevent the carrier from ending service to cities until a new EAS airline is selected. The decision came after Senator Charles Schumer of New York sent a letter to the agency asking them to “temporarily keep the service on until they [DOT] work quickly with local stakeholders to identify a new operator to provide EAS.”
According to a press release from Fort Dodge Regional Airport, one of the EAS cities that lost SkyWest service, SkyWest “will continue to operate its flights” until a new carrier is found.
Read the original article on Business Insider