Region Losing Air Service Again
By James Mayse, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
Dec. 20–Big Sky Airlines, which began providing air service at Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport in November, will fly its last flight out of Owensboro on Jan. 7.
The airline will cease all flights east of Montana, according to a press release that moved Wednesday evening on Yahoo Finance and other financial Web sites. Jeffrey Hartz, vice president of planning and marketing for the airline, said flights out of Owensboro will continue until midnight on Jan. 7.
On Tuesday, the airline had announced it would expand from one Owensboro flight daily to two flights beginning today .
With Big Sky’s departure, it will again leave the Owensboro airport without air service for the second time since March, when RegionsAir canceled all of its flights.
“It’s a devastating blow to Owensboro,” said Bob Gilles, chairman of the airport board.
The press release said Big Sky’s eastern operations “were dramatically affected by a combination of unusually bad weather, disappointing revenue and record high fuel prices.”
The company has ended its agreement to provide flights through Delta Connection, Hartz said.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Hartz said Wednesday night. “We are certainly disappointed in our outcome and will try to make the best of a bad situation.”
The company will retain some of its markets on the West Coast but is permanently severing its connection with Delta, Hartz said.
Gilles said airport officials would be in contact with Big Sky today, and said “we’ll probably also look at a couple of options.” Gilles said he could not comment on what those options would be without talking to airport manager Tim Bradshaw.
Bradshaw said later he was confident another airline would take an interest in providing service to Owensboro.
“Great Lakes Airlines was the second choice of this community,” Bradshaw said. ” … I’m pretty sure they’re going to step up if Big Sky can’t serve the contract. That was one of the companies that bid on our service when it came up for renewal.”
Big Sky’s announcement was “a bit of a surprise to me,” Bradshaw said. “I didn’t expect it. I know the company has been on sale for a while.”
In March, the Federal Aviation Administration awarded Big Sky the contract to provide air service to Owensboro; Cape Girardeau, Mo.; and Jackson, Tenn. The company originally promised to begin flights in Owensboro on June 1, but Big Sky officials pushed the date back several times before flights began on Nov. 18. At that point, the Owensboro airport had been without air service for eight months.
County Judge-Executive Reid Haire said Wednesday night he would urge federal officials to re-examine the other companies that offered bids on the three cities before Big Sky was selected.
“I’ll initiate a request with the FAA … to re-establish a bidding process to (begin) service with another carrier,” he said.
“Based on the number of flights they would commit to Owensboro, Big Sky was considered the best” bid, Haire said. ” … It would be good if FAA got involved on behalf of Owensboro and all of those communities and brokered another service for us and the other communities.”
Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
Nick Cambron, chairman of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said Big Sky’s departure hurts the community.
“The business community needs an airline, but we’ve done this before and we’ll come back,” Cambron said. The airport will attract another airline, he said.
“Something good will come out of this,” Cambron said. “But you have to take a problem and figure out how to solve the problem.”
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