Airline Service Pushed Back: Delta Connection Won’t Start Until Late Summer

By Keith Lawrence, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

May 20–It’s been 21/2 months since the last passenger plane left Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport.

And it looks like it will be just as long before the next one arrives.

On March 9, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a two-year contract to Big Sky Airlines of Billings, Mont., to serve Owensboro; Cape Girardeau, Mo.; and Jackson, Tenn., operating as Delta Connection out of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

The contract, which begins June 1 and runs through May 31, 2009, provides Big Sky with an annual subsidy of $3.25 million.

But the airline won’t be ready to begin service to the three cities June 1.

“I don’t have a date yet, but it’s going to be late summer,” Fred deLeeuw, Big Sky president, said last week.

Summer begins June 21 and ends Sept. 23.

“We’re taking delivery of new planes and hiring personnel now,” deLeeuw said. “But we won’t be ready by June 1.”

Airport Manager Tim Bradshaw said Big Sky is ready. “But Delta still has some personnel training issues,” he said. “Part of the issue is that Big Sky has been concentrating on getting its Boston service up and running. All three cities (Owensboro, Cape Girardeau and Jackson) are concerned about the delays.”

RegionsAir, a Tennessee-based company that had served Owensboro since 2001, was shut down by the Federal Aviation Administration on March 8 over pilot training issues.

It has not resumed operations.

The airline’s Web site says: “RegionsAir has a plan to resume operations in the near future, and we are vigorously working to expand our service and grow this airline back to the ‘hidden jewel’ of the airline industry that it once was. To accomplish this goal, we are now accepting resumes from pilots to adequately staff our flight operations.”

Bradshaw said he hears that Great Lakes Airlines of Cheyenne, Wyo., plans to “absorb RegionsAir’s planes and personnel.”

In March, Great Lakes won the contract to serve Burlington, Iowa; Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; and Marion/Herrin, Ill. — three other cities formerly served by RegionsAir.

And American Airlines has already turned that service over to the new company.

No flights since March 8

But Owensboro, Cape Girardeau and Jackson have been without service since March 8.

“It affects all of our revenue,” Bradshaw said. “Fuel sales, landing fees, counter rent, baggage carousel rent — even funding for things like the control tower are affected. It hurts Owensboro, too, because people are trying to get here and being told there is no air service.”

The airport offered rebates of up to 25 percent on tickets for flights out of Owensboro between September 2005 and October 2006 to build up traffic.

But Bradshaw said rebuilding traffic after a five-month absence of service won’t be easy.

“When you have a black hole, it’s difficult to restart service,” he said. “We expect the new service to be a lot better. But we need it to start. The business community is very positive about flying to Cincinnati rather than St. Louis.”

Bradshaw said the Cincinnati airport offers nonstop service to 111 cities with 3,150 weekly flights. International flights also go to London, Paris and Frankfurt, Germany, he said.

Flights from Owensboro to Cincinnati are expected to take the same amount of time as flights to St. Louis — about 45 minutes, he said.

“Delta offers about 400 flights a day out of Cincinnati,” deLeeuw said. “They’re a busy airline.”

By the time Big Sky debuts in Owensboro, Cape Girardeau and Jackson, the 29-year-old company will be in about 30 cities, he said.

The absence of air service for five months in the newest cities “doesn’t make it easy for us,” deLeeuw said. “But we’re going to come in with an aggressive marketing campaign.”

“Big Sky will be offering some special deals to Cincinnati,” Bradshaw said. “And all three cities (Owensboro, Cape Girardeau and Jackson) have applied for a federal grant for small-city airports to use as incentives to bring passengers back.”

Local boardings, which had grown during the rebates, were already falling in the weeks before RegionsAir shut down.

Reliability was problem

The main problem was reliability.

RegionsAir had canceled 14 flights in February and eight in January.

“Big Sky and Delta are reliable carriers,” Bradshaw said. “Delta has just emerged from bankruptcy. Reliability shouldn’t be a problem once they start service.”

But, he said, “this is a busy time of year for us with people starting vacations. We need to get service restored.”

There is one potential problem, however, with Big Sky.

Last month, its parent company, MAIR Holdings Inc. of Minneapolis, sold its major holding, Mesaba Airlines to Northwest Airlines.

And the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported that “Schultze Asset Management, a private equity firm based in New York that owns 5 percent of MAIR,” is pushing the company to sell Big Sky as well.

MAIR, however, said it would “continue to explore additional growth opportunities in Big Sky and will consider acquisitions to diversify both within and outside the airline industry.”

The business publication said Schultze Asset Management “said it would take steps, if necessary, to pressure MAIR into selling Big Sky, including proxy proposals, special shareholder meetings and litigation.”

“Our holding company has no plans to sell us,” deLeeuw said.

Big Sky started operations Sept. 15, 1978. Its growth began when it took over Aspen Mountain Air’s Essential Air Service routes in late 1998.

MAIR bought Big Sky in December 2002.

MAIR’s Mesaba subsidiary had served the Owensboro airport with flights to Detroit from June 1997 to September 1999.

The service averaged 98 passengers a month during that time.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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