Air Service for JMS: Great Lakes or SkyWest? Poll

What do you think?  See unofficial poll below.

Jamestown (CSi)  Two airlines have submitted bids for the Jamestown Essential Air Service route,  Great Lakes Aviation and SkyWest from Utah.

Jamestown Airport Authority Chairman, Jim Boyd says, the Great Lakes proposal tied together Jamestown and Devils Lake, with, 3 round trips daily to the Twin Cities using a Beech 1900 (19) passenger turboprop, with a partial code share with Delta.  Great Lakes is the current carrier serving Jamestown.

SkyWest’s proposal is Jamestown and Devils Lake flights, independent of each other, 1 round trip daily to Denver, with a CRJ-200 (50) passenger jet, and a code share of United Express.  Sky West Route map.

Boyd says SkyWest does not meet the full requirements to the number of round trips per day; however, the passenger available capacity is greater than the Great Lakes offer.

During the Dec 10th Wayne Byers Show on CSi 2, Jamestown Regional Airport Manager, Matt Leitner said that a Denver hub may be acceptable to Jamestown passengers, as North Dakota Aeronautics Commission data indicates 70% of Jamestown boarders head west.

The Denver flight to and from Jamestown takes about 75-83 minutes depending on weather conditions.

The Jamestown community is requested to submit their recommendations/comments to the Jamestown Regional Airport Authority, E-Mail jmsairport@daktel.com by 6, 2014. He says the plan is to package messages from community members and submit them all together.

The present Essential Air Service contract with Great Lake Airlines expires on March 31, 2014.

If a change in air carrier occurs they needs to be a transition time established.

Jamestown’s schedule with Great Lakes changed on December 1, 2013, with the early and late in the day flights eliminated between Jamestown and the Twin Cities. He said that was a result of a change in F.A.A. regulations including rest periods for the flight crews.

In November of 2013 Jamestown boardings were 224 compared to 251 in November of 2012.

Take the on line survey of which airline you prefer serving Jamestown at CsiNewsNow.com

The survey will be available until the end of December 2013.

Unofficial CSiNewsNow Poll – based on the information above, which airline should Jamestown pursue for air service? Great Lakes, the current airline, has service to and from Minneapolis using 19 passenger Beech 1900 turboprops, while SkyWest would fly to and from Denver using a 50 passenger CRJ-200 jet.