"Kingman, Prescott want new air service"

Thursday, October 6, 2005

Kingman, Prescott want new air service 
Cities seeing decline in fliers
By Mark Shaffer
The Arizona Republic


Kingman Mayor Monica Gates has asked Gov. Janet Napolitano to intervene in a
dispute that is threatening to ground commercial air service in the Kingman
and Prescott areas. 

At the heart of the problem is a decision by the U.S. Department of
Transportation last March to award a two-year $7.7 million subsidy for
essential air service to outlying parts of the state to Great Lakes
Aviation, which replaced Mesa Air.

Since Great Lakes took over the flight service in June, the number of
passengers has declined about 80 percent in Prescott and 50 percent in
Kingman. advertisement  

In large part, that's because Great Lakes uses Terminal 2 at Phoenix Sky
Harbor International Airport and most connecting flights are in Terminal 4.
For those trying to catch those flights, that creates numerous problems,
such as having to go through airport security again and recheck luggage.

Mesa Air, which is affiliated with US Airways (formerly America West), uses
Terminal 4, which is also the location of Southwest Airlines. 

"Our whole commercial flight situation has just gone to hell," Prescott
Mayor Rowle Simmons said.

In a letter to Napolitano, Gates wrote that Kingman had received notice from
the Department of Transportation that the city's emergency air service
funding is in jeopardy because so few people, only about 100 a month, are
flying out of Kingman.

Gates said Kingman had opted to do business with Great Lakes, which is based
in Cheyenne, Wyo., because of complaints about Mesa Air service and locals
not being able to get seats on planes.

"When Great Lakes made their presentation to the community, they said it was
imminent that they would have a co-share agreement, and it swayed our
community," Gates said, referring to an affiliation with a major carrier in
Terminal 4 in which Great Lakes would be allowed to fly into Terminal 4.

But having Great Lakes at Terminal 4 is "not a popular position" with its
rival Mesa Air, Gates said.

Doug Voss, president of Great Lakes Aviation, said Kingman and Prescott
residents just need to have patience. Voss acknowledged the problems in
those two areas but said flights to Show Low, Page and Sierra Vista are
ahead of the projected passenger totals when service began in June. Voss
also said the number of people flying out of Page is higher than when Mesa
Air was the carrier.

Dennis Wiss, manager of Show Low Regional Airport, said that the reaction to
Great Lakes' flights in the White Mountains area has been "exceptional" and
that the airline had transported in four months more than half of the number
that Arizona Express, the previous carrier, had flown in all of last year.

Voss said that Great Lakes Aviation will be spending a lot of money on
marketing that it receives from the state and "that will help with the
flight passenger numbers." 

But Voss also said the airline had run into a number of problems in trying
to make the move to Terminal 4.

"I don't know if we are going to be able to make that move over there now,"
he said.

Great Lakes is a partner with United and Frontier airlines.

"We've been looking at several other options, like having our own internal
bus operation among the three terminals. But that's going to be contingent
on FAA and other things," Voss said. 

Voss said he had no intention of pulling out of Prescott or Kingman, no
matter how low the passenger totals fall.

"This is a two-year deal and the revenue forecasts and higher fuel costs are
not bothering us," Voss said. "This is not an uncomfortable situation for
us."

But Simmons said Prescott residents, who wanted to retain Mesa Air as the
carrier, are more than a little aggravated.

"We were well on our way to averaging 10,000 people a year flying out of
here, which is the magic number for the FAA to help fund for a new terminal
in a major way," Simmons said. "Now, hardly anyone is flying out of here and
our terminal project has been put on hold. We're just beside ourselves about
this whole thing."

Gordon Riehl of Prescott, a regular air traveler out of Prescott, said he
wonders why federal transportation officials, on the advice of the Arizona
Department of Transportation, would choose a carrier that would negatively
affect the number of those flying "when the purpose of the subsidy is to
increase air travel."

"Now there is no hope we will get our new terminal. And, Great Lakes can
drop the service after six months if there is not sufficient passenger
volume. So, we could be left with no service at all," Riehl said in an
e-mail sent to The Republic.

ADOT had recommended to the federal transportation agency that one carrier
be selected to receive the subsidy and begin service to Sierra Vista. ADOT
officials said that all bids and proposals were handled fairly before Great
Lakes was awarded the contract.


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