As mature regionals rebid their Essential Air Service contracts, some are finding that the Department of Transportation is opting for new entrants over carriers that have been serving the markets for years. Two such new entrants include Macon, Ga-based Georgia Skies and Seattle-based SeaPort Airlines.

Georgia Skies, replacing Atlantic Southeast Airlines service, flies between Macon, Athens and Atlanta having launched service in September using a nine-passenger, single-engine Cessna Grand Caravan 208B. It is a subsidiary of Hawaii-based Pacific Wings who first entered the mainland market bidding on EAS routes once flown by Mesa’s Air Midwest. The question at hand is whether or not the new airline will be able to do better than ASA which exited the market last year after finding that its load factor in the Macon market was 25 percent of daily seats.

Georgia Skies offers two roundtrips daily in the Athens market as well as four daily roundtrips in the Macon market. Meanwhile, Georgia Skies now has competition from Lawrencville, Ga. Wings Air, which started service November 1 using Piper Navajo Chieftains.

Perhaps the biggest problem with these new services, and something that EAS advocates have long want to address, is the hassle factor. Often the EAS flights do not offer reasonable through fares, automatic code-sharing connections and baggage transfer, and, with this new breed, main terminal transfer points. In fact, Horizon noted that with SeaPort passengers at Portland use a general aviation facility and must be bused to the main terminal after collecting their baggage and before being screened a second time.

Although Georgia Skies and Wings do connect at Atlanta Hartsfield, Georgia Skies, which is working on main terminal access as well as a reduction in landing fees which currently make ticket prices cost prohibitive, buses its passengers from the Atlantic Aviation FBO. It also operates out of Lowe Aviation in Macon, rather than the main terminal there. Wings Air flies out of the T-Gates for its six daily roundtrips each to Macon and Athens. Both offer $49 one-way fares.

Meanwhile, SeaPort replaced Horizon on the Pendleton-Portland route using nine-seat, single-engine, Swiss-built Pilatus PC-12s instead of Horizon’s Bombardier Q400s. SeaPort will get a total of $3.17 million to serve the route for the next two years. Horizon’s bid was $3.2 million. SeaPort launched Seattle-Portland service earlier this year using Boeing Field. Related Story
SeaPort CEO Kent Craford said passengers at Pendleton declined by 50 percent since 2000 in favor of driving to Portland and his new service will beat the drive time by half.