Looking for new opportunities outside the hotly competitive inter-island market, Island Air is bidding on Essential Air Service routes in the Midwest using de Havilland/Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft. The airline is interested in serving communities in Missouri, Arkansas and Nebraska, using Kansas City as its hub. CEO Les Murashige told Pacific Business News that the expansion would spread fixed costs and expenses but EAS often drains coffers the Department of Transportation does not increase rates to cover rising fuel costs. The routes are now served by Air Midwest, which last year announced it was getting out of all its EAS markets owing to severe losses. Mesa, its parent company, is also selling off its Beech 1900s. The plan is for Island Air to link to United and Continental flights at subsidies that could be between $1.3 million and $2 million per year for two roundtrips daily three round-trip flights a day.