Gaunty is exactly correct I'm afraid.
It doesnt matter what GT has written in the West Australian... the simple fact is all of the mining contracts who used to work through Skywest have simply signed on with other operators. All it takes is a trip to the airport to see how busy Skippers, Network and many smaller companies are.
How can Skywest be profitable flying only to places like Albany, Esperance, Exmouth... it is a well known fact that they were only profitable because of the mining contracts they had.
Many of the non-mining routes were relying heavily on tourism... have a look at the sad state WA tourism is in at the moment.
It looks like the funding came about 6 days too late. I've got no idea how Skywest expect to pay back $3 million in a year.
Outback Aviator, I don't think Gaunty is making an opinionated negative comment he is only stating fact. Sure, it would be nice to see Skywest flying again, but they will never be the same... I think the public have lost alot of confidence in handing money over to an operator flying an Ansett logo on their aircraft.
However, I do hope things work out for Skywest pilots and F/A's.
[ 22 September 2001: Message edited by: EMB Bras ]