Cyclic Hotline
12th Jul 2001, 12:47
Adak to enjoy jet service
EVERGREEN: Airline must first purchase hard-to-get plane.
By Sarana Schell
Anchorage Daily News
(Published July 11, 2001)
Adak spoke and the government listened.
"The community wants a jet," said PenAir president Orin Seybert.
Evergreen International Airlines this week won the government contract to provide "essential air service" to Adak. PenAir had held an interim contract since Reeve Aleutian Airways Inc. stopped flying to the area last December.
EAS is a federal program formed in the wake of airline deregulation in the late '70s to subsidize air service to areas that carriers drop when they are no longer profitable.
"Out in the chain, there are long expensive routes with a small population base, so it's appropriate for the subsidy to be applied there," said Seybert.
The federal Department of Transportation asked for bids on a two-year contract for weekly round-trip service between Anchorage and the 100-person community on the Aleutian Chain.
DOT gave PenAir high marks for stepping in on short notice, starting up only a week after Reeve bowed out. PenAir offered the most flights to Adak in its bid, for the smallest proposed federal subsidy.
But, DOT said, Adak prefers large aircraft, and Evergreen alone offered jet service for passengers, on a Boeing 727-100 combination passenger and cargo plane.
The reliability and safety of the 727, which Evergreen said can fly over the chain's frequent fog and storms that PenAir's turboprop can't, were driving factors for Adak's City Council members, who supported Evergreen's bid. Smaller aircraft, the community added, could not always accommodate all the mail and freight to be shipped. And they would rather spend three hours in a jet than six hours in a turboprop.
So, Evergreen is scheduled to receive a subsidy of more than $7,000 per flight, twice a week. DOT, sensitive to equality in air service statewide, said it will closely monitor the contract, which is open to renegotiation after one year.
First, though, Evergreen must update its information with DOT, since it hasn't operated passenger service in years, and buy a combi-jet.
"They're so hard to get," said company spokesman Ron Pye. "There's a handful in the whole world."
He said Evergreen, which asked for four months to get the service up and running, hopes to make the purchase in the next few weeks. "We've got it narrowed it down to a few aircraft."
In the meantime, Evergreen will provide jet cargo service along with PenAir's passenger service. PenAir is operating five flights per week. Its bid offered service on a 14-seat turboprop plane, to be combined with cargo service offered by another carrier. Other losing bidders were Anchorage-based Northern Air Cargo for the cargo portion, Security Aviation of Anchorage and Scenic Airlines of Nevada.
EVERGREEN: Airline must first purchase hard-to-get plane.
By Sarana Schell
Anchorage Daily News
(Published July 11, 2001)
Adak spoke and the government listened.
"The community wants a jet," said PenAir president Orin Seybert.
Evergreen International Airlines this week won the government contract to provide "essential air service" to Adak. PenAir had held an interim contract since Reeve Aleutian Airways Inc. stopped flying to the area last December.
EAS is a federal program formed in the wake of airline deregulation in the late '70s to subsidize air service to areas that carriers drop when they are no longer profitable.
"Out in the chain, there are long expensive routes with a small population base, so it's appropriate for the subsidy to be applied there," said Seybert.
The federal Department of Transportation asked for bids on a two-year contract for weekly round-trip service between Anchorage and the 100-person community on the Aleutian Chain.
DOT gave PenAir high marks for stepping in on short notice, starting up only a week after Reeve bowed out. PenAir offered the most flights to Adak in its bid, for the smallest proposed federal subsidy.
But, DOT said, Adak prefers large aircraft, and Evergreen alone offered jet service for passengers, on a Boeing 727-100 combination passenger and cargo plane.
The reliability and safety of the 727, which Evergreen said can fly over the chain's frequent fog and storms that PenAir's turboprop can't, were driving factors for Adak's City Council members, who supported Evergreen's bid. Smaller aircraft, the community added, could not always accommodate all the mail and freight to be shipped. And they would rather spend three hours in a jet than six hours in a turboprop.
So, Evergreen is scheduled to receive a subsidy of more than $7,000 per flight, twice a week. DOT, sensitive to equality in air service statewide, said it will closely monitor the contract, which is open to renegotiation after one year.
First, though, Evergreen must update its information with DOT, since it hasn't operated passenger service in years, and buy a combi-jet.
"They're so hard to get," said company spokesman Ron Pye. "There's a handful in the whole world."
He said Evergreen, which asked for four months to get the service up and running, hopes to make the purchase in the next few weeks. "We've got it narrowed it down to a few aircraft."
In the meantime, Evergreen will provide jet cargo service along with PenAir's passenger service. PenAir is operating five flights per week. Its bid offered service on a 14-seat turboprop plane, to be combined with cargo service offered by another carrier. Other losing bidders were Anchorage-based Northern Air Cargo for the cargo portion, Security Aviation of Anchorage and Scenic Airlines of Nevada.