Air Midwest winding down

May 14, 2008 08:46 pm

— By Debby Woodin
dwoodin@joplinglobe.com
An announcement Wednesday by Air Midwest that it will start shutting down air service next week to 13 cities, including Joplin, has sent government officials and airlines hustling to get new services ready for takeoff.
Steve Stockam, manager of the Joplin Regional Airport, said Joplin stands a chance of being without an airline for a few days, but that Air Midwest has put the city toward the last of the sites it plans to abandon.
Air Midwest is to be liquidated. It has served the cities, including Joplin, Kirksville and Columbia, under a federal subsidy program called Essential Air Service.
Air Midwest is operated by Mesa Air, which offers several other airline services but is cutting out EAS service altogether.
Mesa officials said Wednesday that they will begin the Air Midwest shutdown in some of its other cities next week and continue through June 30.
The U.S. Department of Transportation last week accepted a bid by Island Air to succeed Air Midwest at the Joplin airport and provide three round trips a day to Kansas City. The department had ordered Air Midwest to stay in business until the Joplin service can switch, but Mesa officials said Wednesday that they can shut down flights without DOT permission if it’s for economic reasons.
“This is pretty unfortunate in that bids and awards just came out,” Stockam said of Mesa’s announcement. “It’s thrown a wrinkle into everybody’s situation, so everyone’s scrambling today to see what they can do to close the gaps.”
He said Air Midwest had planned its departure from Joplin for June 30. Island Air is planning its launch for the end of June if it can secure and move its aircraft here in time.
“They’re doing everything they can to see if they can’t get going by July 1,” Stockam said of Island Air. “That may not mean three full flights a day. But we will try two flights or whatever we can get at that time.”

Fuel prices cited

Air Midwest officials said escalating fuel prices have caused the company to lose “millions of dollars” a year.