By Debby Woodin

dwoodin@joplinglobe.com

Three airlines have submitted bids to provide service to the Joplin Regional Airport through the U.S. Department of Transportation subsidy program.

The current carrier, Air Midwest, a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group Inc., notified the DOT and Joplin officials in January that it wanted to discontinue providing service at the Joplin airport. The DOT has ordered the airline to continue its three daily flights to and from Kansas City until another carrier can be obtained.

Air Midwest also is pulling out of several other small cities it serves in the Midwest, including Columbia and Kirksville in Missouri, Harrison and Jonesboro in Arkansas, and Grand Island and McCook in Nebraska. Some of the options submitted by the bidders addressed service to those cities.

The three bidders have submitted 28 proposals to supply service to some, but not all, of those cities. Two of them would fly Joplin passengers to Kansas City, and one would go to Memphis, Tenn., instead of using Kansas City as the hub.

Bidders proposing flights to Kansas City are Hawaii Island Air, doing business as Island Air, based in Hawaii, and Great Lakes Aviation, Cheyenne, Wyo.

The carrier proposing service to Memphis is Mesaba Aviation Inc., Eagan, Minn., doing business as Northwest Airlink.

“The DOT will look through all the dollar options and look at what’s going to work for the needs of all the communities,” said Steve Stockam, Joplin airport manager. He said Joplin has a consultant, Boyd Group Inc. of Colorado, that is analyzing the bids in order to help Joplin make a recommendation on which service would best fit Joplin customers. The final decision, though, is up to the DOT.

Island Air submitted 13 options for service to the cities Air Midwest is leaving. For Joplin, it proposes three trips a day to and from Kansas City, with fares ranging from $49 one-way or $98 round-trip to $149 one-way or $298 round-trip, depending on how far in advance the consumer buys the ticket. The seven-day advance fare is the lowest.

Island Air proposes being granted an annual DOT subsidy of $1.1 million to $1.4 million for its Joplin service. The bid lumps service to the other cities together with Joplin’s, and the price depends on how many cities the DOT would award to Island Air. It would use 37-seat DeHavilland Dash 8-100 planes with a lavatory and flight attendant, according to its filing.

Great Lakes Aviation proposes three flights a day to and from Kansas City at what it called an average fare of $76.12, requiring an annual subsidy of about $672,000. The bid isn’t clear as to whether that price is for one-way or round-trip service.

Mesaba makes two proposals, one that offers two flights weekdays to and from Memphis, and one trip on Saturdays and Sundays. The other option proposes three flights weekdays and two on Saturdays and Sundays to and from Memphis.

Mesaba would use a 34-seat Saab 340 aircraft. It proposes a one-way fare of $90. The two-trip schedule would require an annual Essential Air Service subsidy of $826,000. The three-trip plan would require an annual subsidy of about $2,103,000.

After Joplin and its consultant submit a recommendation to the DOT, it will be up to the DOT to decide which carrier and option for service it will approve.