By Debby Woodin
Globe Staff Writer
JOPLIN, Mo. —
Joplin has reached a crossroads in booking airline service.
Two airlines have bid on providing federally subsidized air service to Joplin, giving city and airport officials a choice for what they think will best serve Joplin passengers and city economic goals.
It will be one of the topics discussed by the Joplin City Council at its meeting Monday because the city is expected to make a recommendation to the U.S. Department of Transportation within the next week.
One of the two bids came from American Eagle, an affiliate of American Airlines. It proposes two flights a day to Dallas in 66-seat turboprops.
The other bid is from Air Choice One, a family-owned independent airline that chiefly operates as a carrier for cities in the subsidy program, called Essential Air Service or EAS. It proposes two options: four flights a day to St. Louis or five flights in nine-seat Cessna Caravans, planes it describes as luxury Cessnas.
Joplin officials have said they need a name-brand airline that gives passengers the ability to conveniently book travel anywhere via one ticket.
They say that’s what Joplin needs to climb out of the subsidy program it has been in since 2004.
Passenger decline
Until the early part of the decade, Joplin had self-sustaining air service and even multiple carriers. At the start of the decade, Joplin travelers had a choice of two airlines, Northwest Airlink to Memphis and TWA to St. Louis. For a while, there even was a third carrier serving Joplin, Ozark Air Lines.
Mike Mooney, the city’s Denver, Colo., airline consultant, said a series of events diminished passenger count.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, airline travel across the nation declined. That caused Northwest to shut down, Mooney said, and Joplin was left with a single carrier in 2002. Then American Airlines bought TWA and reduced its operations in St. Louis.
Joplin had fewer flights to connect to and that, in turn, sent ridership downhill. Trans States, which became affiliated with American after it bought TWA, put Joplin into the EAS program to obtain federal money to subsidize its operation here.
EAS service is bid every two years and Joplin has had a series of carriers as a result.
In a 2008 report to the DOT on another federal program, the Small Community Air Service Development Program, a government inspector described similar experiences at many smaller airports in the country.
David Tornquist wrote in his report: “The events of Sept. 11, 2001, rising fuel costs, and an excess of airline seats had resulted in a number of airline bankruptcies and restructurings, which further exasperated small communities’ abilities to attract and sustain air service.”
Tornquist reported that in recent years, those changes in the industry, along with a reluctance by airlines to risk expansion, have made it difficult for small communities to keep or improve air service.
Taking off
Until last year, the airport at Manhattan, Kan., experienced similar problems. Brian Williams, assistant airport director, said Manhattan was placed in the EAS program in 2003. They, too, went through a series of small carriers.
“We had Great Lakes for a period. We had United Express and Midwest Express. None of those air service carriers lasted more than a couple of years,” Williams said.
Last August, American Eagle landed in Manhattan and the changes have been rapid. The airline started by offering two flights a day to Dallas and has already expanded to three flights a day. In November, the airline will begin offering a flight a day to Chicago from Manhattan.
While not operating under the EAS subsidy, the airline does have a minimum revenue guarantee with the city and the state. If the airline doesn’t generate a specific amount of revenue from its flights, the city and the state pay. There was a payment the first quarter of operations but the airline has not required one since then, Williams said.
He credits the airline’s willingness to work with the airport and the city in providing the flights and service appealing to Manhattan customers.
He said the Dallas terminal is convenient, and the airline is motivated to provide quality service to attract and keep passengers.
“People are well satisfied with the service and that connection (to Dallas) enables our passengers to connect with flights anywhere in the world,” Williams said, adding: “Much more so than Kansas City,” where Joplin passengers currently go as a connecting hub.
Airline service is important to Manhattan’s economy, Williams said. The bulk of the airport’s business is official travel — government and business — with Kansas State University there and Fort Riley nearby.
“Network airline service like American Eagle can make a huge positive economic benefit on the community’s economy,” said Mooney, the Joplin consultant.
Local connections
A Dallas hub is preferred by Joplin businesses such as EaglePicher Technologies, one of the area’s largest employers.
Creed Jones, vice president of human resources at EaglePicher, said two EAS bids are good news.
“Either would be an improvement because it gives us more choices (than Kansas City), but Dallas would be preferred for us,” he said, adding, “American Eagle also would be preferred because they are affiliated with mainstream airlines and the connections are better at the (Dallas) airport.”
Currently, Joplin’s air service does not show up on travel websites when someone is looking for reservations to get here or fly out, he said.
Vince Lindstrom, director of the Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau, said airline service gives his office another way to promote convention and tourism business.
“It has a major impact on tourism,” Lindstrom said. “The key is a branded carrier because right now we have a lot of difficulty getting people into Joplin. It isn’t connected to a major airline and it’s too much of a hassle, and they don’t come to Joplin. If they can book flights all the way through, that’s a big plus, especially when you’re talking about a big event like the Mother Road Marathon,” coming to Route 66 on Oct. 10.
“Even getting speakers in and out for a meeting or convention here is tough,” Lindstrom said.
Decatur’s story
Air Choice One serves three cities under the EAS program: Kirksville, Decatur, Ill., and Burlington, Iowa. It offers flights from those cities to St. Louis and from Decatur and Burlington to Chicago as well.
Decatur airport director Joe Attwood said that Air Choice One is good to its passengers and is working to overcome the issues that plague small carriers: connectivity, access to ticketing and baggage handling agreements.
“They offer a terrific service for the most part,” he said. “On the other side of the coin, it has been pretty difficult to get people on. (Air Choice One) struggled to become apparent on the Internet but has now accessed the Online Travel Association,” which lists airlines on Internet ticket services such as Orbitz.
Also, “they have an issue they’re trying to overcome with baggage,” because some other airlines will not accept or transfer bags from carriers not networked with them.
“The bottom line is that Air Choice One does a wonderful job but they’re not part of the mainstream airline business,” Attwood said. “But they will be shortly.”
Decatur agreed to accept Air Choice One as its EAS service provider because it’s the only bidder that agreed to offer flights to Chicago and won approval to land at Chicago.
“We’re going to stick with them and we think they’ll achieve what they need to in the next few months, and it will all be better,” Attwood said.
His advice to Joplin: “I’d take American Eagle if they can get it.”
Turboprop
Turboprops are propeller-driven aircraft that are more fuel-efficient for shorter distances. Jets are more expensive and may not be as profitable for smaller markets, according to airline experts.
