By Melissa Dunson

mdunson@joplinglobe.com

A disruption in commercial air service already was on the horizon for the Joplin Regional Airport, but an announcement Monday seemed to put its scope more in question.

City officials disclosed that the airline that recently was awarded the Joplin contract has backed out of the agreement.

Island Air notified Joplin officials by letter over the weekend that it would not be able to meet the mid-September start-up date originally set forth for its bid for air service to Joplin.

Steve Stockam, airport manager, said Island Air estimated that its start time would be closer to January or February 2009, so it decided to give up the contract in hopes that Joplin could find another provider that could start sooner.

“The situation is very unpleasant for us,” Stockam said. “It’s not something we wanted to see.”

Joplin’s current provider, Mesa Airlines, is ending its local service June 30 and liquidating the company because of financial difficulties. Stockam said that leaves Joplin airport travelers without flights from July 1 until a new carrier can start. It will be the first disruption in air service for the Joplin airport in more than 20 years.

Stockam said the U.S. Department of Transportation has been alerted to the change and has put out another request for bids for the Joplin contract, with a short deadline of 14 days. The local airport operates under the federal government’s Essential Air Service program, which provides subsidies to airlines for serving small airports.

Joplin will have three days to comment on the bids once they come in and present its recommendations to DOT before the department awards the contract. Stockam said he thinks the new contract will be awarded by the end of June, but that most carriers want 60 days to pre-sell tickets before starting a new service. He said he hopes he can get that delay down to 30 to 45 days.

Stockam said Joplin officials have contacted the two other carriers that bid for the Joplin service in May — Mesaba Airlines, doing business as Northwest Airlink, and Great Lakes Aviation out of McCook, Neb. — as well as an airline out of Florida and one out of the Northeast. He said Great Lakes Aviation has confirmed that it again will bid for the contract.

The DOT on May 5 awarded Island Air the service contracts for Joplin, Grand Island, Neb., and Harrison and Hot Springs, Ark. The Joplin bid included three trips a day to and from Kansas City for an annual subsidy of $1.27 million paid by the federal government. Ticket prices were estimated at $49 for a one-way fare.

Island Air was not the preferred choice of Joplin airport officials. Stockam said the group originally recommended that the DOT accept the Northwest Airlink bid because it is a national brand carrier. Stockam said city officials also had some concerns about Island Air, including the need for the company to acquire more aircraft, the company’s Hawaii headquarters being so distant, and increasing competition in the Hawaiian airline market.

Island Air noted the collapse of Aloha Airlines and the increased demand for Hawaiian carriers that followed as one of the main reasons for giving up the Joplin deal. The letter relinquishing the contract also cited the loss of key personnel as part of the company’s reason for backing out.

Stockam said the interruption in Joplin service couldn’t come at a worse time. Summer is usually the airport’s busiest season. The airport served 3,500 passengers just last July.

“When it rains, it pours,” Stockam said. “And it’s been raining in Joplin for a number of months.”

While the service interruption will affect Joplin passengers in a big way, Stockam said that blow will be softened for airport employees. He said the city’s airport staff will continue to keep the airport running 24 hours a day for general aviation use. Federal employees stationed at the Joplin airport will be transferred to the Springfield-Branson National Airport during the interruption, and employees of rental-car agencies at the airport will be moved to off-airport sites until a new airline starts up.

Stockam said he couldn’t answer for Mesa Airlines’ employees at the Joplin airport. He said most of those workers had hopes of getting on with the new carrier, but they will face the same delay between the end of one carrier’s service and the start of another’s.

Stockam said neither Joplin nor the DOT has any type of legal recourse for Island Air backing out of the contract because of the way the EAS program was designed.

Melissa Dunson is the business writer for The Joplin Globe.





Terminal



The Joplin airport’s new $15 million terminal is on schedule to open Sept. 1, and Steve Stockam, airport manager, said it’s possible the opening could coincide with the start of a new airline service. “I’d like to see the airline first,” he said.