When Will Cape Air Stop Service To Cape Girardeau Missouri
EDITOR'Due south NOTE: This story was updated at eight:48 p.k. Wednesday.
QUINCY — After agreeing to a four-year, $10.viii million contract in September to be the essential air service provider for Quincy Regional Drome, Cape Air notified the U.South. Department of Transportation on Tuesday of its intent to end passenger air service in Quincy.
Andrew Bonney, senior vice president of planning for Greatcoat Air, which is based in Hyannis, Doctor., signed the 90-solar day discover that was submitted Tuesday to the DOT.
"Cape Air gives this notice with reluctance and regret — and principally due to a shortage of pilots," Bonney wrote.
Members of the aeronautics commission learned of the news during its meeting Wednesday afternoon. Gabriel Hanafin, acting airport manager, told the committee Cape Air tin can't leave until the DOT selects a new airline to service Quincy.
"The DOT will have to start approve their asking to pull out," Hanafin said.
Hanafin also said the DOT will conduct the search for a new EAS provider at no price to Quincy. He said Greatcoat Air plans to continue service equally normal, maintaining xviii flights a week to both Lambert International in St. Louis (at a 1-way cost of $47 a flight) and O'Hare in Chicago (at a i-fashion toll of $72 a flight) until DOT selects a new airline.
Greatcoat Air was awarded the contract on Sept. 27, beating bids from Boutique Air out of San Francisco and St. Louis-based Air Choice One.
Hanafin said he learned Tuesday that Cape Air is pulling routes from Puerto Rico and the New England area, and a route that opened in Feb in Burlington, Iowa, as well is beingness pulled.
"It's not just a Quincy matter, and information technology's not merely a Cape Air matter," Hanafin said.
Asked if Quincy's flight schedule could change later the 90-24-hour interval notice expires, Hanafin said, "That would be something to contact Greatcoat Air about."
Linda Markham, president and CEO of Greatcoat Air, said the decision to pull out of the Quincy airport was a decision that wasn't made lightly.
"Like many airlines, we are managing operational constraints primarily having to do with the nationwide airplane pilot shortage," Markham said in a prepared statement. "Every bit a longtime provider of EAS and as a community partner, we empathise the critical part air service plays in these communities. Until another airline tin guarantee service, Greatcoat Air has committed to making our best efforts for reliable and consistent service at both Quincy and Burlington."
SkyWest announced in March its programme to stop service to 29 cities because of the pilot shortage. However, the website Live and Let'south Fly reported the Department of Transportation blocked the plan, arguing the carrier must keep to serve each urban center until replacements are found.
Airline Weekly, an online publication near the airline business, reported in March that the airplane pilot shortage in the U.S. volition get worse before it gets better. Joseph Allman, chief financial officer for Republic Airways, the second-largest regional airline in the country, told people at the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading Americas conference that he sees the shortage to be at its worst during the second and 3rd quarters of 2023.
Mayor Mike Troup said he learned of Cape Air'south decision from ane of its senior vice presidents on Monday afternoon. He said later on the aeronautics committee meeting that he would like to see with Cape Air officials to discuss what can be done.
"Can we alter the number of flights? Does it take to be a directly flying from Quincy to Chicago and Quincy to St. Louis? What would it make it easier, more than palatable, more affordable for everybody?" he said. "Permit'southward sit downwardly and talk."
How the pilot shortage has affected Quincy Regional Airport showtime came to low-cal during the April xiii coming together of the Quincy Metropolis Council. Whitney Mintert told aldermen that a friend had planned to fly from Quincy to Chicago on a Sunday afternoon. However, the flight never showed and Mintert'southward friend never was notified of a cancellation.
Troup told aldermen at that meeting that Cape Air canceled "some 40 percent of our flights" from Quincy in Feb and March.
Hanafin told the aeronautics committee Wednesday that the flight completion rates in April had improved — 91 percent for St. Louis and 75 percent in Chicago. Enplanements were up more than than 35 per centum for the ii routes last month — 285 to St. Louis and 267 to Chicago.
Troup said Cape Air has washed a improve job that virtually regional commercial airlines to attract pilots. The airline as well is flying its new brand of aircraft — ix-seat Tecnam P2012 Travellers — out of Quincy, "so they're making a commitment at that place," he said.
The mayor hopes Congress could modify the number of hours needed to become a licensed commercial pilot. He also said he reached out to the role of Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) for help.
"We tin can't tolerate losing all airline service," Troup said. "That doesn't help Quincy, and information technology absolutely doesn't help our region. It'due south an issue that'due south related to the pandemic, and we still have to bargain with the ramifications.
"This is something that we're going to have to work through. Nosotros can't just force Cape Air to stay. That'due south not a skillful human relationship. But allow'south find all the hurting points. Let's encounter what we can practice together to work. We tin't solve the trouble if nosotros don't know what the definition of the problem is. Let's define what the problems are, so let's put teams together to set up each i."
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Source: https://muddyrivernews.com/top-stories/shortage-of-pilots-forces-cape-air-to-submit-90-day-notice-to-end-passenger-air-service-to-quincy-airline-cant-leave-until-replacement-is-found/20220504163326/
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