Pueblo, Colorado is losing jet service to Denver, and seeing it replaced with 9-seat turboprops. And the federal government is paying $3 million a year for the privilege.
The irony is that the existing subsidized airline, SkyWest, was offering to:
- Take out nearly half the seats from their jets, providing a better flying experience
- Operate two flights a day
Southern Airways will operate 24 roundtrips a week (nearly three and a half per day) using 9-seat Beechcraft King Air 200 props. Pueblo’s Mayor and the Chair of its Department of Aviation favored the Southern proposal, applauding them for offering two propeller service and not just one.
Why on earth would Pueblo turn its back on the current airline, which offers United Express jet service and which was offering to double it – in favor of 9-seat turboprops?
The pilot shortage has affected regional airlines the most, because their pilots go to the big airlines that pay more. Regional carrier SkyWest created a subsidiary to run public charter flights under FAA Part 135 rules. This lets then fly planes with no more than 30 seats which have a captain that meets the 1500 hour rule but allows a co-pilot with fewer hours.
The plan involved taking CRJ-200 50-seat regional jets and taking out seats. That’s actually great for passengers. And SkyWest planned to do this on poor-performing routes, where there weren’t that many passengers to begin with, like subsidized Essential Air Service routes.
Naturally, the major pilots union – ALPA – blew a gasket. They fought hard for the 1500 hour rule. It limits entry into the profession, making it more expensive and take longer to become a pilot. Pilot shortages are great for pilot wages and leverage in negotiations. Pueblo, Colorado’s Mayor sided with ALPA.
Flying small regional jets with just 30 seats is what JSX does but they also fly from private terminals. Flying from Pueblo, Colorado isn’t that much more cumbersome than an FBO, even though it involves TSA rules for security.
The irony, of course, is that Southern’s use of 9-seat aircraft is that the 1500 hour rule applies to aircraft with 10 seats or more – Southern gets around the 1500 hour rule, too, with these Beechcraft planes! The Mayor gave statements that it’s unsafe to operate a CRJ-200 with a co-pilot that has fewer than 1500 hours (while the captain still had to meet that requirement) yet applauds 1500-hour rule exempt nine-seat service. Was Mayor Nick Gradisar really doing service for his city?
Meanwhile, why are federal taxpayers even spending $3 million a year to operate air service to Denver? The Pueblo airport is a 45 minute drive to the Colorado Springs airport. It’s a two-hour drive to Denver. And in Colorado that’s… not very much. In any case Landline bus service seems like it might be a better option than 9-seat turboprops.
While Pueblo is more of a struggling Rust Belt city than a Rocky Mountain or Great Plains city, one would imagine that United Airlines has a significant number of elites in the Pueblo area given its hub in Denver. United is already offering a bus to Breckenridge. Why not do it to Pueblo? Or fly Denver-Colorado Springs-Pueblo? Denver is already flying 4 nonstop weekday flights between Colorado Springs and Denver. There’s also one Southwest Colorado Springs-Denver flight.
That aside, I feel bad for Colorado’s smaller airports. Pueblo, Durango, and Grand Junction have really been hit hard by SkyWest’s route reductions both on Delta and United.
“Pueblo, It’s not for Amateurs” should be their slogan. It’s a (D) issue. ALPA doesn’t seem smart in any of this either. You would think they would want as many pilot union members as possible to pad their pockets regardless of hours of flying.
The union needs to give the 99.8% statistic a rest. If you look at the fatalities that occurred before ATP requirements were increased, they are including TWA800, ASA261, and 9/11. I’d like someone to explain how increased flight hours would have prevented any of these accidents.
It’s too bad the press won’t call them on their falsehoods. I’m not going to take them seriously if they can’t use facts. Correlation is not necessarily causation.
Well the 3.5 per day frequency is a lot better than 2x a day, and frequency matters
That said it’s for the adventurous and truly time starved
Agree the Landline bus would get the job done with little time lost
@ Gary
“Why on earth would Pueblo turn its back on the current airline, which offers United Express jet service and which was offering to double it – in favor of 9-seat turboprops?”
Hmmm…
It is reported that – United Express (aka SkyWest) announced plans to exit Pueblo and 29 other small communities back in March. They were obliged to maintain their services until alternative services were put in place (slated for changeover 14 / 15 January).
Skywest opted not to continue its services to Pueblo and did not subsequently submit a proposal to do so.
It is reported that Pueblo received only one proposal and that from Southern Airways – that approved by US DoT October 26.
So, how, exactly, can you claim that Pueblo could “turn its back” on Skywest (United Express)?
“Pueblo’s Mayor and the Chair of its Department of Aviation favored the Southern proposal”
Gary, it is reported that there was only one proposal submitted. So how can the local Mayor and Chair of Dept Aviation be said to “favour the Southern proposal”?!
Whatever the shite fight was going on behinds the scenes about pilot shortages, unions and the application of 1500 rules, it appears, according to the reports, the decision makers in Pueblo were left with the one proposal to assess.
@platy – SkyWest was exiting, they wanted to substitute it with scheduled charter 30 seat RJ service. They did not submit the proposal because the Mayor sided with ALPA. (It is not up to “the decision makers in Pueblo” but rather the Biden administration DOT, but the current leadership there combined with union and local opposition, were never going to go forward with the SkyWest plan.)
@ Gary
Thanks, I kinda guessed all of that…would have been interesting, if they had tested the waters by submitting a proposal, though…;)
Do we know the outcomes in the other 28 local airports they planned to exit? Did they get any leverage with alternative approaches elsewhere?
@Gary – “They did not submit the proposal because the Mayor sided with ALPA. (It is not up to “the decision makers in Pueblo” but rather the Biden administration DOT, but the current leadership there combined with union and local opposition, were never going to go forward with the SkyWest plan.)”
Well, yes & no. Typically, the D.O.T. will approve the most economical proposal submitted, assuming there are competing proposals. In this instance, there was no competing proposal because, in essence, the city government signalled its preference just prior to/during the round of submissions stage.
The D.O.T. will rarely favor an air service proposal – be it Essential Air Service or Small Community Air Service Development – that does not have buy-in from the targeted community.
Yes, DOT issues the final determination, but to suggest that decision making is done in a vacuum is misleading.
@aaway – I didn’t suggest it’s done in a vacuum, but in response to local officials making a very political decision against the interests of its constituents, and the context is an administration favorable to that decision.
While I echo many of the comments made here, there’s a side note to this that nobody has mentioned yet: the Front Range is one of the most turbulent regions in the US over which to fly. Rough air is very common, particularly above the I-25 corridor. Bad enough to sit on a CRJ-200 that’s getting beaten like a pinata by Chinook winds, but a nine-seat prop? No thanks, I’d drive.
Pueblo no bueno. Pueblo es muy mal.
Seems like a big waste of EAS money since COS is so close as you point out.
And many folks may not be aware that COS is a big operation these days and growing like a weed. 200K passengers just in October of this year.
https://coloradosprings.gov/flycos/monthly-traffic-reports?mlid=33426
David
Of course seems fishy, because it’s obvious corruption and collusion – any guess as to the political party of Mayor Nick, and where the ALPA donations have been targeted? It’s just classic Chicago politics in a different location.
Seems unfair to the US taxpayers who will foot the bill for all of this!! We should get to vote on how the goverment gets to waste our hard earned $$$$ via taxes on this nonsense!! Take the bus or drive!!
What would it take to just kill the stupid EAS subsidies entirely? Virtually all cities with EAS subsidies are within a reasonable drive of another airport with commercial service, which airport gets harmed by these subsidies. They are complete pork.
@Gary – “I didn’t suggest it’s done in a vacuum, but in response to local officials making a very political decision against the interests of its constituents, and the context is an administration favorable to that decision.”
No, Gary, your assertion of political conspiracy is off. Certainly with regard to the community choice being fait accompli simply due to the mayor’s comments somehow currying favor with D.O.T. as a result of the Biden administration being pro-labor.
I’ll also disagree with the notion that a constituency was failed. This statement – “The irony is that the existing subsidized airline, SkyWest, was offering to….take out nearly half the seats from their jets, providing a better flying experience.” – does not equate to a better business case for the service.
PUB managed to attract an operator that met its (PUBs) baseline for air service under EAS. That operator is doubling the number of weekly frequencies offered to the community – those additional frequencies costing slightly over $200,000 per annum over the current Skywest EAS contract for PUB service.
Conversely, the original Skywest PUB EAS contract was scheduled to expire in 2023. If Skywest service had continued PUB service under Part 380 (Part 135 is for true ‘non-scheduled’ charter operations) service, the likelihood of this contract going out to bid would still be high. Consider that Skywest was proposing to reduce seat count on a high cost (to operate) airframe. To makeup the revenue shortfall to cover those costs, the alternatives to Skywest are to either raise fares (likely shifting some portion of demand to COS), or ask for a higher subsidy from D.O.T. (spurring lower bids from more economical operators).
Frankly, I think Pueblo saw the writing on the wall & opted for its (likely) inevitable scheduled air transportation future. The city chose the “disrupt now” option.