Bidding open for Essential Air Service

U.S. program subsidizes airlines to provide regular flights to small communities

EL DORADO — The bidding period has opened for Essential Air Service providers to submit proposals to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Mickey Murfee, chairman of the El Dorado Airport Commission, said Aug. 17 is the deadline to turn in bids for the federal Essential Air Service contract, which subsidizes airlines that serve small communities and guarantees that those communities have a minimal level of scheduled air service.

Southern Airways Express has served as El Dorado’s Essential Air Service provider since 2017, having been awarded its current two-year contract in 2019.

Southern Airways also serves Hot Springs and Harrison, two other Essential Air Service communities in Arkansas, offering flights to Dallas

and Memphis.

According to its contract for El Dorado, Southern Airways, whose corporate office is in Memphis, is to offer 12 round-trip flights to Dallas and six to Memphis each week, with a subsidy of $2.5 million for 2019 and $2.6 million for 2020.

The current contract expires May 1.

During an airport commission meeting Monday, Johnathan Estes, manager of South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field, said he has heard from another airline who has expressed interest in bidding for the federal contract to provide service to El Dorado, Hot Springs and Harrison.

SkyWest, a Utah-based regional airline, has discussed offering flights from El Dorado to Colorado or New York, Estes said, adding that he advised the airline to consider flights to Dallas-Fort Worth International

Airport.

“But they would be competing with cheaper fares there,” he said.

An El Dorado-Atlanta route is another possibility, he said.

“They only fly jets? Am I right or am I wrong?” asked Murfee, referring to SkyWest.

Estes said SkyWest flies the 40-plus passenger ERJ 145 jet.

Estes previously said a new airline data survey is underway for this year for South Arkansas Regional Airport-El Dorado and the results will be used for bid considerations by South Arkansas Regional Airport and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

A study that was completed in December of 2018 and used for the 2019 bid cycle showed that 36% of passengers who flew out of South Arkansas Regional Airport to Dallas connected to flights with another airline, while 64% remained in Dallas.

Estes said the top five most popular destinations for boardings at South Arkansas Regional Airport were Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, New York and Seattle.

ZIP codes for the top six areas where passengers registered for flights out of South Arkansas Regional Airport were El Dorado, Camden, Magnolia, the Junction City area, Smackover and Crossett.

Estes said he expects the data to change when the next survey is completed this year, noting that at the time the 2018 survey was taken, Southern was offering flights only to Dallas and had not yet been approved for the Memphis route.

“I anticipate that we will see a different group of people with an interest in going to Memphis. I hope to see a broader number ofZIP codes in the data service area,” Estes said.