Aeronautics Committee to review six bids for EAS contract at Quincy Regional Airport

QUINCY — Six air carriers have filed proposals with the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide essential air service (EAS) at Quincy Regional Airport, with all offering service to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and three offering jet service.

The proposals were made public Wednesday, and the Aeronautics Committee discussed them briefly during its late Wednesday afternoon meeting in City Council chambers.

Proposals were submitted by:

• Contour, based out of Smyrna, Tenn.
• Southern Airways Express, based out of Palm Beach, Fla.  
• SkyWest, based out of St. George, Utah
• Cape Air, based out of Hyannis, Mass.
• Air Wisconsin, based out of Appleton, Wis.
• Boutique Air, based in San Francisco

Troup said a committee needs to be formed to review each of the proposals and make a recommendation to the Department of Transportation. Aeronautics Committee members Jerry Dreier and Ron Frillman volunteered to be part of the review group. Troup also said he has reached out to local travel agencies.

“The sooner we (meet), the better,” Troup said. “I don’t think we can wait until next month for this meeting.”

Troup was pleased to see the number of interested air carriers.

“I talked to Mike (Martin) with EAS (on Tuesday), and they were hoping to get a couple,” he said. “Based on phone calls that I received, I was confident we’d have two to three. We compared notes, and I said I think we’re going to get at least five. We were both wrong. I guess neither of us were expecting Southern.”

Troup said the number of proposals for the EAS at Quincy was the largest in comparison to other airports seeking air service.

“(Martin) was quite pleased with the responses. He said, ‘For some reason, they like Quincy,’” Troup said. “I can give you all sorts of reasons.”

Troup informed the Quincy City Council on Sept. 23 that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service program had accepted the city’s request to begin work to replace Southern Airways Express as the air carrier for Quincy Regional Airport. Troup had explained in an Aug. 21 letter to the Department of Transportation that Southern Airways Express, which has provided essential air service at the Quincy airport since Dec. 1, 2022, has consistently been unreliable.

The Florida-based airline, in the second year of a four-year contract to serve as the Essential Air Service provider for Quincy Regional Airport, has performed poorly in several key areas according to Troup:

• Frequent last-minute changes to flight schedules.
• Enplanement and completion rate issues.
• Passenger dissatisfaction with issues such as a lack of notification for schedule changes, unscheduled stops and inadequate handling of delays and cancellations.
• Aircraft supply and maintenance issues.

The EAS proposals received are:

Contour

• Offering 12 weekly Quincy to Chicago flights or seven weekly Quincy to Chicago flights and five weekly Quincy to Nashville flights; proposed four-year contract.
• Will use 30-seat ERJ-135/145 jets produced by Brazilian aerospace company Embraer.
• Proposed subsidy in year 1 — $6,491,881.50.
• Interline partnerships with American, United and Alaska.
• Notes: Founded in 2016; recorded 83.9 percent on-time performance (ranked third in the country) with a 96 percent completion factor in 2023; plans to spend $25,000 in marketing.

SkyWest

• Offering 12 weekly Quincy to Chicago flights; proposed four-year contract.
• Will use 50-seat Bombardier CRJ 200 jets.
• Proposed subsidies go from $5,787,352 in year 1 to $6,699,583 in year 4.
• Interline partnerships with United, Delta, American and Alaska.
• Notes: Founded in 1972; recorded 82.3 percent on-time performance (third-ranked regional airline in the country by Statista); plans to spend $20,000 in marketing.

Cape Air

• Offering 36 weekly Quincy to St. Louis round trips or 21 weekly Quincy to Chicago round trips and 18 weekly Quincy to St. Louis round trips; proposing two-year and four-year contracts.
• Will use 9-passenger P2012 Tecnam Traveller twin-engine planes
• Proposed subsidies for 36 flights to St. Louis — $3,983,915 in year 1 to $4,203,030 in year 2 for two-year contract; $3,934,116 in year 1 to $4,619,602 in year 4 for four-year contract
• Proposed subsidies for 21 flights to Chicago and 18 to St. Louis — $8,617,302 in year 1 to $9,091,254 in year 2 for two-year contract; $8,509,586 in year 1 to $9,992,308 in year 4 for four-year contract.
• Interline or codeshare partnerships with United, Delta, American, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Alaska, Qatar and Condor
• Notes: Founded in 1989; 99.3 percent controlled completion rate so far in 2024; plans to spend $65,000 in marketing.

Air Wisconsin

• Offering 12 weekly Quincy to Chicago round trips or one daily Quincy to Chicago round trip and five Quincy to St. Louis round trips; proposing two-year contract.
• Will use 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200 jets.
• Proposed subsidies for 12 Quincy to Chicago flights — $6,893,108 in year 1 and $7,375,625 in year 2.
• Proposed subsidies for Quincy to Chicago and Quincy to St. Louis flights — $6,776,532 in year 1 and $7,250,889 in year 2.
• Codeshare partnership with American Airlines
• Notes: Founded in 1965; 99.9 percent controlled completion rate in past year; plans to spend $25,000 in marketing.

Boutique Air

• Offering 24 or 36 weekly Quincy to Chicago round trips or 18 to 24 weekly Quincy to Chicago round trips plus six to 12 Quincy to Nashville round trips; proposing two-, three- or four-year contracts.
• Will use 8- or 9-passenger Pilatus PC-12 single-engine planes
• Proposed subsidies for 24 Quincy to Chicago round trips — $4,954,389 in year 1 to $5,735,324 in year 4.
• Proposed subsidies for 36 Quincy to Chicago round trips — $6,778,947 in year 1 to $7,847,478 in year 4.
• Proposed subsidies for 18 Quincy to Chicago round trips and six Quincy to Nashville round trips — $5,448,980 in year 1 to $6,307,875 in year 4.
• Proposed subsidies for 24 Quincy to Chicago round trips and 12 Quincy to Nashville round trips — $7,792,453 in year 1 to $9,020,738 in year 4
• interline agreements with United and American
• Notes: Founded in 2007; 99.9 percent controlled completion rate in past 12 months; plans to spend $75,000 in marketing.

Southern Airways Express

• Offering 18 weekly Quincy to Chicago round trips and 18 weekly Quincy to St. Louis round trips; proposing two- and four-year contracts
• Will use 10-to-14-seat Cessna Grand Caravan utility aircraft
• Proposed subsidies go from $5,705,342 in year 1 to $6,144,029 in year 4
• Interline agreements with American, Alaska, United and Hawaiian
• Notes: Founded in 2013; no information on controlled completion rate in proposal; plans to spend $25,000 in marketing.

Service from either Air Wisconsin or SkyWest requires firefighters to be at the airport for each takeoff and landing because of federal regulations for large jets. The last time firefighters were required at Quincy Regional Airport in 2018.

“We talked to the fire chief (Bernie Vahlkamp), and he ran a report showing that over a 24-month period when we had to operate fire staff at the airport, that added just over $200,000 — or about a little over $100,000 per year,” Troup told the Aeronautics Committee. “Obviously the compensation has increased since 2018.”

Troup said one of the airlines said other community airports have increased their landing fees to help pay for the firefighters. Interim airport director Bill Lantz said the landing fees at the Quincy airport were last modified in 2016 when they were set at 70 cents per 1,000 pounds of landing weight.

Lantz said he reached out to five airports Tuesday to learn more about their landing fees. Only one has answered his request, and it charges 75 cents per 1,000 pounds of landing weight.

Contour’s 30-passenger ERJ-135/145 jet aircraft are subject to fewer fire regulations. The flights are registered as chartered, meaning less regulation.

In other action, the committee:

• Learned Lantz recently passed his ACE Airfield Operations Review Course and is a registered member of the American Association of Airport Executives. Troup told the committee he plans to go to the City Council and ask that the interim title be removed and name Lantz as the airport director.
• Learned the completion rate by Southern Airways Express at Quincy Regional Airport last month was between 89 and 93 percent, “depending on which set of numbers you look at,” Lantz said. “Our numbers looked a lot better. (They’re) nowhere near where I’d like to see them or where we need to be.”
• Learned Runway 4/22 is still calibrating its medium-intensity approach light system (MALRS). The Federal Aviation Administration is assisting. The runway is set to open on Dec. 12.