Over the past two years the profile of the “traditional” Essential Air Service applicant has changed dramatically. No longer the nearly exclusive domain of
19-seat turboprops, EAS awards have increasingly gone to Part 135 operations as more communities choose to waive the program’s requirement for twin-engine airplanes that carry at least 15 passengers. The reasons vary, but EAS towns have proved willing to tolerate smaller airplanes as long as their operators meet the obligations to which they’ve committed.
Unfortunately, with the
demise of once perennial EAS providers Air Midwest, Skyway Airlines, Big Sky Airlines and RegionsAir, choices have diminished in recent years. Those airlines all flew 19-seat airplanes; their collapse has left Cheyenne, Wyo.-based Great Lakes Airlines, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Gulfstream International and Burlington, Vt.-based Commutair as the only 19-seat operators in the lower 48 states of the U.S. All fly Beech 1900Ds, but as those airplanes age and the number of examples available on the resale market continues to dwindle, even the airlines that still actively seek EAS work have found difficulty acquiring enough serviceable equipment with which to fulfill the program’s requirements.
