Truthfully, I couldn't tell you if the non-EAS routes Big Sky has are making money or not. The problem with this company is that they have absolutely no advertising budget or common sense. EAS is easy because it is guaranteed money, little effort after the routes are awarded by the DOT, and causes the company no harm if an airplane is empty or full... or if the weather sucks!

The company went into Pocatello, for example, expecting to match the 25,000 passengers Horizon carried the year earlier. Well, when Horizons billboard advertisement is still showing Horizon 6 months after Big Sky starts flying there... how does Big Sky expect to get any of their passengers? Our management thought we could match Horizon but we fell WAYYYYYY short of that # in 2006. Rough guess would be maybe 1/5th the amount(and that's a generous guess).

The route Big Sky dropped through Great Falls, Kalispell, and Spokane was absolutely profitable and Big Sky pulled out. Every time I flew that route the airplane was full. My guess is that they were in need of airplanes that they needed for EAS crap and were willing to do anything to get what they needed. Either that, or they couldn't find a fuel company that would fuel their airplanes because they were 5 years behind on their fuel bills .

What is probably comes down to, though, is our CEO being from the Northeast and wanting to get back there. If you look at where the company is headed it is straight East. Springfield, Midway, Boston, Fort Lauderdale...

SOMEBODY HIRE ME PLEASE!!!