Rural America May Lose Air Service
07-20-2011 | 07:18 AM
#12
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 4,099
Likes: 86
I used to fly EAS out in the midwest.
Outside of phesant season, on a good day, we'd have 3-5 people.
Was there a time, during regulation, that small communities needed subsidizing...sure, before the Interstate Highway system. Two of the three markets we served were 60 and 90 minutes, down a nice, clean, modern Interstate, from a city with air carrier servce....and that was if you drove a pokey old 60 MPH.
OTOH, there probably are places with a legitimate need. The other city we served was to hell and gone off the interstate, and was an honest 2:30 on two lane roads. But, ironically, that was the station with the fewest pax. So go figure.
The "RJ Revolution" was bad for a LOT of reasons. It schnookered a lot of companies into thinking that an RJ can be run for the same price as a BE-1900, and a lot of communities thought that's what they'd be getting.
A 12-15 CASM doesn't cut it in those places when you board 3 out of 19, let alone 3 out of 50. Major partners don't want their name on a small turboprop. Airlines who KNEW how to run them, got forced into huge RJ fleets, and left the TPs as an afterthought that got cut first when times got tough.
You need something for the rural markets that's NOT expensive. Unfortunately, there isn't anything. Beech no longer makes the 99 or the 1900, Cessna doesn't make the 402 and Piper doesn't make the Navajo. All of which were PERFECT for the markets they served.
Nu
Outside of phesant season, on a good day, we'd have 3-5 people.
Was there a time, during regulation, that small communities needed subsidizing...sure, before the Interstate Highway system. Two of the three markets we served were 60 and 90 minutes, down a nice, clean, modern Interstate, from a city with air carrier servce....and that was if you drove a pokey old 60 MPH.
OTOH, there probably are places with a legitimate need. The other city we served was to hell and gone off the interstate, and was an honest 2:30 on two lane roads. But, ironically, that was the station with the fewest pax. So go figure.
The "RJ Revolution" was bad for a LOT of reasons. It schnookered a lot of companies into thinking that an RJ can be run for the same price as a BE-1900, and a lot of communities thought that's what they'd be getting.
A 12-15 CASM doesn't cut it in those places when you board 3 out of 19, let alone 3 out of 50. Major partners don't want their name on a small turboprop. Airlines who KNEW how to run them, got forced into huge RJ fleets, and left the TPs as an afterthought that got cut first when times got tough.
You need something for the rural markets that's NOT expensive. Unfortunately, there isn't anything. Beech no longer makes the 99 or the 1900, Cessna doesn't make the 402 and Piper doesn't make the Navajo. All of which were PERFECT for the markets they served.
Nu
Last edited by NuGuy; 07-20-2011 at 07:29 AM.
07-20-2011 | 07:29 AM
#13
Doing One Pilot's Job
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 7,883
Likes: 119
A good number of EAS cities are within a 2 hour drive of a larger city with airline service, so its no great community loss if their service goes away. For other cities, a much smaller number in very rural areas, EAS isn't just convenient, but actually essential.
I see a lot more Seaport Airlines PC-12s hauling EAS mail in the future...that is the perfect airplane for those super-thin subsidized routes, IMO.
Upside for aviation? There's still business to be done in these communities losing airline service, which will make business aviation look more promising. I know more than a small handful of our clients are located in small cities with limited or non-existant airline service, and our two aircraft make doing business in those cities not just possible, but profitable.
I see a lot more Seaport Airlines PC-12s hauling EAS mail in the future...that is the perfect airplane for those super-thin subsidized routes, IMO.
Upside for aviation? There's still business to be done in these communities losing airline service, which will make business aviation look more promising. I know more than a small handful of our clients are located in small cities with limited or non-existant airline service, and our two aircraft make doing business in those cities not just possible, but profitable.
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