Back to Great Lakes, the route map has been further reduced.
http://www.greatlakesav.com/route_ma.../route_map.pdf

9 total destinations
Starting 1 December, Pueblo will go to SkyWest, further reducing the destinations to 8.

Also, Salina, KS is up for bid. SkyWest, Aerodynamics, Boutique, and Great Lakes have a bid.

Prescott is on the EAS chopping block and a waiver has been requested by Prescott/Great Lakes.

 

They seem to have lost Farmington too.

 

It looks like Salina, KS is leaning toward SkyWest.

 

Shiny Jet Syndrome. Combined with Great Lakes' hard-earned reputation for cancellations and overall poor service.

Of course, for more choices, the brand new terminal at ICT is an easy 90.8 miles down I-135. Or Kansas City, at less than three hours east on I-80

I'm a firm believer in EAS, but Salina just barely squeeks into qualification. That's before you have to go 400 miles west (DEN) when your destination is anything but west.

 

I was on their employment page today and under the chief pilot posting is this:

The Company
Great Lakes is a Cheyenne, Wyoming-based Part 121 airline that commenced operations more than 35 years ago, in Spencer, IA. The airline has a long history serving small and mid-sized communities from the Midwest to the Pacific Coast and has flown more than 2.3 million departures and 15 million passengers since commencing operations in 1981. Great Lakes currently operates a fleet of Beech 1900D and Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia aircraft. The composition and size of the fleet is expected to grow over the next year as the airline refines its strategy and restructures as a going concern.
Over the last several years, the company has downsized in response to the reduction in available pilot supply for its core 19-seat turboprop flight operations. The company has abandoned many of the routes it once flew, focusing on a few city pairs while it restructures and develops a business plan that leverages the core capabilities of the company:
• Domestic FAR 121 Airline operations;
• FAR 145 repair station with airframe heavy check and engine shop capability;
• A reservation and distribution platform with interline and code-share capability.
The new business plan consists of multiple airline brands residing on one operations, distribution and support platform. New fleet types being considered include new 48-70 seat turboprops, regional jets and mainline single-aisle equipment. The company has begun a rebranding process to reflect a new direction of the business and develop a new presence with respect to the consumer marketplace, recruiting capabilities and B2B business relationships.
Consistent with the rebuilding, rebranding and planned growth, the airline is now in need of a new system Chief Pilot. The position represents an outstanding career opportunity for a progressively-minded, cost-conscious airline flight operations manager with a strong business orientation to join the dynamic and quickly evolving team at Great Lakes.

It looks like Great Lakes has some big changes in the works. Should be interesting to see how it all works out.

 

It will indeed be interesting. Often times airlines (and other companies) that try to restructure do it too little too late. They fail more often than not.

Not for a want to make it, but they run out of bank credit. No money, no leased planes, no fuel, no pilots. *Pull Up*. *Pull Up*. *Pull Up*. ***Crash***

 

Mainline single aisle equipment?

 

Plenty of it sitting on sand in the desert(s).

To accomplish this sort of thing, GLA will need a pot-full of cash. But this does offer a hope that they can find a new reason to exist, since the old one is pretty used up.

With ADI sold to CalPac, and an existing relationship between ADI and Lakes, they could be off to a first step there.

The other reason (beyond surly bankers & careful investors) that these cooperative things fail is because they involve principals with massive egos. Too often, they'd rather fail on their own than be a part of success with others. They evidently slept through the 'how to share' lesson in second grade, and want to keep their own sandbox.

 

The E190 is a mainline single aisle jet.

 

Is that what they are getting?