1900 D's going to MAIR (Big Sky) and Colgan on lease back. Both Northeast operators now. Air Midwest (Mesa alter-ego) folding because (Midwest Airlines) bringing on SkyWest to fly 50 seat CRJ's. Current Skyway routes utilizing the 1900 D routes will be flown with the Do-Jet for the short term, then phased out and replaced with Skywest EMB-120's.(Brasilias). Routes flown as Midwest NOT Skyway.

Colgan leased some 1900's to Air Midwest? Didn't know that.

If you want to go there.... back when I was a 19 FO at ZV.... over two years ago now... the rumor was the 19's were going away by the end of summer and Mesa would be out of EAS.... while the FL system did go away and from what I understand the PIT system has been way downsized since I was flying in it.... the 19 is still going somewhat strong... food for throught..

I don't agree with that chart. The distance shown is distance to the nearest MAJOR HUB airport. It should show distance to the nearest airport with scheduled airline service.

Think about it. If you live in an EAS city, you fly from the city to the HUB, and then connect. If you live in Visalia, California, you drive 40 miles to Fresno, CA, hop on a flight, and then connect. No one would drive 178 miles to Burbank, CA just to do the same thing.

I don't know the east coast communities that well, but I know of these communities in the west:
Pueblo, CO - 40 miles to Colorado Springs (plenty of service)
Visalia, CA - 40 miles to Fresno (plenty of service)
Merced, CA - 40 miles to Modesto (some service)

All are shown as a distance of 150+ miles in the chart.

In my opinion, we need to look at EAS and look at a few things. If all of the following are true, the town does not deserve EAS.

1. How far is it to the nearest airport with scheduled airline service? You don't need to drive Pueblo to Denver to catch a flight. You don't need to drive Visalia to Burbank to catch a flight. If the nearest usable airport with scheduled airline service is within 60 minutes, it may not deserve EAS.

2. Is there a major interstate highway connecting the town with that airport? If the answer is yes, and it is still within 60 minutes, it may not deserve EAs.

3. Load factor. Does the volume of people who use EAS justify service? Pueblo, CO has 3 daily flights on B-1900's with a 28% load factor, or approximately 15 people per day. I think there needs to be at least 50% load factor or at least 30+ people per day using the route.

If the nearest airport with scheduled airline service is within 60 minutes, there is a major interstate highway connecting the two airports, and the load factor is both under 50% and the load is less than 30 people per day, YOU DO NOT DESERVE EAS. Cut funding to those towns. Do not cut funding to towns that need and depend on EAS.

See this article (i think it is the 3rd one down) for a good break down.
http://www.aviationplanning.com/asrc1.htm

Another rumor...

An Air Midwest pilot rode along with us this morning from GCK-DEN. He claimed that their company name has just changed from "Air Midwest, Inc." to "Air Midwest, LLC." He said that this would make it easier to sell of Air Midwest to a worthy candidate (he thought BigSky). Just thought I'd pass it along.