Federal directive temporarily blocks SkyWest's Cape Airport plan

Katrina Amos, manager of Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, said Wednesday an order from the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) assures the northern Scott County facility will not be left without passenger air service.

Utah-based SkyWest revealed Mar. 9 it would end flights to and from Cape Girardeau and 28 other Essential Air Service (EAS) locations in 16 states within 90 days.

This week, however, DOT blocked SkyWest's plan, saying the carrier must continue to serve each city until a replacement airline is found.

"We're going through a new (EAS) bidding phase," said Amos to the Southeast Metropolitan Planning Organization (SEMPO).

"We're reaching out, with our consultant Volare Aviation, to position Cape Girardeau for a new carrier, and it will probably go longer than 90 days," she added, noting DOT has "instituted a hold-in order," which Amos indicated meant SkyWest cannot leave without Cape Girardeau having a new carrier in place.

"SkyWest could decide it is leaving regardless; however, that would not go well for them with the Department of Transportation," she advised SEMPO, the federally mandated and funded policy-making organization overseeing transportation planning in Southeast Missouri.

SkyWest operates 50-passenger CRJ-200 jets out of the Cape Girardeau airport under the United Express brand with service to Chicago O'Hare Airport.

SkyWest began serving the local airport in 2017, and officials said it was ending service because of "an ongoing pilot staffing imbalance across the industry."

The 90-day notice of cancellation was deemed insufficient by DOT — which said in a statement Tuesday that SkyWest cannot terminate service before July 8 "and for additional 30-day periods as necessary."

SkyWest, in its own statement, said "it is eager to work with officials toward solutions that would enable us to reconnect these communities to the National Air Transportation System in the future and we are committed to remaining flexible and adjusting our plans if the situation improves more quickly than currently expected."

Other Missouri EAS cities impacted by SkyWest's decision are Joplin and Fort Leonard Wood.

SkyWest, according to trade industry website www.liveandletsfly.com, is facing an unprecedented pilot shortage as cargo, foreign and mainline carriers recruit younger pilots with better pay to fly larger aircraft.

The website added flight cancellations were common during busy periods in 2021 with SkyWest's announced EAS cancellations an attempt to "proactively reduce or eliminate loss-leading routes."

Essential Air Service is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee through federal subsidies that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service.