PenAir (Anchorage Ted Stevens) has been awarded an Essential Air Services contract (EAS) to serve Crescent City in California following a tender process which also involved submissions from Alaska Seaplanes (J5, Juneau International) and SeaPort Airlines (Portland International).
In its ruling, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) said the contract would run from September 15, 2015, through to September 30, 2017 with Penair slated to operate two daily roundtrip flights to Portland International using Saab 340B machinery. The Alaskan operator's flights will require a first-year subsidy USD3,506,231, and a second-year subsidy rate of USD2,951,831.
The DOT said that among the reasons Crescent City councillors had given for advocating PenAir's proposal are that it offers a full codeshare with Alaska Airlines (AS, Seattle Tacoma International) and that it has interline agreements with Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) and United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare).
"PenAir’s service would code-share with Alaska Airlines, thereby providing passengers access to Alaska Airlines’ large domestic network. In addition, PenAir’s service to Portland International, a medium-hub airport, as well as a hub for Alaska Airlines, will provide customers with numerous connections to the national air transportation system," it said.
Incumbent operator SkyWest Airlines (OO, Salt Lake City) last year informed the DOT that its transition to an all-jet fleet would leave it without the E120s required to ply its San Francisco to Crescent City service effective April 6.
In order to ensure a smooth transition from one operator to another, the DOT says it would be willing to permit PenAir to begin operations at Crescent City on a date earlier than September 15, 2015, though this would require an adjustment to its two-year term.
