SkyWest Airlines (OO, Salt Lake City) has been selected by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to provide essential air services (EAS) to Pueblo, Colorado. The contract, worth USD2.5 million, is for a two year period.

SkyWest replaces Great Lakes Airlines (Cheyenne), which has been providing EAS flights to the community since June 2015 using E120 and Beech 1900D aircraft. Great Lakes reapplied for the route, along with ADI Aerodynamics (Pontiac Oakland County International) and Boutique Air (4B, San Francisco), but did not have the support of the city. SkyWest will provide 12x weekly flights to Denver International using CRJ200 equipment. The carrier has interline agreements with United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

Also this week, SkyWest applied for EAS routes for Quincy Regional, Illinois and Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In its proposal, it says it will offer 12x weekly flights from Quincy to Chicago O'Hare, and 12x weekly flights from Cape Girardeau to Chicago (half of which will stop in Quincy). It proposes using CRJ-200 aircraft, and requests a subsidy of USD2.7 million and USD2.9 million for Quincy and Cape Girardeau, respectively.