The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has selected SkyWest Airlines (OO, Salt Lake City) for the Essential Air Service (EAS) contract covering services from Denver International to Pierre, SD, and Watertown, SD.
The carrier will receive a total of USD6.88 million per year for a contract running from February 13, 2019, through March 31, 2021. SkyWest will operate 12x weekly to each of the South Dakotan communities using CRJ200 equipment under the United Express brand.
In 2018, the EAS contract covering Pierre and Watertown was awarded to ADI Aerodynamics (Pontiac Oakland County International). The airline had been previously acquired by California Pacific Airlines (San Diego McClellan Palomar). On January 17, 2019, financially and operationally struggling CPA notified the DOT that it could no longer support its EAS operations in South Dakota.
CPA operated services to Pierre and Watertown using E145 aircraft.
