The US Department for Transportation (DOT) has awarded two Essential Air Service (EAS) routes to SkyWest Airlines (OO, Salt Lake City), with the regional carrier to provide 12x weekly CRJ200 service from Dodge City and Liberal to Denver International.

Branded as United Express, both routes will be flown for a three-year term from February 1, 2020. The service from Liberal will attract an annual subsidy of USD3,788,409 dollars, whereas from Dodge City it will be slightly less at USD3,774,652 dollars. The sector lengths are broadly comparable, at 254 nautical miles (471 kilometres) from Dodge City and 243 nautical miles from Liberal (450 kilometres).

While SkyWest is the current incumbent on the Liberal-Denver route, Boutique Air (4B, San Francisco) is the existing service provider on the Dodge City-Denver city pair, with the agreement to conclude on January 31, 2020. As part of the order selecting the air carrier, the DOT has set a temporary rate for Boutique Air to continue to provide EAS at Dodge City from February 1, 2020, until March 31, 2020, or until SkyWest can start the service, whichever is earlier, and with no service hiatus.

Proposals for both routes were received from Boutique Air and SkyWest, and Key Lime Air (KG, Denver Centennial) made a submission for Dodge City only. The competing proposals to the successful SkyWest bid were:

  • Boutique Air, Dodge City 18x weekly PC-12 service with annual subsidy USD3,621,182 for two years;
  • Boutique Air, Liberal 18x weekly PC-12 service with annual subsidy USD3,515,596 or 24x weekly PC-12 service with annual subsidy USD4,209,579 for two years;
  • Key Lime Air, Dodge City 12x weekly Do328-300 (transitioning to E145 within first three months) service with annual subsidy USD4,414,466 for two years.

The DOT indicated that SkyWest’s proposal met all five of the carrier-selection criteria it typically considers. SkyWest has been a reliable carrier, and both communities expressed support for the carrier's proposal. In addition, it has a codeshare with United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare), and the carrier had included a plan for marketing the air service at both communities (USD20,000 per city). The DOT also found that SkyWest’s proposed service and subsidy levels are reasonable for the service provided. It also noted that Boutique Air’s proposal for both communities was slightly lower, however, Liberal did not request a waiver from its guarantee of two-engine, two-pilot service, so the DOT could not consider Boutique Air’s proposal for Liberal.

SkyWest currently operates a fleet of 184 CRJ200ER and LR 50-seat jets. Its total fleet, all regional types, now numbers close to 500 units.