Air service could provide flights from Carlsbad to Albuquerque, Dallas

Bid proposals from airlines seeking to provide air service to Carlsbad under the federal Essential Air Service program closed Tuesday and U.S. the Department of Transportation is considering whether the current provider will continue service or award the bid to another airline.

City of Carlsbad Administrator Jon Tully said the current Essential Air Service contract expires at the end of May. He said the DOT issued a call for proposals from air carriers in mid-December.

For the past six years, Carlsbad has been served by New Mexico Airlines that offers service between Carlsbad and Albuquerque.

Bill Mosley with the Department of Transportation said his agency received three proposals. In addition to New Mexico Airlines, based in Arizona, proposals have been received from Sovereign Air Inc., based in Minneapolis and Boutique Air based in California

In its proposal, Sovereign says it plans to provide air service from Carlsbad to Albuquerque, with a possible stop in Roswell. Boutique Air says it plans to offer service to two hubs - Albuquerque and Dallas-Fort Worth.

New Mexico Airlines says it will continue its flights to Albuquerque.

Daniel Helland, spokesman for Boutique Air, a California-based company, said in a telephone interview that if his airline is awarded the bid, air service in pressurized planes will be offered to Albuquerque and Dallas/Fort Worth. In addition, the company would hire a local station manager and customer service agents.

The airline will have an open house on Sunday at the Cavern City Airport from 2 to 3:30 p.m. to allow the public to view one of the aircraft that would be used should the DOT award the airline the Essential Air Service contract., and to talk with airline officials.

"At Boutique Air, we have a different philosophy than most carriers," Helland notes in his DOT proposal he provided to the Current-Argus. "For one thing, you're going to have to look pretty hard to find fee. We don't charge change fees, we don't charge unaccompanied minor fees, we don't charge pet fees and we don't charge baggage fees."

Helland said that the airline believes that a two-hub service will increase Carlsbad's traffic significantly.

"This proven method has been used in other EAS communities a number of times," he said. "One way we intend to increase passenger counts is be recapturing traffic that has leaded to Roswell to fly to DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) with our projected fees to Dallas ranging from $69 to $129, we will be significantly more economical than flying out of Roswell."

Helland said for flights to Albuquerque the projected fares range from $49 to $99, and from time-to- time, fares sale on both routes would be offered to increase awareness and passenger counts.

New Mexico Airlines shows in its proposal provided by DOT that the average ticket price (one way) to Albuquerque is $88. Sovereign Air does not state a fare price in its proposal.

Boutique Air (formerly Shasta Flyers Aviation) is a fledgling company and has been in operation since 2007, flying air attack missions for the forestry service and operating a charter service in Van Nuys, Calif.

Helland said if his airline is the successful bidder, the company intends to keep two aircraft overnight in Carlsbad.

"That means we'll also be doing maintenance in Carlsbad, providing reliable morning departures and allowing easier connections in Albuquerque or Dallas," he said.

Tully said the city council has no veto power on the awarding of an EAS bid.

However, the general public has the ability to provide comment to the DOT prior to its awarding of the bid.

Asked what would happen if the DOT awarded the ESA bid to a carrier the city found it could not support, Tully replied: "I don't know what would happen if we could not absolutely support their choice."

Helland said Boutique Air would welcome the community's feedback.

"We'd really like the community at large to get involved and send their feedback to DOT, regardless of what airline they want to support," Helland said.

He said that the public can go to the airline's website at boutiqueair.com/CNM to send their feedback directly to the DOT.

Under Essential Air program, the Department of Transportation determines the minimum level of service required at each eligible community by specifying a hub through which the community is linked to the national network, a minimum number of round trips and available seats that must be provided to that hub, certain characteristics of the aircraft to be used, and the maximum permissible number of intermediate stops to the hub.

Source:   http://www.currentargus.com