City approves PenAir bid
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Councilors made their final review of essential air service bids Monday night, following the recommendation of City Manager Jim Bennett and Northern Maine Regional Airport Director Scott Wardwell to award the bid to Peninsula Airways (PenAir) of Anchorage, pending final approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Wardwell reviewed the process that led to PenAir’s selection, noting that one of the three candidates, Sovereign Air, based in North Dakota, had withdrawn its bid earlier in the day. The third bidder, Air Choice One, headquartered in St. Louis, was not selected because it offered aircraft smaller than 15 seats and did not provide service to Boston’s Logan Airport.
“The city manager, members of the Airport Advisory Board, a representative from Sen. Olympia Snowe’s office and I met with PenAir officials. The owner flew down from Anchorage. Overall, it was a good meeting. Unfortunately, some things we’d hoped for probably aren’t realistic at this point, at least from a PenAir standpoint,” said Wardwell, noting the problems with Air Choice One’s bid as he recommended PenAir’s bid be approved.
Wardwell indicated efforts had been made to get additional carriers to bid, with a significant amount of time focused on getting a mainline carrier to provide service, but in the end none were comfortable with the EAS program.
“That’s the problem with the program. A lot of mainline carriers don’t want to participate in a government program. If there’s money in it, they’ll get into it,” said Wardwell. “I’m not surprised but had to take a shot.”
Councilors and Wardwell discussed the future of the EAS program. Wardwell said while talks have been going on for the past four years in Washington, D.C., he thought it would pass the House, “leaving the EAS fairly the same.” EAS is designed to guarantee air service to rural areas of the U.S.
“Eleven communities will get dropped, no additional communities will be allowed in the program,” said Wardwell with regard to what’s currently being discussed in Washington.
Councilors unanimously approved PenAir’s bid, as recommended. A final decision by the DOT is expected later this spring.
