PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Pen Air, the Alaskan company currently holding the contract to provide subsidized air service between Presque Isle and Boston, is banking on local citizens lending their support to keeping the route.
On Monday, Jan. 22, the Presque Isle City Council voted 5-1 to recommend that the U.S. Department of Transportation choose a bid from United Airlines to provide federally-subsidized air service to and from Presque Isle under the Essential Air Service Program.
The council followed the recommendation of the Northern Maine Regional Airport Advisory Committee in choosing United’s bid for a Presque Isle to Newark route, which would replace the subsidized Presque Isle to Boston service Pen Air has provided since 2012.
Members of the airport committee and council supporting the United proposal cited a number of factors behind their decision, including access to many connecting flights from the large Newark hub and new potential business development from a route to the New York City metropolitan area.
The move to switch to United, however, has been met with mixed feelings from residents around Aroostook County. While some support the switch as a better option for reaching popular destinations such as Florida, others who turned out for a public hearing Monday told the Presque Isle City Council that they support keeping the Boston route, particularly for specialized medical care.
Now, with the final decision in the hands of the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., Pen Air officials are hoping to tap into community support for the Boston route and are asking supporters to write to the DOT. The agency could make its decision as soon as late February, with the changes taking effect in July, Northern Maine Regional Airport director Scott Wardwell said at the council meeting.
“Of course, Pen Air is disappointed in the city council decision,” said Murphy Forner, Pen Air senior vice president of ground operations and business development. “We’ve worked really hard to make that a destination and a point of connection.”
Pen Air began serving Presque Isle in 2012, when Colgan Air pulled out of its Presque Isle and Bar Harbor routes. Today, Pen Air, a relatively small privately-owned airline company, provides flights to Boston from Presque Isle, Bar Harbor and Plattsburgh, New York, under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, which provides federal funding support to air carriers serving rural communities through a biannual bid process.
Forner said that he is not sure if there is a precedent for the U.S. DOT to award an EAS contract to a carrier other than one recommended by the host community’s municipal government. But he said that any letters from citizens on the matter will be reviewed and considered by the U.S. DOT as part of all the proposals.
“The only action we can take at this point in time is to get travellers and community members to submit letters to the DOT in favor of Boston,” Forner said. “It is our intent to show large numbers of supporting people for the Boston route. If we can show enough community support that may put some different light, we feel we still have a strong possibility of getting the bids.”
In Plattsburgh, the local government also is recommending dropping Pen Air in favor of a proposed United Skywest route to Washington D.C.
In Bar Harbor, the Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport Advisory Committee was to meet Wednesday night to consider whether to recommend keeping Pen Air or going with another proposal.
Forner said that Pen Air’s bid for the EAS contract is for all three communities, and that they’re business model largely depends on serving all three. (Pen Air is in the midst of Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, but Forner said the company is expecting to come out of the process stronger financially.)
“Pen Air’s bid is established on us getting all three communities together. The cost of a single destination bid would probably be undoable. I’m not saying it isn’t.”
Members of the Presque Isle city council and airport committee argued that United’s Newark route could grow the total number of passengers and even potentially position the Northern Maine Regional Airport to be sufficient enough to not need the EAS program.
Forner said that Pen Air has grown the number of passengers flying out of Presque Isle and could generate about as many total customers as United is predicting. In 2017, Pen Air served 25,557 round-trip customers. United’s bid estimates garnering 31,000 while Pen Air’s estimates garnering 28,710.
“The numbers have continually grown, and we’ve taken numbers beyond where Colgan had when they departed,” Forner said.
Another factor in the debate over which carrier to recommend has been expected terminal changes for Pen Air at Boston’s Logan Airport. Forner said that the Massachusetts Port Authority, Logan’s operator, is planning to relocate Pen Air to terminal E, the international terminal, in January 2019 due to construction.
In the “worst case scenario,” anyone with a connecting flight would have to re-enter security, although Pen Air and the Port Authority are exploring possible solutions to the dilemma, Forner said. “We might be able to do ramp transfers and other things to make it more convenient.”
Currently, Pen Air passengers with connecting flights do not have to re-enter security if they’re flying with American Airlines or United.
Forner said Pen Air and the Port Authority have agreed to wait to sort out the issue until after the U.S. DOT makes its decision on the EAS contract.
