SkyWest Airlines is appealing the US Department of Transportation’s decision to award Denver Air Connection (and its subsidiary Key Lime Airlines) a federal contract to provide commercial air service to airports in Pierre and Watertown starting July 1.
In a letter to the US DOT dated April 28, 2021, SkyWest Market Development Director Greg Atkin writes the selection was a “puzzling move” because Denver Air’s proposal didn’t meet several of DOT’s five mandatory selection criteria. He says SkyWest believes it is in the best interest of Watertown and Pierre for the DOT to issue a re-bid.
Atkin says SkyWest has “rarely appealed” the USDOT’s selection of a carrier to serve cities under the Essential Air Service program, but in this case they believe the selection of Denver Air “would leave Watertown and Pierre with 31,200 fewer seats annually, remove the United Airlines codeshare, replace it with a mere interline baggage transfer agreement and provide fewer connective schedules at higher fares.” He says with this selection “Watertown and Pierre are no longer positioned to fully recover” from the impacts of COVID-19 on their air service.
(Watertown Radio contributed information to this story.)
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