Managers from Mason City, Fort Dodge, and four Kansas airports are asking the U-S Department of Transportation to approve an application for SkyWest Airlines to provide charter jet service under the Essential Air Service program. SkyWest launched the SkyWest Charter subsidiary in April as the charter authority only requires pilots to have 500 hours of flight experience, compared to the 15-hundred hours for a traditional airline pilot or first officer. The Air Line Pilots Association International union has opposed the plan, saying it jeopardizes aviation safety standards. Skywest Charter’s chief commercial officer Wade Steel says his company’s safety programs far exceed the requirements of the FAA’s Part 135 charter authority rules.
Speaking at a news conference last Wednesday, Steel says SkyWest Charter has waited for over a year for the US DOT to approve their application for commuter authority and says it’s time for the agency to act and not leave smaller commercial airports in limbo for future air service.
Mason City Municipal Airport manager David Sims says north-central Iowa relies on having commercial air service out of the airport, but that’s getting tougher under the Essential Air Service program.
Sims says there’s no regulatory reason why SkyWest Charter’s authorization should be withheld.
Sims says SkyWest Airlines filed a 90-day notice in March of 2022 that they were pulling out of 29 communities, including Mason City and Fort Dodge, but the DOT ordered the airline to continue service until it found a suitable replacement.
