Looks like Brown has plans to acquire TAC if he gets the EAS contract.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
July 16, 2012 Monday
Main Edition
NEWS; Pg. 1A
944 words
WATCHING YOUR TAX DOLLARS;
Atlanta-Macon route still defying gravity
Kelly Yamanouchi; Staff
Numbers down, but DOT looks to maintain 'Essential Air Service.'
The average passenger count on airline flights from Macon to Atlanta in 2011 was roughly one, and the airline that flew them says the service is a lost cause.
Yet the U.S. Department of Transportation is considering restoring a subsidy of more than $1 million a year to keep Atlanta-Macon flights alive.
The DOT has collected proposals from two carriers to take over the 80-mile route under the "Essential Air Service" program that subsidizes airline flights to smaller cities that might not have service otherwise.
Both contend they can do better than GeorgiaSkies, which uses a nine-passenger, single-engine plane on the flights between the Hartsfield-Jackson International and Middle Georgia Regional airports.
GeorgiaSkies started the flights under the subsidy program, then tried running them without government help. The flights didn't operate more than 40 percent of the time in 2011, according to federal data --- because they had no passengers or cargo. In April, GeorgiaSkies told the DOT it plans to drop the business, prompting the agency to seek new operators.
Subsidies for air service in Macon and elsewhere have come under fire before, with critics questioning how much public money should be used to maintain routes. EAS money comes from taxes on airline tickets, aviation fuel and other sources.
Among those critics now is GeorgiaSkies chief executive Greg Kahlstorf, who said his airline has "really done what we could --- everything from pricing to promotions" to boost passenger counts.
"I think Macon is an excellent example of the kind of waste and excess that's present in the EAS program," Kahlstorf said. "The passenger traffic in that city has been declining for decades."
City leaders want the service to continue as an option for people doing business, and Atlanta-Macon flights survived a shuffling of subsidized routes last year. That was after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a story on subsidies that amounted to $464 per passenger based on head counts at the time.
The two contenders to continue the service say they can generate better ridership.
Sun Air, a Florida-Bahamas charter operator that recently was certified as a commuter carrier, proposes to fly the Macon-Atlanta route four times a day on weekdays with nine-passenger planes, as GeorgiaSkies does now. Sun Air seeks an annual subsidy of $1.9 million, or $727 per departure. Based on the most recent traffic data, that would exceed the per-passenger subsidy cap of $200.
But Sun Air projects it will increase traffic "over a reasonable period of time" to bring the subsidy to below $200 per passenger.
Sun Air president Tom Cooper said "a surprisingly large number of passengers" flew out of Macon five or six years ago, and he thinks with twin-engine planes, reliable service and connections to other airlines, "the lion's share of those customers will return."
The second proposal is for another charter operator to the Bahamas, Twin Air Calypso, to fly Macon-Atlanta six times a day with eight-passenger single-engine planes, and eventually use larger planes. The proposal seeks an annual subsidy of nearly $1.6 million but does not list a per-passenger subsidy amount.
George Brown, who submitted the second proposal based on plans for his company to acquire Twin Air Calypso, is a retired director of the Macon airport who left about seven years ago amid tension with the mayor over airport operations.
"There's too many people in the Middle Georgia area that need dependable transportation to overlook it," Brown said.
Delta Connection carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines once flew the route without a subsidy, until Delta ditched the flights due to light ridership. GeorgiaSkies took over in late 2008.
After competing airlines sought to take over the subsidized service, GeorgiaSkies said it would operate the flights subsidy-free in order to keep the market. Its fares went from about $80 round-trip to more than $370 today. Ridership further plummeted, prompting the decision to bail out.
GeorgiaSkies, a unit of Pacific Wings, carried a total of 824 passengers from Macon to Atlanta in 2011, according to federal data. It operated 784 flights from Macon that year --- producing the average of about 1 passenger per flight.
Other Georgia cities, such as Columbus, Savannah and Valdosta, have commercial air service. The only other EAS market, however, is Athens. GeorgiaSkies flies to Athens with a $1 million annual subsidy, and that contract also is being rebid.
In Macon, city officials envision expanding the airport through cargo to become a transportation and logistics hub. As for commercial airline flights, "what we would want is a viable service to fly in and out of there, and to help grow that," said Chris Floore, a spokesman for Macon Mayor Robert Reichert.
The DOT is giving Macon officials until Aug. 1 to submit comments on the two proposals for subsidies, before it makes a recommendation for a decision.
Even if it picks a new operator, service could be at risk. Congress this year required that communities like Macon and Athens maintain an average of at least 10 passengers boarding planes per service day in order to keep the subsidy, unless granted a waiver. By the DOT's count using six service days a week, GeorgiaSkies in Macon averaged three passengers boarding planes a day in 2011. In Athens it averaged 2.6, down from 10.7 in 2010.
The DOT wrote to Macon officials that it "will continue to monitor Macon's eligibility," and may scrub the subsidy if passenger counts remain below the minimum in fiscal 2013.
Said Kahlstorf, CEO of the outgoing airline: "I wish as a taxpayer that they would just wake up and smell the coffee, and throw the towel in."
July 16, 2012
