Gulfstream International Airlines Inc., is focused on starting
service at Bradford Regional Airport by Oct. 1, according to an
official with the airline.
According to Gulfstream’s Vice President of Corporate
Development Mickey Bowman, there will be no repeat of a previous
situation where an airline selected to provide service under the
federal Essential Air Service program by the U.S. Department of
Transportation failed to do so at the airport after several
attempts.
“The DOT has spelled out in the (EAS contract) award the date by
which we need to commence service and has also dictated the date to
start selling seats,” Bowman said. “Part of that is a sensitivity
on those issues by the DOT, who wanted to be sure Bradford is
looking at an orderly change.
“Those commitments must be met, or this contract will go back to
Colgan again.”
Last month, the DOT selected Gulfstream to provide commercial
air service to Bradford Regional and nearby Jamestown, N.Y., under
a two-year EAS contract starting Oct. 1. By doing so, the decision
marked the end of a four-year relationship the airport has had with
current carrier Colgan Air Inc.
Gulfstream will fly under the Continental Airlines banner to
Cleveland. Until that service commences, however, passengers will
still be able to fly to Washington Dulles under Colgan and United
Airlines Express.
“We are tremendously excited about commencing the service and
look forward to providing a quality product to the community,”
Bowman said, adding the airline intends to continue the trend of
increased enplanements at the airport. “We have already been in
contact with Bradford Airport officials and are starting to make
inquiries about hangar space and fuel costs.”
Gulfstream, with headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will
provide the service to Bradford and Jamestown under a total annual
federal subsidy of ,2.701 million – more than ,1 million less than
Colgan’s bid of ,3.826 million.
The DOT’s final decision eventually fell to a difference in
funding.
In addition to beginning service by Oct. 1, Gulfstream must also
make its schedule available for sale in computer reservations
systems by Aug. 1, according to the DOT’s order.
Bradford Regional has been down this road before. Prior to
Colgan taking over the air service, the DOT had selected another
relatively unknown carrier, RegionsAir, to provide the service
under a reduced EAS subsidy. However, RegionsAir balked at starting
service leading Colgan to intervene and eventually be awarded the
market again.
Earlier this year, Colgan changed hub cities and parent
airlines, which was backed by the community. The airline’s recent
bid was similarly backed by federal, state and local officials as
well as several prominent businesses across the Tuna Valley.
“There are certain time requirements in place and if they
(Gulfstream) are able to fulfill them, they will be in service on
Oct. 1,” Airport Director Tom Frungillo said. “There will be a
smooth transition for any passengers booked out of Bradford after
Oct. 1. The airport service will be maintained here, but just with
a different carrier and connection. We are going to work with
Gulfstream and try to increase the enplanements up here.”
The airport has been trying to wean itself off the EAS program
for years and has seen the level of passengers using the facility
increase over the past several months with the new connection to
Washington. Airport officials have also established a marketing
plan for the service.
Bowman said Gulfstream – which will operate Beech 1900D regional
airliners with 19 seats and no stewards – is well on its way to
meeting its obligations, including the various deadlines set forth
by the DOT. Bowman said flights will be available for sale on July
26 and be in all the airline systems shortly after.
Gulfstream’s arrival in Bradford is part of a larger move into
the Northeast market. The airline has also added routes in nearby
DuBois and Franklin-Oil City to Cleveland, effective Sept. 3.
“Gulfstream went public last December and part of the charter of
the new ownership was to explore growth opportunities outside the
normal realm of Florida and the Bahamas,” Bowman said, adding he
has experience with the EAS program. “In identifying new market
opportunities, when the bids came out in the Northeast, we felt we
could make it work.”
Bowman said the airline already had a co-share agreement with
Continental. That relationship is one of the reasons Cleveland was
chosen as the airline’s hub city for the region.
“The operation of the Cleveland hub has matured nicely,” Bowman
said. “We’ll be offering a higher frequency level than our
competition, doing three round-trip daily flights. It will be
frequent and reliable service.”
Bowman said there will be reduced frequency on the weekends,
however.
Officials said all new routes will be operated under the
airline’s Continental Connection affiliation with the parent
company. A press release from the airline indicates “passengers
will enjoy a seamless travel experience as through ticketing and
baggage transfer is offered.”
Gulfstream’s President and Chief Executive Officer David Hackett
said, “We are tremendously excited to expand our relationship with
Continental Airlines from its Cleveland hub. We look forward to
expanding our base of operation outside of Florida and the Bahamas.
We believe that all these communities (Bradford, Franklin, DuBois,
Lewisburg and Jamestown) will benefit from our convenient and
reliable service.”
In addition to moving into the Northeast market, Gulfstream is
also making changes to its Florida base of operations.
The airline announced last week it plans to reduce capacity
within its Florida-based route system.
Gulfstream officials said the capacity reductions come as a
result of implementing the airline’s previously-announced plan to
sell eight EMB-120, 30-passenger aircraft. The airline expects to
complete the sale of seven of those by Aug. 15, pursuant to an
aircraft purchase and sale agreement entered into on June 26.
Meanwhile, the airline is in the process of negotiating a sale of
the last aircraft and anticipates its sale in the near future.
Airline officials said they expect to have all EMB-120’s out of
service by Aug. 1. The sale of that fleet is expected to result in
the elimination of about ,7.3 million in long-term debt and improve
Gulfstream’s cash position by about ,4 million.
Hackett said the capacity reductions are primarily being driven
by the unprecedented increase in fuel costs.
“Regardless of the Cleveland operation, as we looked at the
existing operation in Florida, we had two fleet types – the Beech
and EMB’s,” Bowman said. “One of the ways to reduce overhead costs
is to lower the number of fleet types. We thought we had a good
offer from a company to acquire that fleet (EMB) of aircraft. It
will help to sharpen our focus on what we are doing in Florida as
well as the new expansion opportunity in the Northeast.”
Bowman said there needs to be some level of stability brought
back to the fuel price situation, noting all the airlines “are
dealing with escalations. It’s unfortunate because the costs are
being transferred on to the traveling public.”
According to Bowman, the airline was conservative in its bid to
the DOT “in order to give us some insulation” under the two-year
EAS contract.
“A larger number of EAS carriers have filed (for relief) because
of the high fuel costs. It’s not unusual to be paying ,5 (a
gallon).”
