The three regional airlines seeking to provide passenger service for Watertown for the next two or four years gave their presentations to the city’s airport board Tuesday night.
The three contenders are Key Lime Air, doing business as Denver Air Connection of Denver; SkyWest Airlines of St. George, UT, and Air Wisconsin, which flies out of Appleton, WI International Airport.
The city’s travelers are well acquainted with current provider Denver Air, which had a very successful showing in 2024 when it carried 30,873 passengers from and to the Watertown Regional Airport. That number easily dwarfed the 18,141 passengers in 2023.
Four years ago, however, city and state officials were working to convince the U.S. Department of Transportation to keep SkyWest as the city’s Essential Air Service (EAS) provider. After a string of underperforming carriers, SkyWest had performed well in providing consistent, affordable service.
The USDOT, however, awarded the 2021 contract to Denver Air primarily because the airline’s bid was considerably less costly than what SkyWest had proposed.
EAS funding is crucial to small airports like Watertown and even larger cities. It was created after the 1978 deregulation of the airline industry. Its purpose is to maintain a minimal level of scheduled air service to communities that otherwise could not sustain profitability. Airlines provide bids for the money they would need to make air service work.
Watertown officials must submit their choice by Friday, Feb. 7. Airport board members Wes Wilkens, Dr. Gerry Rieber, Mike Tomlinson and Mike Peterson will deliver their choice to the Watertown City Council, which will have the final say and then send their recommendation to the USDOT. The selected carrier will begin carrying passengers June 1.
The city’s preference will be the No. 1 factor in USDOT’s decision, although as seen in 2021 the differences in what the federal government will pay to bidders can contradict a city’s choice.
The airlines provided bids for two- or four-year subsidies with 12 round-trip flights per week to Denver and/or Chicago O’Hare. Here are the bids for the first year of operation:
Air Wisconsin – $6,306,304 to Chicago
Air Wisconsin – $6,694,207 to Chicago and Denver
Denver Air – $6,346,825 to Chicago and Denver
SkyWest – $6,301,661 to Chicago and Denver
Air Wisconsin and SkyWest fly the Bombardier CRJ-200 jet aircraft, and Denver Air would continue to use the Embraer LR-145. Both aircraft carry up to 50 passengers.
All three airlines touted such factors as histories, safety records, high percentages of on-time flights, available aircraft and pilots, and other data. They also provided statistics on how cities that chose their services increased passenger boardings compared to the previous or subsequent carrier.
Codeshare, interline and connectivity were words heard often during the meeting.
Codeshare and interline are agreements between regional and international carriers. Codeshare offers advantages such as a single ticket for connecting flights, benefits for accrued mileage for customers, automatic transferring of bags on connecting flights, pricing, irregular operations protection, gateway proximity to partner departures and lounge and travel support.
SkyWest’s documents said it’s the only regional carrier that has codeshare agreements with United, Delta, American and Alaskan Airlines. Denver Air officials said their interline agreements with United, Delta and American offer many of the same advantages as codeshare, and Air Wisconsin has a codeshare agreement with United.
Connectivity involves the ease at which passengers can find and make connecting flights to other destinations without having to retrieve baggage or find a distant gate.
Board members offered no outward support for any airline but were interested in announcements that both SkyWest and Denver Air have initial agreements with Delta Airlines to provide service to Minneapolis-St. Paul International.
Comments made by some board members indicated they prefer Minneapolis as the primary hub because of its appeal to business travelers seeking an early morning flight and same-day return. Chicago’s O’Hare Airport received some criticism because of flight delays and its size, but a SkyWest official said either O’Hare or Denver would offer the best access to international flights.
SkyWest already serves Sioux Falls and Aberdeen, but airline officials saw no issue adding service back to Watertown. When asked why SkyWest was perhaps sluggish in its effort to retain 2021 EAS in Watertown, an official said the COVID epidemic caused pilot shortages, and SkyWest wasn’t sure if it could sustain service to Watertown.
Discussions with Denver Air were the longest, and their officials were asked about customer service issues, especially with trying to contact the airlines after 8 p.m. The response was that Denver Air now has a 24-hour call center, an easier to use website and is working on an app.
“We’re the only (airline) here who has our own booking system,” said John Coleman, senior vice-president of corporate strategy and a pilot. “We have to figure out these things on our own. We’re trying to resolve them and we’ll certainly get there.”
And getting there with minimum hassle is what air travel is all about.
J.T. Fey is a freelance reporter