Great Lakes Airlines (Cheyenne) has announced it has suspended all scheduled turboprop flight operations as of Tuesday, March 27.
The Wyoming-based regional carrier said in a statement that staff deemed critical to supporting its Part 121 scheduled airline certificate, repair station certificate, reservation platform and fleet will be retained until its assets, which include six E120s and twenty-eight Beech 1900Ds, can be sold.
Management blamed the move on the lingering effects of a US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rule change, effected in August 2015, which requires first officers to possess Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certifications and to have an increased number of flight hours. This, in turn, has "significantly reduced" the pool of qualified pilots needed to operate regional aircraft.
"This change caused Great Lakes Airlines, for the past five years, to suspend flights to small cities in the Upper Midwest and Western Regions of the US as a result of its inability to employ pilots," it said.
Great Lakes Airlines specialized in scheduled and chartered passenger flights across Arizona, California, Colorado, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Kansas.
