Boutique Air (4B, San Francisco) CEO Shawn Simpson has written an official complaint to the US Department of Transportation suggesting that the Essential Air Service (EAS) awarding procedure for Silver City, NM was unfair and skewed in favour of a competitor, Advanced Air (AN, Hawthorne).
"Under normal circumstances, I am not one to question an official recommendation by a local government for the Essential Air Service program. In the last five years Boutique Air has been through dozens of bids with different communities; sometimes we are recommended, and sometimes we are not. This particular recommendation was unlike any other that we have ever been through. The primary issue is that a public process was not followed for the two contending airlines," Simpson wrote.
Levi Stockton, Advanced Air CEO, denied all allegations in a statement to ch-aviation.
"This EAS process was fair and we are proud of our outreach to Silver City and will work hard to provide the top-notch service we promised after hearing how important reliability and customer service is to the community. The only advantage Advanced Air had in this bid process was many people in the community were not happy with the current air service and we were one of a total of two bidders," Stockton said.
According to Simpson, Grant County, in which Silver City is located, organised a meeting of the airline with the five district commissioners, in line with the established procedures. However, only a single commissioner attended and Boutique Air never got the chance to present its bid to the other decision-makers. Simpson further alleged that at the same time, Advanced Air was granted numerous one-on-one meetings with the commissioners.
Eventually, the Commission voted on July 10 to choose Advanced Air's proposal for the EAS contract starting January 1, 2019.
"In the next day or two, I learned that Advanced Air was not only present at the meeting but also given the opportunity to speak directly to the decision-makers - the County Commissioners. This is when the unfairness of the situation really started to become clear. It seemed that the decision-makers were not interested in hearing both sides," Simpson said.
According to him, the choice was made despite the support for Boutique Air's service in the community, the growing passenger numbers, and satisfying reliability. Simpson also pointed out that the commissioners, in their explanation of the vote, wrongly said that Boutique Air has had a high number of cancellations. They also took at face value Advanced Air's assurances of a 100% reliability and said that Boutique Air refused to amend schedules to the needs of the community, while in fact the carrier never received such a request.
"As CEO of Advanced Air, I want to make clear that we stand by our bid and our outreach to the Silver City community. In this process, Advanced Air has done nothing more than reach out to the community of Grant County, asked what the community’s needs and wants are with air service. We did this with online survey, public meetings, and meetings with stakeholders in the community," Stockton responded.
The DOT requested proposals for a new EAS contract at Silver City in May 2018. Boutique Air offered four different proposals, for either 21 weekly services (including 14 to Albuquerque International and seven to Phoenix Sky Harbor) or 24 flights (17 to Albuquerque and seven to Phoenix), with each of the options operated by either PC-12 or Beech (twin turboprop) King Air 350 aircraft. The carrier proposed a two-year contract with an option for four years at a subsidy ranging from USD3.22 million to USD4.29 million per year, depending on the option.
For its part, Advanced Air proposed three different options for a total of 24 weekly services to each of Albuquerque and Phoenix using a King Air 350 aircraft. The airline asked for an annual subsidy ranging from USD3.5 million and USD3.91 million, depending on the option.
Boutique Air is currently the only carrier serving Silver City with 17 weekly flights to Albuquerque and seven to Phoenix.
