The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has selected Boutique Air (4B, San Francisco) for the Essential Air Service (EAS) contract at Victoria, TX, raising objections from another bidder, Silver Airways (3M, Fort Lauderdale International).
Boutique Air has been awarded a two-year contract starting on November 1, 2018, through October 31, 2020. It will receive a USD3.33 million subsidy in the first year and USD3.41 million in the second year. The carrier will offer 14x weekly service to Houston Intercontinental and 7x weekly service to Dallas/Fort Worth onboard Beech (twin turboprop) King Air 350 aircraft.
Victoria has been included in the Alternate Essential Air Service (AEAS) programme since 2014. Since 2016, the airport has been served by Public Charters, which currently offers 6x weekly service to Dallas/Fort Worth operated by Contour Aviation with Jetstream 32s on behalf of PublicCharters' division Texas Sky (Victoria, TX).
After the DOT announced that it had selected Boutique Air, Silver Airways said it would be petitioning the DOT to reconsider, stay the current order and re-open bidding.
Silver Airways proposed to operate 12 weekly roundtrips to Houston with an ATR42-600 for a USD4.95 million annual subsidy. Although its offer received overwhelming support from the local community and authorities, the DOT chose the cheaper Boutique Air bid.
