SkyWest Airlines (OO, St. George Municipal) will commence Essential Air Service (EAS) regional jet flights on the Decatur, IL to Chicago O'Hare city pair from March 5, 2020, following the award of the route by the US Department for Transportation (DOT) in early December. It replaces the existing turboprop service which is operated by Cape Air (9K, Hyannis).

The two-year contract will attract an annual subsidy of USD2,993,168. Other carriers that expressed interest in operating the service, including SkyWest and the incumbent Cape Air, were Boutique Air (4B, San Francisco) with a PC-12 service and Air Choice One (St. Louis Lambert International) with a Beech 1900C operation.

The new SkyWest service will be flown 12x weekly by SkyWest's CRJ200 fleet, in comparison to the 24x weekly nine-seat Cessna 402 operation offered by Cape Air. Flight UA5198 will leave Decatur at 0600L, arriving at O'Hare at 0705L. The first service from Chicago, flight UA5200, departs at 1035L and touches down 65 minutes later. A second rotation, flight UA5173, leaves Decatur at 1212L and lands in Chicago at 1318L. The last service of the day on the 136-nautical mile (251-kilometre) sector departs O'Hare at 2125L and its working day terminates at 2230L following arrival in the origin market.

The DOT indicated that SkyWest’s proposal met all five of the carrier-selection criteria it typically considers. SkyWest has a solid reputation in the EAS programme, and the DOT received several comments in support of SkyWest’s proposal. In addition, it operating in cooperation with United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) as United Express allows numerous connecting opportunities at the O'Hare hub. The DOT also found that SkyWest’s proposed service and subsidy levels are USD9,653 less than Cape Air's current subsidy.

As the contract is due to commence from February 1, 2020 (and runs until January 31, 2022), even though SkyWest is unable to commence the service until early March, the DOT will expect both carriers to work together to make a smooth transition at Decatur, with no service hiatus. On this basis, Cape Air is required to serve the Illinois regional airport with its current service pattern until SkyWest begins full EAS. The incumbent carrier will be compensated at the first-year annual subsidy rate from its bid.

SkyWest currently operates a fleet of 184 CRJ200ER and LR 50-seat jets. Its total fleet, all regional types, now numbers close to 500 units. The regional carrier failed to win this particular EAS during its last DOT award process in late 2017/early 2018. Less than two weeks ago, Skywest was awarded two other EAS routes from Dodge City and Liberal to Denver International.

The only other scheduled service which is presently offered from Decatur is a 13x weekly route to St. Louis Lambert International, again by Cape Air.