Great Lakes to Once Again Serve Gogebic-Iron County Airport

IRONWOOD, MI - Sunday, April 20, 2008 - On April 05, 2008, Skyway Airlines/Midwest Connect quit operations at the Gogebic-Iron County Airport. In fact, Skyway sold nearly all of it's equipment and laid off all of their personnel. As a result, four airports throughout Michigan are left without air service -- Ironwood, Manistique, Escanaba and Iron Mountain.

Skyway told officials that they were taking such huge losses that they were forced to go out of business. Contracts with the various airports affected were all honored, but as soon as they expired, Skyway closed down.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) can normally force an airline to continue to serve a community until another carrier can be found, but it is rather difficult to expect a company that has gone out of business to do so. The DOT has a "safety net" policy, but it isn't fool proof. With Skyway closed down, there is little the DOT can do to insure service.

Gogebic-Iron County Airport manager, Duane Duray told WJMS' Sam Erspamer on Thursday morning's Sam in the Morning program that no local employees have been laid off at this time. He told the morning radio host that the airport staff is taking this rare opportunity to spruce up the airport terminal.  He said it's rather difficult to do any kind of redecorating -- painting, replacing tile, carpeting, etc. -- with passengers and air staff present. Duray told Erspamer that schedules have been adjusted, but nobody has been let go.

Duray said that the DOT has accepted a proposal from Great Lakes Airlines to serve the Gogebic-Iron County Airport. Great Lakes had previously served the Ironwood area, and Duray told WJMS listeners that Airport numbers were never better than they were when the airline was here before.

Great Lakes Airlines, formerly Great Lakes Aviation, is based in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is a regional airline operating domestic scheduled and charter services. Its main base is Cheyenne Regional Airport, with a hub at Denver International Airport, and aircraft bases at Kansas City International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airportand Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

The airline was established by Doug Voss and Ivan Simpson and started operations on April 05, 1977. It began scheduled services on October 12, 1981, with flights between Spencer, Iowa, and Des Moines, Iowa. In February 1988, Great Lakes acquired Alliance Airlines, adding six cities around Lake Michigan to the route network. In the following years it continued to expand and in February 1992 signed a codesharing agreement with United Airlines. On January 19, 1994, the airline went public trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

In October 1995, Great Lakes began operating under the Midway Connection banner at Raleigh/Durham through a marketing agreement with Midway Airlines, but this ceased in 1997. Its status with United Express was downgraded to a codeshare agreement in 2001 and on May 1, 2001, it became an independent carrier. Great Lakes has code sharing agreements with United Airlines and Frontier Airlines. The State of Wyoming heavily subsidizes Great Lakes, because it is the only airline serving six of the ten commercial airports in Wyoming. Great Lakes Airlines has recently been given DOT approval to take over EAS service to Billings, Montana from seven other Montana cities currently served by Big Sky Airlines.

Duray said that Great Lakes will provide air service in and out of Milwaukee if their proposal still holds. He anticipates that Ironwood will begin receiving air service before Escanaba or Iron Mountain because the DOT has accepted proposals from NorthWest Airlines for both of those locations. NorthWest is expected to begin service on June 06, 2008 for Iron Mountain and Escanaba.

According to Duray, he also requested a proprosal from NorthWest to serve the Ironwood area. NorthWest looked at the numbers and felt it wouldn't be feasible to service the Gogebic-Iron County airport. Duray told the WJMS listeners that he made several unsuccessful attempts to convince NorthWest to locate here.

Duray told Erspamer that representatives Bart Stupak, Debbie Stabenow, and Carl Levin have all worked hard to insure air service to the Gogebic range. He also said the Gogebic County Prosecutor Dick Adams was very instrumental in assisting.

Erspamer asked Duray if the Great Lakes deal falls through, would some other airlines supply service? Duray answered, "Some one would. I would hope not to go through that scenerio. I've been talking with Great Lakes on a regular basis, almost on a daily basis, all the signs are there." He compared getting a carrier for the airport to waiting for spring to begin. It seemed to take so long, but once the weather starting warming up it is here to stay.

He told Erspamer that the airlines is doing everything they need to do to ready themselves to serve the Gogebic Range. "As soon as they pull the trigger, we'll have airline service!" Duray explained.

Duray promised that the airport will initiate a "media blitz" once Great Lakes announces a start-up date. "I want to get them jump-started and get going so that our area would once again have commercial air service!"

WJMS AUDIO   (08:29 Minutes)

Jim Albert