Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By TOM LAVENTURE
Ironwood — The Gogebic-Iron County Airport Board will hold two special meetings to interview three Essential Air Service applicants on July 22, according to a Wednesday news announcement.
The two special meetings will be held at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Thursday, July 22 at the Gogebic-Iron County Airport airline terminal.
The 9 a.m. meeting will be for officials from Denver Air Connection to provide their EAS proposal presentation. The meeting was previously announced for 10 a.m. but has been changed.
The 1 p.m. meeting will be to hear the EAS presentations of Southern Airways Express, and Air Choice One.
All three airlines were applicants for the EAS service contract in 2020. Citizens wishing to address the airport board on the agenda items will be allowed a five minute limit at either meeting.
If the airport board approves one of the three applicants for the next EAS proposal, the finalist would then be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Transportation for final approval.
The airport is eligible for Essential Air Service as a rural or small-community airport. A contract with a commercial airline is paid in part through a combination of DOT and county funding to subsidize passenger air service.
Boutique Air is the current EAS provider that started service on Aug. 1, 2020. The airline and airport board agreed to sever the two-year contract in May following two potentially dangerous incidents with planes in operation, and concerns with arrival and departure delays and cancellations.