News That matters - Ironwood's Daily News Source

New "Frontier" For Area Flyers?

IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP - Area travelers may soon be flying by way of Frontier Airlines. Last night, the Airport Board held a Public Hearing at Gogebic Community College for the purpose of choosing a new airline to service the area. Duane DuRay, the airport manager provided the large audience with power point presentation that described the current bids for the GICA service. DuRay provided information about the times of service, aircraft proposed and subsidy requested by each carrier.

Matt Barbieri representing Frontier Airlines, Inc followed DuRay in addressing the audiance. Barbieri also gave a power point presentation to the audience focusing on the capabilities of Frontier Airlines and its widespread operations.

Following the presentation the Frontier Director of Planning there was a question and answer period that including local diagnosis of what went wrong with Great Lakes and what we require as a community.

The Gogebic-Iron County Airport Board then voted unanimously to recommend Frontier Airlines as their airline of choice.

Previously, Charter Air had been chosen by the board as their carrier of choice; only to have the FAA reject the bid. Charter Air currently operates as a charter airline only. Not to be turned away so easily, CAT has rebid for the service at Gogebic-Iron, offering to partner with a scheduled airline for the service.

There were three other air carriers bidding for rights to service both the Ironwood and Manistique airports; Gulfstream International, Air Choice One, and Seaport Airlines. Both Ironwood and Manistique airports were left without a carrier when Great Lakes decided to pull out.

To many of the people gathered for last night’s Public Meeting at GCC it was good riddance to Great Lakes Airlines. Many people complained that the soon to be former air carrier had a terrible cancellation rate that made booking flights out of Ironwood unreliable as well as too expensive.

The number of passengers is well down from years prior to the Great Lakes service. While it is convenient to blame the airline, it should be remembered that Manistique has seen the number of its boardings climb well past that of Ironwood.

Frontier Airlines is only one of three discount carriers left in the U.S. and it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings (RAH). It has three airport hubs: Milwaukee, Denver and Kansas City. It has corporate Headquarters in Indianapolis with additional offices in Denver and Milwaukee. The Airline employs 5,500 people.

The Carrier is proposing to make 14 round trip flights a week out of Ironwood, with a stopover at Rhinelander prior to landing at Milwaukee. From Milwaukee area passengers will be able to fly to airports serviced by Frontier. It services 70 locations in the U.S. Mexico and Costa Rico.

The airline is requesting a $3,082,333 subsidy from the Federal Government for the Rural Service contract, nearly half the subsidy asked by Seaport Airlines ($5,741,764). Frontier is also asking that the 180 day termination of service notice be waived, thereby limiting loses in the event that passenger counts out of Ironwood fail to improve. If area residents continue to utilize other airports i.e. Rhinelander, it is quite possible that Gogebic and Iron Counties will lose air service completely.

Frontier if approved by the FAA will be flying ERJ 135 or ERJ 145 planes in and out of Ironwood. These planes carry 35 and 50 passengers, plus a flight attendant and equipped with a lavatory. Click photo above or a larger image.