Air service in GI/Kearney
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Air service in GI/Kearney
Essential Air Service contracts recently were awarded that knocks out westbound Denver service from and to Grand island in favor of Air Midwest service to Omaha and Kansas City, sharing planes that originate in McCook. Meanwhile, Kearney retained Great Lakes service to and from Denver, non-stop. Great Lakes crew, staff and service facilities that were based in GI will move out in October. Great Lakes recognizes the value in the Denver connections and has announced that they'll convert the flights from Kearney to 30 seat planes from the previously used 19 seaters, resulting in planes with a flight attendant, beverage carts and restrooms. GI's Air Midwest flights will likely remain 19 seaters. http://www.theindependent.com/stories/0 ... ey17.shtml
Question, is having service to Omaha and Kansas City at the cost of losing all service to Denver a step up, no change, or a step back?
In other news, GI's airport just finished a major upgrade...
http://www.theindependent.com/stories/0 ... rt17.shtml
Question, is having service to Omaha and Kansas City at the cost of losing all service to Denver a step up, no change, or a step back?
In other news, GI's airport just finished a major upgrade...
http://www.theindependent.com/stories/0 ... rt17.shtml
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An explanation...From the GI Independent piece:
'Instead, at the request of the Grand Island community, eastbound flights will be provided out of the Central Nebraska Regional Airport.'..
That is curious..
In the EAS application, popular demand was for a combination of East and West service, with the two desired destinations being Denver and Minneapolis. Alternatives were discussed that included Denver/Kansas City and Denver/Omaha. What GI never expected, after bids came in and were presented to the feds, was that a dual hub would not be considered. The Great Lakes dual hub bid wasn't an awful lot more than the one chosen, but it came down to $$$.
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Exactly. At first I thought they were only going to have service to Omaha, but again, aside from international flights, KC will service most of their single stop needs, and there's no denying the increase in traffic which Eppley will likely see as well.Am I missing something or couldn't this be considered a win/win situation? Increased flights to OMA/MCI, and larger planes heading to DIA after the short drive down I-80 from G.I. to Kearney.
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I really should have included this information at the very beginning. Consider these times and fares. Some of the local teeth gnashing is the flight times.
Mesa Airlines dba/ US Airways Express, twice daily to Omaha -- departing at 5:55 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. and offer once daily departures at 2:35 p.m. to Kansas City. One-way fares are $59 to Kansas City and $49 to Omaha.
Sample roundtrip fares:
Washington Natl $338
Phoenix $348
Las Vegas $370
LAX $345
Chicago $227
Denver $266
Boston $345
London $731
Cancun $586
Mesa Airlines dba/ US Airways Express, twice daily to Omaha -- departing at 5:55 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. and offer once daily departures at 2:35 p.m. to Kansas City. One-way fares are $59 to Kansas City and $49 to Omaha.
Sample roundtrip fares:
Washington Natl $338
Phoenix $348
Las Vegas $370
LAX $345
Chicago $227
Denver $266
Boston $345
London $731
Cancun $586
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