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Great Lakes Airlines received a boost from the Grand County Council Tuesday night in its bid to continue providing subsidized passenger airline service between Canyonlands Field and Denver. The council voted 5-1 to recommend that the Essential Air Service Division of U.S. Department of Transportation renew its contract with Great Lakes for another two years.

But the twice-daily trips to and from Denver will not come cheap. The subsidy will cost $1.8 million for an estimated 4,000 passengers per year, according to the bid submitted by Great Lakes. Those passengers will pay only $423,000 of the total $2.3 million it will cost the airline to make 12 flights to Moab and 12 flights from Moab each week, according to the bid.

The $2.3 million cost includes $106,000 in profits for the airline. The EAS subsidy is paid from fees collected by the federal government from major airlines as a means to boost regional air service.

“There’s a lot to consider, but we’re already on course to continue with this service,” council member Chris Baird said as he made a motion to recommend Great Lakes be allowed to continue providing the service. Baird said that future consideration might be given to bids for airline service to Salt Lake City instead of Denver.

“For government people, Salt Lake City is a big advantage,” said council chairman Bob Greenberg, who represents the council on the Grand County Airport Board.

Moab Mayor Dave Sakrison, who also sits on the airport board, voted against recommending Great Lakes because the other bidder, McCall Aviation, offered to fly to Salt Lake City, Greenberg said. That, plus a considerably lower subsidy required by McCall, prompted county council member Gene Ciarus to vote against recommending Great Lakes.

Both the airport board and the council majority had other ideas about how the community could benefit from the subsidized air service.

“Great Lakes’ new proposed [twice daily] schedule and interline agreements with major carriers are a better fit for Grand County’s predominantly tourist economy,” a letter from the council to the federal EAS division states.

Another major factor cited is that the Idaho-based McCall Aviation is a charter operator. The airline would fly to and from the general side of the Salt Lake City International airport, not the commercial side. That, and the fact that McCall does not have code-sharing partnerships with major airlines, would make connections more inconvenient for tourist travelers, said Canyonlands Field Airport Manager Kelly Braun.

And McCall’s proposal to utilize nine-passenger, non-pressurized aircraft could mean that Canyonlands Field would lose its certification for the larger, two-pilot, twin engine, pressurized aircraft used by Great Lakes. That would mean that passengers would not have to be screened by Transportation Safety Administration inspectors in Moab, Braun said.

There is a waiting list for TSA inspectors, Braun said. If Moab lost its inspectors it would be very hard to get them back in order for the airport to once again become certified for larger aircraft, he said.