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    The U.S. Department of Transportation announced last week that it has selected Great Lakes Aviation, based in Cheyenne, Wyo., to provide subsidized essential air service to Moab, connecting through Denver.

    This choice comes despite a request from Grand County and supported by the city of Moab, that Salmon Air get the contract connecting to Salt Lake City.

    DOT's order states it cannot accept the county's "belief that of its three previous service providers, Salmon Air "provided the best service.'"

    Instead, the order says, "passenger traffic dropped 27 percent" during the one year that Salmon had the contract from mid-2005 through mid-2006.

    Cost and code-share arrangements are cited in the order as reasons for choosing Great Lakes. Salmon Air's bid was $225,000 higher than the bid submitted by Great Lakes.

    "I know a lot of people will be disappointed they won't be able to go to Salt Lake," said Bill Groff, chairman of the Canyonlands Field airport board.

    Moab City Manager Donna Metzler is similarly disappointed. "Mayor Dave [Sakrison] travels to Salt Lake, often making one or two trips a week to meet with the legislature and discuss policy issues" she said. "Business people rely on contacts in Salt Lake...that link to Salt Lake is very important."

    The county council is disappointed, but not surprised, according to Bob Greenberg who represents the council on the airport board. "If Great Lakes had given even a scintilla of interest, I'd be happier," he said.

    Only Salmon Air responded to requests from the council to meet with the council about how the company would work with the community to build business. According to Greenberg, the other applicants for the subsidy, including Great Lakes, simply ignored the council's requests for dialogue.

    "I hope for the best," said Mark Francis who manages both the airport and Redtail Aviation.

    Besides the cost, Great Lakes' code-share arrangements with both United Air Lines and Frontier Airlines is cited by the order as a major reason it was selected to serve Moab. Salmon Air does not have a code-share contract with other airlines.

    Code sharing allows passengers to book connections on a single ticket with baggage automatically forwarded to the passenger's destination.

    "It is a "powerful marketing tool," Great Lakes CEO Chuck Howell said in a phone interview. "Code-share stimulates a lot more traffic than people realize," he said, adding that code share arrangements are key to his company's likelihood of success in building air travel business for Moab.

    Travelers from all over the world flying with United will now see Moab on the route map displayed in the airline's Hemisphere magazine, according to Howell.

    Referring to the county council's perception that service from Great Lakes was not all that great when it had the EAS contract, Howell said, "A lot has changed in the last five years. I think Moab will be pleasantly surprised with what we have to offer and the amount of traffic that will be stimulated by our sales and marketing department."

    Howell also said the company's sales and marketing department, "tries to work closely with the chamber of commerce and local businesses to stimulate and promote the local market," which, he said accounts for about half of passenger bookings in a town such as Moab.

    The DOT order obliges Great Lakes to fly 12 round trips (24 flights) per week between Denver and Moab, using 19-passenger aircraft. "Flights must be well-timed and well-spaced," and they can be non-stop to Denver or one stop in Vernal, the order states.

    The annual subsidy specified in the order for Great Lakes will be $1.6 million per year, or $1,317 for each completed flight.

    Service from Great Lakes using 19-passenger planes means that Canyonlands Field will have to comply with rescue and firefighting requirements imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration on airports where larger planes are landing, according to Greenberg.

    But, Greenberg says, by hiring a full-time airport manager who is certified as a firefighter the county will have to come up with only $20,000, in addition to the manager's salary, to cover part-time fire fighters to satisfy FAA requirements.

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