Skywest announces plans to leave Kearney, North Platte, Scottsbluff airports
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - In a filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Skywest Airlines announced plans to terminate its essential air service to 29 airports, including three in Nebraska. The specific airports include the North Platte Regional Airport, the Western-Nebraska Scottsbluff Regional Airport, and the Kearney Regional Airport.
Skywest issued a 90-day termination notice that said it intends to eliminate EAS on or before June 10, 2022.
The Utah-based airline, which operates under the United Airlines flag, is the only airline currently offering daily commercial flights to Denver in those three Nebraska cities.
Skywest is blaming pilot shortages.
“Although SkyWest Airlines, Inc. would prefer to continue providing scheduled air service to these cities, the pilot staffing challenges across the airline industry preclude us from doing so,” the airline said as part of its filing.
Essential air service is a government-subsidized program designed to help smaller communities that “were served by certificated air carriers before airline deregulation maintain a minimal level of scheduled air service.”
Of the other 26 airports, impacted states include Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.
