Airport commission recommends Sun Country proposal for serving local passengers

Dan Holtz, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.
·3 min read

May 20—EAU CLAIRE — Even though members had reservations about all three proposals to serve Chippewa Valley Regional Airport after SkyWest Airlines withdraws its commercial flights, the local Airport Commission decided Friday to recommend the Sun Country Airlines proposal to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

"This is a very complicated situation," airport manager Charity Zich said.

"How do you serve the most passengers over the next two years? This is certainly not the situation we want to be in," she said. "We would love to continue doing what we are doing right now with SkyWest."

Boutique Air, Southern Airways Express and Sun Country Airlines sent their bids in earlier this month to explain how they would serve the Eau Claire airport through the federal Essential Air Service program.

Airport officials, community leaders and the general public have been invited to provide feedback to the federal DOT, which will ultimately make the decision on which company gets the two-year contract for CVRA.

The local Airport Commission received 361 written comments about the three proposals.

Based on those comments, commission member David Hirsch said, "nothing is going to make the business community happy."

Scott Francis, a commission member who was a frequent business traveler until the pandemic hit in March 2020, said all three proposals are flawed.

"I am not a fan of any of these options. We have been handed a whole bunch of lemons. As a business traveler, it doesn't do me a lot of good," Francis said. "This is not a small change. This is a big change."

Boutique Air and Southern Airways Express utilize single-engine aircraft that seat a maximum of nine passengers.

"Nine-seat planes are loud and bumpy," Francis said. "After a couple of flights on that nine-seater, (business travelers) will be driving. I guarantee it."

The Sun Country proposal was the only one of the three that would use jet aircraft and have direct service to destinations outside of the Midwest.

A Boeing 737-800 with seating for up to 186 passengers would serve the Eau Claire airport.

Sun Country's proposal for a two-year contract would have year-round service to the Minneapolis airport with two round-trip flights a week — the least frequent of the three airlines vying for a contract. However, it would also include nonstop flights to Fort Myers, Fla., Orlando and Las Vegas during seasons when travel to those destinations are in peak demand.

The Sun Country option is good for the leisure traveler, Francis said.

"There is an appetite for that," he said.

Zich said the majority of the passengers who fly out of the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport are leisure travelers.

The search for a new airline comes after SkyWest, which has flown for United Airlines from CVRA since spring 2010, announced it will be ending service to the Eau Claire airport and 28 others.

SkyWest Airlines notified the U.S. Department of Transportation in March of its desire to discontinue service at those airports due to a shortage of pilots. The department then sought proposals from other carriers to serve the airports. Initially the deadline was April 11, but then the federal government extended it a month so carriers had until early May to submit proposals.

Zich will issue the Airport Commission's Sun Country recommendation in a letter of support to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

SkyWest will continue to serve CVRA with regular flights to Chicago until a new airline begins operating at the airport. The airline has two flights daily out of Eau Claire — except on Tuesdays and Saturdays when only one flight is scheduled, per a reduction the airline made in March.

But SkyWest has indicated it may drop to one flight daily out of Eau Claire beginning in July.

If Sun Country is selected by the federal DOT, the airline's service at the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport would likely begin in November, Zich said.