After making a recommendation to the U.S. Department of Transportation to select its new air service provider last month, Columbia got just what it wanted.

The federal agency has released contracts for subsidized "essential air service," or EAS, to serve eight Midwest cities, and Columbia received its first choice for service: three flights a day to Memphis International Airport through Northwest Airline subsidiary Mesaba Airlines.

After a few weeks mulling three airlines’ proposals to replace Columbia Regional Airport’s current EAS provider, Air Midwest, the Columbia City Council backed a recommendation from city staff to support Mesaba’s two options for service to Memphis.

The other companies that bid on the EAS contract, Great Lakes Airlines and Hawaii Island Air, would have continued service to Kansas City. City staff said Hawaii Island Air didn’t provide early enough flights to make connections, and they questioned Great Lakes Airlines’ ability to get enough planes to start service. The city’s Airport Advisory Board gave a split 4-4 recommendation between Mesaba and Great Lakes.

Air Midwest, a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, currently operates 24 flights a week to Kansas City but is terminating service for financial reasons. The airline said the route wasn’t profitable, even with a $598,751 annual subsidy.

Mesaba’s annual subsidy will be $2,186,590 through the EAS program, designed to guarantee airline service to smaller communities. The airline will provide 20 flights a week from Columbia to Memphis using 34-seat aircraft. Mesaba proposes an average one-way fare of $95.

Many see the Memphis hub as a beacon of hope for Columbia Regional Airport’s track record of plummeting passenger numbers.

Service to Memphis is a good option, City Manager Bill Watkins said, because it provides Columbia travelers with good connectivity options with three flights a day to a hub. Neither Kansas City nor St. Louis, also a past destination for commercial flights from Columbia, is a hub for a major airline.

"We believe it’s important to go to a hub so people can get on a plane and go anywhere," Watkins said. "It also has good connections east, which is where we think many people who fly out of Columbia want to go."

Mesaba’s flights will depart Columbia at 5:54 a.m., 11:25 a.m. and 4:25 p.m., and passengers will be able to connect to 286 destinations in Memphis, compared to Kansas City International’s 256.

Watkins said he has been in touch with Mesaba representatives and expects them to come to Columbia sometime next week to discuss the start of service. Mesaba officials could not be reached.

Bill Mosley, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation, said Mesaba doesn’t have a deadline to provide service, but it must work with the existing air service provider to ease the transition. Mesaba’s two-year contract will begin once it initiates service.

Ann Sulzberger, a Columbia resident who uses Columbia Regional Airport to fly to visit her daughters in North Carolina and Texas, said she is excited for the new service, but her biggest concern is whether it’s cost-effective for personal travel. "I’m anxious to see how it’s going to work," Sulzberger said. "But with service to a hub, it’s going to offer options we haven’t seen before."

Hank Wells, executive director of University Physicians at the University of Missouri, said he is looking forward to flying out of Columbia instead of driving to St. Louis to catch flights for his frequent business and personal trips.

"I tried flying out of Columbia before, but I couldn’t because it’s so unreliable," Wells said. "I think anything that takes us to a hub is a good option. People are just kind of used to driving to Kansas City and St. Louis, so it never seemed to make sense to fly there."

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