Mesa Airlines elbows SkyWest out of Cedar City

Local airline Mesa will become the essential flight provider for Cedar City in Utah, in a move that has met with some criticism.

The Phoenix-based cheap flight operator has been selected by the Department of Transportation (DOT) at the cost of SkyWest, who previously filled the spot.

The Cedar City service is part of the Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service Program, which sees government-subsidized flights serve rural communities.

However, the decision has been questioned by both SkyWest, which plans to appeal, and Cedar City officials who do not want present schedules altered.

SkyWest currently runs three daily flights to and from Salt Lake City.

"The community feels like it needs service to Salt Lake City and that it needs service with the larger aircrafts and a Delta connection," explained Steve Farmer, manager of Cedar City Regional Airport. "But what the community wanted obviously wasn't worth what the DOT wanted to pay for it."

Mesa Airlines' proposed schedule includes two daily round-trip flights to Las Vegas and one flight to and from Phoenix four days a week. These services will be operated using airplanes that seat just 19 passengers compared to the 30-seaters used by SkyWest.

Mickey Bowman, Director of Planning at Mesa, has responded by saying that the airline will review its plans in light of the criticism. "We want to do what's best for the community. If they want service to Salt Lake City, we're more than willing to work with them to make that happen.

"We're going to put pen to paper and see what we come up with. If that's two flights to Salt Lake City and one to Las Vegas, maybe that's what we end up doing," he said.

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