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CAL wanted bigger turboprops with up to 50 pax capacity...Colgan underbid us by 500K/year..
10 Saabs 340 and 10 Saabs 2000, 5 year contract. We had a 5 year contract too but look at us go after a year and a half!
Good luck Colgan Air. Sincerely.
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Hmmm. They will never get 34 people on a SF3. Not unless they have 370LBs of bags! Literally. Now the Saab 2000- that is one #### hot bird! Dang...maybe I'll go to Colgan to fly that!
Here's more news:
New carrier will take over flights
SkyWest will be replaced by Colgant in Abilene
By Thaddeus DeJesus / Reporter-News Staff Writer
January 21, 2005
Airline officials confirmed late Thursday that a new carrier will fly on behalf of Continental Connection at the Abilene Regional Airport and other Texas airports.
Beginning March 2, Colgan Air will take over routes serviced by SkyWest Airlines in Texas and Louisiana. Air service will continue as usual, despite the change in contractors, Continental Airlines spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said. Colgan will honor tickets purchased for future SkyWest flights from Abilene.
Continental Connection, a subsidiary of Houston-based Continental Airlines, hires other companies to handle part of its regional airline service. Johnson said SkyWest's contract was up for renewal and placed for bid in November. He declined to say how much the contract is worth.
Management for Manassas, Va.-based, Colgan Air could not be reached for comment Thursday.
SkyWest spokeswoman Sabrena Suite said the company lost the bid because Continental was interested in adding more passenger capacity via turboprop airplanes. That meant either adding seats to its existing fleet of small planes or adding new planes to the fleet. Neither option was feasible for the company, she said.
SkyWest's Texas fleet consists of 30-seat turboprops. Colgan will bring to Texas comparable planes, Johnson said. According to Colgan's Web site, that airline's comparably sized plane is a 34-seat turboprop.
It is unclear what will happen to SkyWest's ground crew, which consists of about a dozen people.
If past experience is any indication, Colgan may follow SkyWest's lead when it entered into the Abilene market in 2003. SkyWest brought in its own management team, but rehired several ground crew employees who had been laid off when Continental Express left Abilene and several other cities a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Mary Finnigan, vice president of administration for Colgan Air, told the San Angelo Standard-Times that the airline intends to retain SkyWest's San Angelo-based staff.
Continental Connection offers three daily departures from the Abilene Regional Airport. The contractor change also affects several small and medium-sized Texas cities, including San Angelo, Killeen and Waco.
Continental Connection is one of two carriers serving Abilene. American Eagle offers six daily round-trip flights between Abilene and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.