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Airport Gathers Opinions on Small-Plane Service

Airport Gathers Opinions on Small-Plane Service
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By Bill Hughes
Oct. 20, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY
By Bill Hughes Oct. 20, 2016 | 07:57 PM | PADUCAH, KY
Barkley Regional Airport is keeping its options open for the possibility of flights to larger cities by other carriers.
 
Marketing Director Eddie Grant recently posted a hypothetical question on Facebook, asking his friends if they would use a nine-seat plane
service to Nashville if it required them to book both flights separately and go through security at both airports.
 
In August, Contour Airlines began serving Bowling Green's airport with twice-daily service to Atlanta and seasonal service to Destin, Florida,
so Grant was curious if a southbound flight might prove useful for those who use Barkley.
 
"As a test balloon to see if those stipulations would be something this region would support, and judging by the response from the Facebook
post, it seems, at least in theory, that they would."
 
One of the first commenters mentioned a $100 ticket price as a threshold for her use of that type of service, and most other respondents
stayed in that price range with their opinions, too. More than 75 percent said they would take advantage of the service if it were available.
 
Grant chose the smaller plane size - just nine seats - because he didn't want people's opinions skewed by the size of the plane being used.
His logic is that if they would fly on a plane that small, they would likely use a larger aircraft, too. Grant said it's possible, but not
likely that another carrier in Paducah would offer 50-seat planes like United Express, which flies twice daily to Chicago.
 
Guessing the price per flight for another local service would be impossible, he said, since plane size, routes, and other factors would vary
from company to company.
 
Another consideration for companies interested in Paducah is the fact that they would not be subsidized by the U.S. Department of
Transportation. Currently, United gets a $47 subsidy per ticket, but only one airline qualifies per city. 
 
Grant said, "We have to watch what we can offer, because the United service is subsidized, and we don't want to lose or endanger the
connection to Chicago with United because the connectivity that our current service offers is second to none - you can get anywhere from
Chicago."
 
Grant stressed he's just getting information right now, no discussions have been held with any airlines yet, and Nashville is not the only
city that would be considered.
 
"If an opportunity presented itself, it could just as easily be Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis, Charlotte. There are some other airports in the
region that airlines do serve," Grant said.
 
He said asking folks allows the airport to have some information ahead of time, in case an opportunity presents itself. But if an airline were
to offer specifics, Grant said the airport would probably ask folks for their opinion again.
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