Barkley board to decide new air carrier Tuesday

Barkley Regional Airport's board members will make their big decision Tuesday as to which regional airline will serve the airport after the current contract expires this fall.

Barkley Regional Airport Marketing Manager and Public Information Officer Kat Byars told West Kentucky Star that a lot of work went into getting to this decision. Byars said, "We are very grateful here at Barkley for all five bids. It's amazing how far this has come. I don't think people realize that this has been months in the making. We've been doing a lot of work and a lot of deliberation behind the scenes. So, it will be really exciting to see who ends up being the winner." 

The meeting is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at the airport. The board is expected to go immediately into executive session to discuss the proposals and ultimately decide which airline will serve Paducah for the next four years. Five different carriers submitted proposals, including Contour Airlines, which currently flies daily from Paducah to Charlotte.

All proposals are for 12 weekly round trips over the duration of the contract.

Current carrier Contour's new proposal would now split flights to Chicago with its Charlotte flights on 30-seat jets.

American Airlines is looking to get back into the market by giving Paducah the choice of three options using 50- to 64-seat jets: 1) exclusively to Charlotte; 2) split flights between Charlotte and Dallas-Fort Worth; or 3) split between Dallas-Fort Worth and O'Hare in Chicago.

Air Wisconsin proposes using 50-seat jets to provide service to Chicago.

Denver Air has proposed using 50-seat jets to fly to and from Chicago and Atlanta.

SkyWest has also given the Barkley board three options: 1) Chicago using United Airlines aircraft; 2) Houston and/or Chicago via United; or 3) Detroit using Delta jets.

Once the board makes a decision, that final recommendation will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which subsidizes Paducah's flights under its Essential Air Service program, which can only fund one air carrier at each qualifying small market airport.