Boutique Air Still 'Hoping': Company Pushes to Continue Service at Johnstown Airport as DOT Nears Decision

After two votes in favor of its competition, Boutique Air wants to continue serving the Johnstown airport.

“We are hoping we can still prevail,” Boutique Chairman and CEO Shawn Simpson said.

Members of the Johnstown-Cambria County Airport Authority board voted 5-3 on Aug. 5 and voted 6-3 on Aug. 18 in support of SkyWest Airlines to take over the Johnstown commercial air service later this year.

The service is supported by a federal subsidy through the Essential Air Service program that connects smaller communities to the nation’s commercial air network. The Johnstown authority’s recommendation is given significant weight when the Department of Transportation considers an EAS contract.

Boutique has served the airport since November 2018 and offers 30 flights a week to Pittsburgh and Baltimore/Washington international airports on executive-style, eight-seat planes. The company’s $3.4 million proposal would continue the service, and Boutique also is offering service to an unnamed New York airport.

SkyWest’s proposal is slightly more than $3.4 million a year, but would serve the region with 50-passenger twin-jet aircraft with once-daily roundtrips to Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles international airports.

Southern Airways and Cape Air also submitted proposals.

There was support for both SkyWest and Boutique during public comment at the airport authority meetings and in community comments submitted to the Department of Transportation.

Several said they would use jet service from Johnstown, while others pointed to Boutique’s track record of building passenger counts and supporting the community.

‘Enplanement metric’

Boutique opened a maintenance facility on the Johnstown airfield and Simpson said the company plans to hire 20 more full-time employees if its EAS contract is renewed. Total employment would bring $2 million a year in salaries alone, he said.

Members of the authority enplanement committee pushed for support of SkyWest because Boutique’s per-passenger subsidy remains above the $200 minimum required by the EAS program. In theory, the airport could lose its subsidy – and its service – if the airline can’t board enough passengers to meet the goal.

Dan Lose, site manager at the Boutique maintenance facility, said Johnstown needs more than passengers in seats.

He suggests SkyWest plans to entice people to fly between Chicago to Washington with a stop in Johnstown for a lower ticket price.

“SkyWest intends to use direct transit passengers boarding in Chicago and Dulles,” Lose wrote to The Tribune-Democrat. “This strategy is intended to increase the enplanement metric for the airport and if successful, increase funding from the FAA. The airport authority’s proposal does little to help the local community”

Lose and others pointed to the jobs created by Boutique as factors in the airline’s favor.

Greg Atkin, SkyWest Airlines director of market development, said the fly-through passengers are only a small portion of the business plan.

Still making its pitch

Some travelers currently use Boutique as an inexpensive way to fly between Pittsburgh and Baltimore with a stop in Johnstown, Simpson admits.

“There are always some people who are going to sign up for that option,” he said.

But Boutique’s multiple daily round-trips make business travel between Johnstown, Baltimore/Washington and Pittsburgh more convenient than once-daily flights to any city, Simpson stressed.

“You can go to either of these places and do a day trip,” Simpson said. “People in Pittsburgh can come to Johnstown for the day.”

Boutique has been able to help airports reach important milestones in enplanements, Simpson said.

In 2019, Alamosa, Colorado, reached 10,000 enplanements and Cortez, Colorado, topped 8,000 enplanements.

“This was the first time for both those airports, and it was Boutique Air that got them there,” Simpson said.

Airports with more than 8,000 enplanements receive $600,000 a year in federal airport improvement funds and those with more than 10,000 receive $1 million. Johnstown receives $150,000.

Although the official deadline has passed, both Lose and Simpson said the transportation department could still consider public comments. Lose provided the email address for Michael Martin, DOT aviation industry analyst: [email protected].

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