SkyWest Lands Johnstown Airport Contract

Jet service is coming to Johnstown.

The federal Department of Transportation on Thursday awarded SkyWest Airlines a three-year contract to provide commercial air service at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.

“I’m very happy,” airport authority Chairman James Loncella said. “Obviously, we worked very hard toward this goal. I believe, personally, it’s going to be good for the area.”

The authority voted 6-3 on Aug. 18 to recommend SkyWest over proposals submitted current operator Boutique Air and two other airlines.

Under the new EAS contract, SkyWest will get up to $3,484,020 each year from the federal government to operate one daily round-trip flight each to Dulles International Airport in suburban Washington and Chicago O’Hare International Airport. The airline will operate 50-passenger twin-engine jets.

Boutique has operated flights from Johnstown to Pittsburgh and Baltimore-Washington International airports since November 2018 under the federally subsidized Essential Air Service program. Its proposal called for a $3,442,965 subsidy the first year, rising to $3,582,060 by the third year while continuing to operate 30 round-trips a week on nine-seat executive cabin turboprop aircraft.

The program is designed to assure smaller cities remain connected to the commercial air network.

Several people spoke in favor of retaining Boutique during a public forum prior to the Aug. 18 vote. Most pointed to Boutique’s new maintenance facility that opened earlier this year in a leased hangar on the airfield. Several also mentioned airline’s growing relationship with Nulton Aviation, the fixed-base operator that provides fuel service and other services at the airport.

Mark Monroe, of Nulton Aviation, and Boutique employees James Barefoot, Zack Long, Kurtis Smithley, Alan Mankamyer, Jason Muller, Ryan Harley and Dan Lose all urged the authority to retain Boutique, pointing to the 15 current jobs that include workers at the maintenance facility.

Boutique CEO Shawn Simpson told the authority members the airline expected to add more jobs if the facility remained in Johnstown.

But Loncella and several other board members said Boutique has not been able to get its per-passenger subsidy cost under $200, which has been the EAS requirement. Although the requirement is suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Boutique was not meeting the threshold even as passenger counts increased.

On Tuesday, Loncella said the airline’s reliability in the winter months was also a concern.

“To me, it is the reliability,” Loncella said. “I continue to be unhappy with the reliability and on-time performance (of Boutique). They canceled 91 flights last December, and we are coming into another winter.

“We need people to trust the airline.”

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