Seaport discontinues service in CA and KS

So the planes were repo'd and Rob McKinney went to Aerodynamics Inc... Seaport will be gone by the end of the year or maybe month.
 
ASpilot2be said:
In our operation the 340 is going to be around for a while. I don't think there is much that can replace it up here. We have its operation down to a science. It also seems to be working in out other markets as well. We are picking two of Silvers old 340s, plus we have acquired five 2000s.
Click to expand...

In aviation, like a number of other areas, Alaska is the exception to many generalizations. Be smart and be determined to make a specific aircraft work for you, and you can succeed. Some people (Horizon comes to mind), have made a real success of the Q-400, while others believe it is a hangar queen. Pen-Air has made the Saabs work for them, and adding the 2000s just makes sense, replacing older airframes with even better & newer versions. Not surprising that Saabs would understand snow and ice.

Good luck with the old Silver 340s, Silver's customers could have used the on-ground air conditioning they don't have; yours might not notice. Plus, Ice melts down here.
 
alaskadrifter said:
Because people don't understand why it costs more to go from AKN, DLG, ANI, etc to ANC than ANC to SEA.
Click to expand...
Well when everything else is subsidized by the state, feds and tribe the sticker price of a for profit non subsidized product is hard to understand. Leads into a lot of the "I don't feel well" medivac trips.

As for Seaport, it's good to see karma swing the cosmic hammer of payback.
 
ChasenSFO said:
Not sure how many Seaport cities were heavily traveled, but some EAS routes were. SkyWest dropped several from SFO when the Brasilia retired. Some, like Crescent City, got service back. Others, like Chico, were heavily traveled but now people are left with no option but to drive 1.5 hours(with no traffic) to Sacramento, where they usually then have to connect. I personally know a few people who traveled heavily to/from the airport which no longer has any airline service. For example, when one of my friends throws concerts in Chico, the artists and their crews need to be picked up from SMF and driven the rest of the way. Which is a bit awkward in that business of pleasing divas and needing to appear bigger than you really are. In this example, United was getting a first class booking to SFO and likely a full Y fare onwards to Chico to fill that seat. It is just a shame to watch these communities lose service as turboprops and smaller RJs are retired and existing EAS carriers fall into economic woe.
Click to expand...
Chico was not an EAS route, just an at risk city like Modesto. Another reason why SkyWest left CIC during the Brasilia drawdown was that the city closed the airport fire station. Every time we flew in they had to send fire fighters from another station in the city. The fire chief was very vocal in saying that when he traveled he always drove to Sacramento for cheaper fares.
 
ASpilot2be said:
@JDean3204 Does this mess up your upgrade? How close are you to ATP mins? Our PDX base is supposed to be growing in the next few months. They need 5 new crews. If you are close to ATP mins you can probably fly the freighter for a couple months, then do your ATP ride. Let me know and I can get you in contact with our CP.
Click to expand...
latest
 
ChasenSFO said:
Sucks for these EAS cities. Some went through the whole Great Lakes B1900 "real" airplane service, to "just kidding, pretend 10 of those seats don't exist", to "yeah...we still can't staff those flights...", to "Hey, if you're going to have 9 seat service, hows about a carrier that can complete flights, like us at Seaport", to...this.

Poor people who actually rely on these flights.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you can really see the impact on some of these communities. EAS could, should work if it wasn't for the need by so many to make it some sort of political demonstration.

Look at Merced, even Visalia, both had mainline United jets, 737, 727s...then SkyWest Brasilias, then "we complete our schedule when we can" Lakes 1900s, with, oops, 9 seats. Next, as you said, SeaPort comes along and claims to be able to get the job done. Now this.

I have a friend on a the board of an airport that receives EAS service. It's a big deal if an airline drops them, they need the planes to fly, reliably, to get the boardings to keep the funding. They get these various companies coming in with all the song and dance pitches, Great Lakes promised to acquire CRJ 200s to serve Denver. Yeah, they really did....fortunately he is pretty savvy himself and has a number of connections in the industry to help him sift through the nonsense.

It's serious, sure there are communities where EAS is the difference between a 20 minute flight or hour drive, but there are a number of communities where EAS is their connection to the system and the world. I like to think of us in the industry as connecting people, I wish EAS would get coherent goal oriented attention rather than limp wristed attempts to dismantle it.
 
mshunter said:
I don't feel bad for them at all. If you want to live in the boonies, you have to accept living in the boonies.

Really, a whole nother hour and a half? If they were real Divas, they'd have chartered.
Click to expand...
Some are not just an hour and a half, and a couple hours driving can make a difference when considering a city to expand, engage or otherwise do business in.

I agree, some are seemingly ridiculous, however there was a time when aviation was seen as infrastructure important to our culture and economy. I think it's worth the small investment, connect our rural cities and preserve the world's finest air transportation system.
 
Cazadores said:
Some are not just an hour and a half, and a couple hours driving can make a difference when considering a city to expand, engage or otherwise do business in.

I agree, some are seemingly ridiculous, however there was a time when aviation was seen as infrastructure important to our culture and economy. I think it's worth the small investment, connect our rural cities and preserve the world's finest air transportation system.
Click to expand...

Business expands every day without air service. Having to charter or drive is the cost of expansion or doing business in another city. Those are facts. Simple facts. If you elect to have a business in the boonies, and choose to expand, that's your choice, along with everything that comes along with it. Persevere and over come. Don't sit there with your hand out.
 
mshunter said:
Business expands every day without air service. Having to charter or drive is the cost of expansion or doing business in another city. Those are facts. Simple facts. If you elect to have a business in the boonies, and choose to expand, that's your choice, along with everything that comes along with it. Persevere and over come. Don't sit there with your hand out.
Click to expand...
Time was we didn't see investment in infrastructure and reliable air transportation as giving handouts.

I still dont.
 
Cazadores said:
Yeah, you can really see the impact on some of these communities. EAS could, should work if it wasn't for the need by so many to make it some sort of political demonstration.

Look at Merced, even Visalia, both had mainline United jets, 737, 727s...then SkyWest Brasilias, then "we complete our schedule when we can" Lakes 1900s, with, oops, 9 seats. Next, as you said, SeaPort comes along and claims to be able to get the job done. Now this.

I have a friend on a the board of an airport that receives EAS service. It's a big deal if an airline drops them, they need the planes to fly, reliably, to get the boardings to keep the funding. They get these various companies coming in with all the song and dance pitches, Great Lakes promised to acquire CRJ 200s to serve Denver. Yeah, they really did....fortunately he is pretty savvy himself and has a number of connections in the industry to help him sift through the nonsense.

It's serious, sure there are communities where EAS is the difference between a 20 minute flight or hour drive, but there are a number of communities where EAS is their connection to the system and the world. I like to think of us in the industry as connecting people, I wish EAS would get coherent goal oriented attention rather than limp wristed attempts to dismantle it.
Click to expand...
I didn't know they were in Visalia until a few weeks ago when they landed just after us. I think VIS is a little ridiculous considering FAT is only a 45 min drive and you can get to places besides LAX. I live in SZP. I'm 50 min to an hour and a half from LAX depending on traffic. Driving to LAX has been a way of life since I was a kid. They had service to OXR for a while but by the time you drove and got there with enough time before your flight, you'd be in LAX. The Central Valley has Fresno/Sacramento and people in Sacramento/Modesto/Stockton have the whole Bay Area. Heck you could live in the greater LA area and still be further from LAX than Visalia is from Fresno. Why should they be a subsidized route again? I get it, some pilots will lose their jobs, that sucks and I feel bad for them.
 
PositionAndHold said:
I didn't know they were in Visalia until a few weeks ago when they landed just after us. I think VIS is a little ridiculous considering FAT is only a 45 min drive and you can get to places besides LAX. I live in SZP. I'm 50 min to an hour and a half from LAX depending on traffic. Driving to LAX has been a way of life since I was a kid. They had service to OXR for a while but by the time you drove and got there with enough time before your flight, you'd be in LAX. The Central Valley has Fresno/Sacramento and people in Sacramento/Modesto/Stockton have the whole Bay Area. Heck you could live in the greater LA area and still be further from LAX than Visalia is from Fresno. Why should they be a subsidized route again? I get it, some pilots will lose their jobs, that sucks and I feel bad for them.
Click to expand...
I agree a lot of legacy EAS cities probably are ridiculous. It's the way the program is designed to fail, not respond to modern needs that's the problem, not the idea of EAS.
 
Cazadores said:
Time was we didn't see investment in infrastructure and reliable air transportation as giving handouts.

I still dont.
Click to expand...

You can look at it however you want. The way you explain it is free handouts to help business expand. I see it as no different than poor decision making. Certain places absolutely require EAS. Alaska comes to mind right off the bat. But Johnny Farmer in the Midwest, not so much. They already work in such a heavily subsidized industry.

But as @PositionAndHold already pointed out, drive. There are bus services for those who don't have transportation. A ton of them operate into LAX on a daily basis.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top