Back in the Spring of 2022 SkyWest, under the United Express brand, requested to terminate 31 Essential Air Services (EAS) communities. In some of these communities, SkyWest has already left and new carriers have come in, like the community of Alamosa in Colorado. While some cities still have SkyWest but have had a new carrier selected like the Eau Claire, Wis. contract was selected in July 2022 but the service on the new carrier Sun Country doesn’t begin until Dec. 1, 2022.

There are some communities that SkyWest won’t actually be leaving at all, as some communities have very much disliked the airlines that have submitted proposals and would rather stick with SkyWest despite the uncertainty of the current service levels.

United Airlines CRJ200 operated by SkyWest at Muskegon-County Airport (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

What is Changing

The community of Muskegon, Michigan (MKG) is the sixth community out of the 31 communities to have a new carrier officially selected. Palm Beach, Fla.-based Southern Airways Express is the airline that has been selected for the contract in this west Michigan community. This will bring the total number of EAS contracts held by Southern Airways Express up to 15, and will also be the first contract held by the airline in Michigan and within the Midwest.

The contract is scheduled to begin on Oct.1 2022 and will run for four years until Sept. 30, 2026. They will operate 36-weekly flights to Chicago O’Hare using a 9-seat single engine Cessna 208 Caravan. The annual subsidy will be $3,918,899 for the first year, $4,016,872 for the second year, $4,117,293 for the third year, and $4,220,226 for the fourth year.

A Southern Airways Express Cessna 208 (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Muskegon Airport Director Joel Burgess did have something to say regarding the service in a recent interview with 13abc news, “Our current levels of service with SkyWest would really translate to one flight a day, throughout the week. And at times that flight may not have been that well-timed to connect passengers at the Chicago O’Hare hub to where they needed to go. So, one of our requests to the Department of Transportation was to go out and look for a carrier who was able to provide a more expanded type of service into the Chicago O’Hare International Airport.”

This is evident currently as with SkyWest, the first daily departure occurs around 1P.M. and the last arrival for the day occurs around 3:30 P.M. terrible timing for those wising to make connections in or out of United’s Chicago hub. Should the worse happen, not only could a passenger miss a flight but also miss the only flight back into Muskegon, leaving them stranded in Chicago.

While the airline has yet to post its exact flight schedule on its site, Joel Burgess did mention that they would serve the community with six flights a day Monday through Friday, and three flights a day on the weekends. This will dramatically increase the number of flights and connecting opportunities in Chicago, especially since Southern Airways Express has interline baggage agreements with United, American, and Alaska Airlines. Passengers will actually be gaining more connection opportunities with three airlines they can now connect with, two of which have hubs at Chicago O’Hare.

A familiar name on this site, Keith Sisson, who is the Chief Marketing Officer of Southern Airways Express, had something to say regarding the launch of Muskegon flights. “Southern Airways is pleased to be opening yet another connecting hub in our system, this time at Chicago-O’Hare. Even more so, we are excited to bring our high-frequency, low-fare service to the people of Muskegon. With the expansion to Chicago, Southern becomes the only commuter airline with operations at all of the five busiest airports in America: Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas/Ft Worth, and Denver.” 

The new flights to Muskegon are expected to go on sale shortly after Labor Day, according to the airline. Southern Airways Express in Chicago will also mark the return of passenger Cessna 208 service into Chicago, as the last airline to do that was Air Choice One, an airline that was actually merged into Southern Airways Express this year.

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Joey Gerardi

Joey has always been interested in planes, for as long as he can remember. He grew up in Central New York during the early 2000s when US Airways Express turboprops ruled the skies. Being from a non-aviation family made it harder for him to be around planes and would only spend about three hours a month at the airport. He was so excited when he could drive by himself and the first thing he did with the license was get ice cream and go plane spotting for the entire day. When he has the time (and money) he likes to take spotting trips to any location worth a visit but has a special interest in Essential Air Service Airports. He got his degree in Aviation Management and Operations from WMU in June of 2022, and is currently working full time for an airline in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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