Air Wisconsin is walking away from a federally-subsidized Essential Air Services contract less than two months after securing it.
In a filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Appleton, Wisconsin-based charter airline said it will not start service between Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport and Charlotte, North Carolina, due to a change in the company’s “strategic direction.” This is likely a reference to Air Wisconsin’s pending acquisition by Florida-based private aviation firm Premier Shuttle Holdings, which was made public last month.
Through EAS, the DOT subsidizes commercial flights serving the predominantly rural Parkersburg, West Virginia/Marietta, Ohio, area. In August it selected Air Wisconsin to take over the route to Charlotte from incumbent Contour, citing its lower bid.
The airline would have received over $5 million a year to fulfill the contract, which called for 12 weekly round-trip flights between Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport and Charlotte. The agreement would have run through September 2027.
Air Wisconsin decided to pivot toward EAS flights after the termination of its capacity purchase agreement with American Airlines in April. The Parkersburg-Marietta contract was its first successful bid under the EAS system.
Air Wisconsin did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the filing.
New Ownership
Two weeks ago, the Appleton-based Post-Crescent reported that Air Wisconsin signed a letter of intent with Premier Shuttle Holdings, citing a statement to the newspaper from Air Wisconsin President and CEO Robert Binns.
“Premier would take over ownership and management of Air Wisconsin, and Air Wisconsin would continue to operate under its own name, albeit with Premier’s business plan,” Binns told the outlet.
Premier Shuttle Holdings is an affiliate of West Palm Beach-based Slate Aviation. Slate offers daily shared flights between New York, South Florida, and Nantucket.
Binns told The Post-Crescent that Air Wisconsin will sell an unspecified number of its Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft to Premier Shuttle Holdings to help expand Slate’s operations.
At the time, the CEO did not say how many Air Wisconsin workers, if any, would lose their jobs, but late last week, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development received a warning from the carrier that it will let go of 252 workers at locations in Milwaukee and Appleton as a consequence of the Shuttle Premier Holdings/Slate acquisition. The cuts will take effect Oct. 28.
According to Binns, Air Wisconsin’s parent company, Harbor Diversified, will start a new business, entirely separate from Slate-owned Air Wisconsin. Harbor Diversified would retain some of Air Wisconsin’s aircraft and workers, and focus on “aircraft, engine, and part sales and leasing.”
