The Raytheon Beech 1900 turboprop is playing a quickly-diminishing role in US scheduled service as a trio of operators wind down operations, and another prominent regional, Colgan Air, prepares to retire the type by the end of the year.
Citing sky-high fuel prices, Mesa Air Group has begun liquidating its loss-making 1900D operator Air Midwest, and Midwest Airlines is preparing to close the flight operations of subsidiary Skyway Airlines, whose fleet comprises 12 Dornier 328JETs and a handful of 1900Ds. A total of 380 positions are being eliminated at Skyway. This follows MAIR Holdings subsidiary Big Sky Airlines' recent termination of operations the carrier flew a 12-strong fleet of 1900Ds.
While US regionals Great Lakes Aviation and Gulfstream International Airlines continue to operate at least 25 1900D turboprops each, Pinnacle Airlines Corp has confirmed it will retire all remaining 1900Ds flown by subsidiary Colgan in 2008. Chief operating officer Doug Shockey told investors recently that the fleet was "uneconomical".
Such sentiments were echoed by Mesa chairman and chief executive Jonathan Ornstein when he revealed that Air Midwest had suffered "significant losses" in the fiscal fourth quarter, despite taking part in the US government's essential air service subsidy programme. With "little prospect of future profitability", the company says it has "reluctantly begun to liquidate those assets and operations".
When airlines blame the economics of operating 19-seaters, they are really lamenting "the economics of short-haul transportation" and rural air service, says regional airline consultant Douglas Abbey. "The 1900 aircraft has clearly proved its mettle as beneficial in a high-fuel-cost environment. But indeed, if the economies of these small towns are going south, that impacts traffic and then that is what is driving these aircraft out of the market," he adds.
While the trend for the 1900 is "irrefutable", with the aircraft clearly in the downward part of its cycle, says Abbey, it will find homes in cargo and corporate shuttle operations, as well as overseas.
Meanwhile, Mesa's decision to shut Air Midwest is part of a larger scheme to get "back on track" after seeing a dramatic reversal in fortunes for the three months ended 30 September 2007. Mesa is also reeling from an $86.9 million pre-tax charge stemming from litigation involving Hawaiian Airlines. This resulted in a fiscal fourth quarter net loss of $68.2 million.
"According to every precedent we can find, both the ruling and the amount of the judgment were extraordinary and, in fact, unprecedented," says Ornstein, adding that the company intends to appeal vigorously.
Source: Flight International
