South Arkansas Regional Airport in El Dorado on Monday selected Contour Airlines' proposal to provide commercial service to the region.
Contour has proposed nonstop, round-trip service to Dallas and Nashville, Tenn. The Dallas service would be offered twice a day, while service to Nashville would be offered once a day, said Robert Murfee, chairman of the airport commission in El Dorado.
Murfee said all seven members of the airport's commission voted in favor of the Contour proposal.
"We felt that it best fulfilled the needs of El Dorado and our community," he said.
When SeaPort Airlines went bankrupt on Sept. 20, El Dorado, Harrison and Hot Springs were all left without scheduled service.
The proposal is subject to approval from the Department of Transportation because the El Dorado airport, as well as those in Harrison and Hot Springs, is part of the government's Essential Air Service program, which provides subsidies for air service to small communities. SeaPort had received $5.9 million in annual subsidies to serve all three airports.
Murfee did not have details of the subsidy proposed in Contour's plan.
The Department of Transportation sent out an emergency request on Sept. 21 for proposals for the Arkansas airports. The request stipulated three round-trip flights per weekday -- and 18 weekly -- to large or medium hubs on aircraft with nine passenger seats.
Harrison went with a proposal from Contour that promises service to Memphis and Dallas, and Hot Springs selected one from Boutique Air, which will provide flights to Atlanta and Dallas.
Contour's proposal includes the use of the Jetstream 31, which the company will convert from 19 seats to nine seats, providing 5 feet of legroom per person. Contour's parent company, Corporate Flight Management, has traditionally been a charter service, based in Smyrna, Tenn.
Over the past four years, the parent company has started offering Essential Air Service for other smaller airports, such as in Manistee, Mich.; Victoria, Texas; and Tupelo, Miss. It began providing this service under the name Contour Airlines in April.
Information for this article was contributed by Jessica Seaman of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Business on 11/01/2016