City of Fort Dodge Works Towards SkyWest Service Retention

(Alpha Media- Brooke Bickford) A letter from the desk of the Fort Dodge Regional Airport signed by Mayor Matt Bemrich and Airport Commission Chair Debra Johnson has been submitted to the  U-S Department of Transportation in support of reducing air frequency provided by SkyWest Airlines.

The letter states that since the notice of intent by SkyWest to discontinue EAS flights from Fort Dodge and 28 other communities due to varied reasons including pilot shortages, the local airport has been in contact the director of market development for Skywest  to see if there was any way to keep the service in our area.

Airport Director Rhonda Chambers told Alpha Media this is a temporary measure until SkyWest can restore full service or another carrier is found to replace them.

The temporary reduction was requested by SkyWest to begin with, but the U-S Department of Transportation rejected that.

According to Chambers a lot of investing has gone into bringing SkyWest to Fort Dodge and ridership has grown since they began operating a year ago.

The request by the community would be to reduce daily flights from 12 to 7 per week so Fort Dodge could help retain the air carrier.

The support letter requests that the change go into effect July 1st.