FAA nears settlement agreement with the airport

ALAMOSA — The Alamosa County Board of County Commissioners has given their recommendation to the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) for Denver Air Connection to continue to receive federal Emergency Air Service (EAS) subsidies and serve the San Luis Valley Regional Airport.

The recommendation of the carrier by commissioners weighs heavily in the decision-making process by the department which values local input.

The Essential Air Service program was established in 1978 to ensure that smaller communities have access to the national air transportation service and provide subsidies to carriers when necessary. The program provides air service to 60 communities in Alaska and 115 communities in the lower 48 contiguous states. Currently, Alamosa, Cortez, and Pueblo are the airports eligible to receive federal funding in Colorado.

Alamosa County Commissioner Vern Heersink confirmed the county made the recommendation to the Department of Transportation that Denver Air Connection continue to serve Alamosa for an additional two years.

On Jan. 31, the airline submitted a bid to the DOT to receive the subsidy for one, two, three, and four years of operations. Under the two-year bid, if approved, the airline will receive a $6,077,476 subsidy to operate 12 flights a week between Alamosa and Denver.

Denver Air Connection is a passenger airline operated by Key Lime Air Corporation, its parent company. Key Lime Air was founded in 1996. It has grown its scheduled passenger service by focusing on its mission to empower emerging communities with global travel and economic access by providing safe and reliable regional airline service, according to company documents.

In March 2022, the airline submitted and received $5.2 million in EAS funding to serve Alamosa and began flights between the airport and Denver in June 2022.

As previously reported in the Valley Courier, on Feb. 22 Jon Coleman with the airline made a presentation before the Alamosa County Board of County Commissioners and said that in 2023 the number of "Alamosa to Denver passengers was 11,318, Denver to Alamosa, 10,634, for a total of 21,952." The subsidy per passenger per flight was about $118.

Boutique Air also made a presentation to county commissioners via Zoom at that meeting and proposed the airline fly the route using a nine-passenger Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. A third carrier, Contour Air, also applied for EAS funding but did not make a presentation to commissioners.

A third carrier seeking EAS funding is Contour Airlines, which did not make a presentation to the commissioners nor did it respond to emails and phone calls from airport staff.

In other airport news, Rick Breiitenfeldt with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has confirmed their attorneys are near a final settlement agreement with the San Luis Valley Regional Airport for the proposed $1.2 million fine the regulatory body is seeking from the airport. In June of last year, the FAA announced a $1,290,780 civil penalty against the owners of the airport, the City of Alamosa and County of Alamosa, for allegedly failing to ensure aircraft rescue and firefighting personnel were available during scheduled air carrier flights at San Luis Valley Regional Airport.