Five airlines have submitted bids to provide essential air services out of Paducah’s Barkley Regional Airport. The new EAS contract would kick in toward the end of the year.
The EAS program, overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation, provides eligible communities access to the National Air Transportation System primarily by providing federal subsidies to air carriers. Kentucky has two EAS airports, one in Paducah and another in Owensboro.
Barkley Regional Airport received EAS bids from five commercial air carriers: American Airlines, Air Wisconsin, Contour Airlines, Denver Air Connection and SkyWest Airlines. Those bids included nine proposed air routes, and all of them included 12 round trip flights per week to and from the far western Kentucky airport. The most common proposed destination is O’Hare International Airport in Chicago – around a five-hour drive from Paducah.
Barkley Regional’s executive director Dennis Rouleau said the decision that the airport’s board will make when it votes on which proposal to recommend to the DOT for approval will weigh several factors.
“We're going to look at the type of airplane that they're proposing. We're going to be looking at where they're going to go, the connectivity. We're going to look at reliability. We're looking at price as well,” Rouleau said.
Contour is the current provider at the far western Kentucky airport. Since 2022, the airline has offered 12 weekly flights between Paducah and Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) in North Carolina. The airline beat out two other bids when DOT awarded it the Paducah EAS contract three years ago. Rouleau said that current contract expires at the end of November.
The airline’s new bid includes a total of 12 flights per week on a 30-seat plane with services to Charlotte and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD), for a preferred term of four years. Contour’s airline partners include American Airlines, United Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
American Airlines offered three proposals, all for a minimum two-year term:
- 12 weekly round trips to CLT on a 50-seat aircraft
- Six weekly round trips to Charlotte and six weekly round trips to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) on a 65-seat aircraft
- Six weekly round trips to DFW and six weekly round trips to ORD on a 65-seat aircraft
Air Wisconsin’s bid includes 12 weekly trips over either a two or three-year term to Chicago O’Hare on its CRJ200 aircraft, which typically seats 50 passengers. This route has a codeshare partnership with American Airlines, meaning that customers could book a flight on this line through American.
Denver Air Connection’s four-year proposal includes 12 weekly flights split between Chicago O’Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The flight provider has interline agreements in place with United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
SkyWest Airlines’ bid also includes three different proposals on a 50-seat plane, all for up to a four-year term:
- 12 weekly flights to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport under SkyWest’s Delta Air Lines Codeshare Agreement
- 12 weekly flights to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and/or ORD under SkyWest’s United Airlines Codeshare Agreement
- 12 weekly flights to ORD under SkyWest’s United Airlines Codeshare Agreement
SkyWest previously served Barkley Regional Airport with a route from Paducah to Chicago, but terminated its EAS agreement with the Paducah airport in 2022 due to pilot shortages.
While Barkley Regional still relies on EAS to provide daily passenger flights, Rouleau said the western Kentucky airport’s ultimate goal is to move beyond the federal subsidy program.
“We don't know how long EAS is going to remain. It's imperative to us to, you know, make sure we find a winning combination partner that we can work with to build their numbers up to the point where we can start attracting other destinations and…other airlines,” Rouleau said.
The Barkley Regional Airport Authority Board will meet on July 8 to select a preferred carrier to recommend to the DOT for approval. Rouleau said he expects a final approval announcement from DOT – which has the final say on the Paducah EAS contract – to come at the end of July or early August.
