Starting in February, Paducah’s Barkley Regional Airport will offer flights to both Chicago and Houston.
Barkley Regional announced the upcoming flight schedule, set to start in February, on Tuesday.
SkyWest Airlines – which received an Essential Air Services contract last month to serve the far western Kentucky airport – plans to offer one roundtrip flight per day to both Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The airline is expected to operate those flights each week through its four-year contract with Barkley Regional Airport.
This move comes after the Department of Transportation, which awards EAS contracts, approved a proposal last month for SkyWest to only fly from Paducah to Chicago – not Houston. In an order, DOT officials cited lower costs for SkyWest’s Chicago-only proposal compared to its dual destination model as a primary factor in its decision.
However, Dennis Rouleau, the executive director of Barkley Regional Airport, said SkyWest has agreed to fly to Chicago and Houston at the subsidy rates that the DOT originally approved for the airline to fly solely to O’Hare – with no increase in costs for this option.
SkyWest, operating as United Express, will offer the routes on CRJ-550 aircraft – which have 50 seats split between first, economy plus and economy classes.
Starting on Feb. 24, these routes will replace Barkley Regional’s current offering from Contour Airlines that flies from Paducah to Charlotte, North Carolina.
