If the Pierre City Commission gets its way, ADI will continue to provide Pierre with commercial air service.
Tonight the Pierre City Commission accepted the suggestion of the Air Service Task Force to recommend the U.S. Dept. of Transportation (USDOT) enter into another two-year Essential Air Service (EAS) contract with ADI, Inc., Pierre’s current commercial airline. The task force’s recommendation does include one major change from the current contract.
“We have heard over and over again from Pierre Airport patrons that they want service to Minneapolis,” said Mayor Steve Harding. “We made that desire clear to ADI, and they responded by adding Minneapolis flights to their proposed itinerary.”
Under the recommended proposal, five days a week ADI will offer three flights –two to Minneapolis and one to Denver. One flight would be offered on Wednesdays and Saturdays. One-way fares would continue to average $99.
The USDOT currently has an EAS contract with ADI. For its part of the contract, the USDOT subsidizes ADI to ensure Pierre has access to commercial air service. That contract will expire on July 31 of this year.
The USDOT leads the contracting process by calling for proposals from airlines interested in serving the Pierre market. The USDOT also gives EAS communities the opportunity to provide input on the airline proposals.
With the support of the Pierre City Commission, city staff will now forward the recommendation on to the USDOT for its review. The USDOT then has 30 days to review the recommendation.
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