Wednesday is the last day to participate in a community survey that was launched by South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field to gauge public interest in flight destinations for the city's commercial airline service.
Southern Express Airways has been the community's Essential Air Service provider since 2017, offering daily flights to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Memphis International Airport.
Within the past three years, the regional airline service has been fraught with delays, cancellations, pilot shortages and the rising cost of doing business.
The airline also contended with reduced air travel during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, Southern Airways has proposed to switch its Dallas route from DFWIA to Dallas Love Field, citing, among several reasons, increased costs at the DFW fixed base operation for space, fuel and handling.
In response, Johnathan Estes, manager of South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field, decided to conduct a poll to solicit feedback from the community about the matter.
Estes noted that it is the first community survey to be conducted in several years regarding the region's commercial flight destinations.
Last month, Estes reached out to the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce to help post and distribute the survey, which is available online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3RGYPGN.
Similar poll
The chamber assisted with a similar poll in 2016
as the El Dorado Airport Commission worked with the U.S. Department of Transportation secure a new EAS carrier for the region.
The search began after former EAS provider SeaPort Airlines was ordered to cease operations, including at SARA, in September of 2016 due to a bankruptcy filing.
SeaPort began operations in El Dorado in 2009 and initially offered three daily flights to Memphis before switching its flight service pattern two years later to include two daily trips to Dallas Love Field and one Memphis.
Due to mounting operational, legal and economic challenges that stemmed from a federal law that restricted the number of airline gates in the Love Field terminal, SeaPort won a petition to the USDOT in 2015 to fly out of George Bush International Airport in Houston.
After Seaport shuttered operations and moved out of El Dorado, the airport commission sought feedback about preferred flight destinations from the local air-traveling community.
"The (El Dorado-Union County) Chamber of Commerce took a survey and the predominate choice for a destination was the Dallas-Fort Worth (International) Airport," Mickey Murfee, chairman of the airport commission, said at the time.
Airlines who bid for the USDOT EAS contract were asked to include flights to DFW in their proposals.
Southern Airways Express won the bid and took its maiden flight from DFW to El Dorado on May 1, 2017, two months before Estes was named manager of SARA.
Return to Love Field
Now, the airline is looking take local air travelers back to Love Field.
"Essentially, the cost of operations is going up at DFW. One of the main things (Southern Airways) is citing is the FBO service at DFW," Estes said. "I've heard their pilots complain about it since they started (here)."
Estes and Mark Cestari, chief commercial officer for Southern, said cost increases would be passed on to Southern's passengers in the form of higher airfares and other related expenses -- which could potentially reduce enplanements.
"It would also require a higher (federal government) subsidy amount. That's why in the survey we ask how much would you be willing to pay (for a one-way ticket) -- $100 to $130, which is the current price range, or $130 to $180?" Estes explained.
"That will give the airline an idea of how much the community will pay to keep going to DFW," he continued, 'They're not swamping to Love Field'
In an email to Estes last month, Cestari laid out pros and cons about the potential switch to Love Field, which is a major base of operations for Southwest Airlines -- a situation that works as a disadvantage for air travelers who fly out of SARA to Dallas.
Cestari noted that Southern Airways has an interline agreement with American Airlines, whose largest hub is DFW.
"This would not be the case with Southwest, as they do not interline with other carriers," Cestari wrote.
Estes said the results of the flight destination survey that was taken in El Dorado several years ago still hold true for area air travelers.
"They're not swamping to Love Field. It should be about what best serves the city of El Dorado, Camden and Magnolia," said Estes.
Southern Airways is also the EAS provider and offers Dallas-Memphis routes for Hot Springs and Harrison.
"So much of (Southern's) platform when they came in was, 'We've got interline agreements, protected flights and you don't have to take the tram or shuttle to and from Love Field and a large portion of your connectors were connecting on American (Airlines)," Estes recalled.
Another consideration, he said, is that Southwest Airlines is exploring options to possibly expand to DFW in 2025 when federal restrictions expire for the major air carrier.
The Wright Amendment was passed in 1979 to regulate air traffic at Love Field to quell competition with DFW, which had opened a few years earlier.
The amendment reduced gate capacity at Love Field to 20 and restricted Southwest's operations to the airport.
Southwest operates 18 of the 20 gates in the Love Field terminal.
The same limitations prompted SeaPort Airlines to petition the USDOT to switch its El Dorado-Dallas connection to Houston in 2011.
The restrictions in The Wright Amendment sunset in February of 2025 and Southwest could expand operations to DFW, Estes said.
Officials from Southern Airways are expected to meet with members of the El Dorado Airport Commission next week to pitch their proposal to go to Love Field.
The meeting is scheduled for noon Jan. 17 in the SARA terminal.
Survey
The survey went live in late December and was to have ended on Feb. 1 but in light of the anticipated visit from Southern Airways next week, Estes said he reset the closing date to Wednesday.
He said he is working to compile results into statistics prior the EAC meeting next week.
The survey provides several options for destinations, including Love Field and DFW in Dallas; Memphis; Northwest Arkansas National Airport in Rogers; and Drake Field in Fayetteville.
Participants may also add their own preference.
By Jan. 4, Estes said the top two destinations that had been selected by survey participants were DFW and Northwest Arkansas National Airport.
He noted that Southern flights between El Dorado and Memphis have dropped off over the past two years and, per the final results of the survey, there could be some consideration given to scrapping the Memphis flight from Southern's schedule in favor of NANA or another hub.
Other issues
He said Southern must also address other issues to improve its flight service in South Arkansas.
"I understand they're worried about costs. That drives a lot of any business. The big thing they need to fix is reliability and an aircraft shortage and pilot shortage," Estes said.
Estes and airport commissioners have said they have received a number of complaints from area air travelers about lengthy delays and cancellations from Southern.
Several complainants have also reported receiving last-minute notifications about delays and cancellations.
One local air traveler, David Ainsworth, publicly voiced his grievances about Southern last February with a Letter to the Editor in the News-Times.
He also shared his experiences with airport commissioners during an EAC regular meeting last October.
Ainsworth relayed examples of flight disruptions in which he missed connecting flights, had to find alternative transportation to and from his destinations and received reminders and notifications about flight changes that came in the middle of the night -- all of which have occurred since 2017.
Southern passengers in Hot Springs have voiced similar complaints.
Airport Commissioner Bob Watson noted that the EAC owed "more to (local air travelers)than 'Well, it's not us, it's the airline, it's beyond our control and we'll take it under consideration.'"
Commissioners also noted that Southern receives a government subsidy that is supported by taxpayer dollars to provide EAS to the area.
"We, as a commission, choose the airline but there are a bunch of different airlines that put in a bid," Murfee said. "We choose the airline and they've got rules and regulations that the (Federal Aviation Administration) puts on them."
He said the EAC can ensure that local complaints go directly to Southern's top brass.
"We can talk about weather and how Southern deals with delays but leaving somebody stranded doesn't sit well with me at all," Watson said. "They need to find a way to get people back here."
Estes reached out to Cestari about Ainsworth's complaints.
In a reply to Estes's email, Cestari acknowledged Ainsworth's "pain and frustration."
Cestari added, however, that some expectations expressed by Ainsworth "may be a but unrealistic in today's (airport-operating) environment."
He said he did not know how many of the flight disruptions cited by Ainsworth were "uncontrollable" (i.e., weather-related) or within the airline's control.
"We do the best we can to communicate with our passengers in both cases but in terms of
re-accommodation, there is a clear divide," he wrote.
"If it is a 'controllable' cancellation, our folks usually bend over
backwards to re-accommodate the (passenger) -- often a great expense to Southern," Cestari continued. "In the event of weather, the
(passenger) is on their own. That is made clear in our contract of carriage and standard with all airlines."
Pilot and aircraft shortages and supply-chain issues with replacement parts also affected Southern's on-time/reliability record for much of 2023, Cestari said.
He expressed a willingness to speak with Ainsworth and rectify the matter.