Published: April 25, 2008 11:37 pm      

Meridian Regional Airport considers airline bids

Mayor John Robert Smith announced the city's preference in passenger air service during a press conference Friday concerning the Meridian Regional Airport.

"Late yesterday we were notified by the Department of Public Transportation that bids had been received," Smith said. "There were two bidders; Delta doing business as ASA, and Mesaba Aviation doing business as Northwest Airlink."

Both bidders would offer 13 nonstop trips a week, but one major difference was the annual subsidy requests with Mesaba's request coming to $960,472 annually, and ASA's coming to, $686,489 annually.

The other differences was that Mesaba passengers would travel between Meridian and Memphis, and Delta/ASA would travel between Meridian and Atlanta.

There was also a lot of consideration in the type of aircraft each company would use to transport passengers. Mesaba's service would be provided in a 34-seat Saab aircraft, which is a propeller-based plane, and ASA's aircraft would be a 50-seat CRJ-200 jet aircraft.

With the lowest bid and the higher capacity aircraft, the city's decision was a simple one, according to Smith.

"I will send a letter to the Department of Transportation detailing our strong preferences that Delta/ASA be awarded the subsidized bid," Smith said.

Besides the seating capacity, the difference in propeller-based aircrafts and jet-based aircrafts were considered.

"Propeller airplanes are normally slower, about half the speed of a jet. It flies at lower altitudes, so it doesn't avoid the weather like a jet does," said Tom Williams, president of the Meridian Regional Airport Authority. "It's not as smooth a ride as a jet due to some aerodynamic issues. The jet is a smoother ride even in turbulence, and in the propeller airplane you get bounced around a lot more."

Smith said that he will mail his letter to the Department of Transportation next week.

Delta Air Lines announced in March it would pull service out of Meridian, citing rising fuel costs. At that time Williams said Delta wanted to stay in Meridian, however, and that the it may continue to offer service here if granted status into the Essential Air Service Program, which pays subsidies from the federal government.