Four airlines, including two familiar names, have submitted bids to provide subsidized air service in Tupelo.
They are Air Choice One, SeaPort Airlines, Sun Air and Blue Sky.
Air Choice and SeaPort have submitted bids before, but Sun Air and Blue Sky are new players.
Here's a look at the bids:
• SeaPort offers four options:
The first is 18 weekly roundtrips to Memphis and 6 weekly roundtrips to Nashville. Subsidy: $2,053,089
The second has 12 weekly trips to Memphis and 12 to Nashville. Subsidy: $1,706,297
The third, which is contingent on Greenville choosing SeaPort, has 18 trips to Nashville and 12 trips to New Orleans, via Greenville. Subsidy: $1,976,099
The fourth option, contingent on Laurel/Hattiesburg selecting the airline, offers the same number of Nashville and New Orleans flights, via Laurenl Hattiesburg. Subsidy: $2,034,159
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• Air Choice One's bid offers 24 trips between Memphis and Tupelo. BUT, Air Choice has packaged its bid to include Greenville, Laurel/Hattiesburg, Tupelo and Muscle Shoals together. In other words, it's bid is good for all four airports, and not a separate service for each one. So, it would offer 24 connecting flights to Memphis in each of the four cities, at a total subsidy request of $6,542,907. If it gets a four-year agreement instead of a two-year agreement, Air Choice would reduce its subsidy request to $6,477,478 to service all four cities.
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• Sun Air, like SeaPort and Air Choice One, will fly 9-passenger turboprops. While the other two fly Cessna Grand Caravans, Sun Air opts for Piper Cheiftains. Sun Air submitted bids for Muscle Shoals, Greenville and Tupelo. Sun Air is offering several options, too:
In one option, Sun Air is offering 24 weekly roundtrips to Memphis, with four daily trips on weekdays and two daily trips on Saturday and Sunday. Subsidy: $1,955,832
A second option adds more flights, with six weekday flights and three weekend flights daily. Subsidy: $2,564,573
A third option, which takes out its bid for Muscle Shoals, uses the identical schedule in the first option. Subsidy: $2,069,768
BUT, all these options for Sun Air might be moot, because it's not an airline just yet. It submitted its air carrier application with the U.S. Department of Transportation in September, and Sun Air says, "the application is in its final stages of review."
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Finally, we have Blue Sky Airlines, which offers the only regional jet - 50-seat Embraer EJR145. It's offering to use two of them in an "inseparable package," providing air service for Greenville, Laurel/Hattieburg, Muschle Shoals and Tupelo, connecting them to Atlanta, Memphis and Nashville in three scenarios.
It would provide 13 weekly round trips this way: Two weekday departures Monday through Friday, two Saturday departures and one Sunday departure for each of the four cities. To do that, Blue Sky says its subsidy request would be $2,822,574.
The problem with Blue Sky, however, is that it's not even an airline yet; it's only an airline on paper only. So, take its presentation for what it's worth.
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If you managed to wade through all the numbers and details, congrats. And thanks!
You can see more on the Tupelo Regional Airport's website here.
We'll have more in Tuesday's Daily Journal.