Three Down: Air Midwest, Big Sky and Skyway Airlines Shuttering Operations (Venerable Beech 1900 Takes A Hit)

Three small regional carriers are in the process of winding down operations, as sky-high fuel costs continue to bite.

Earlier this week Mesa Air Group confirmed it is liquidating its loss-making Raytheon Beech 1900 operator Air Midwest. It expects the wind-down to be fully completed by the end of the year.

Today, Midwest Airlines announced plans to begin closing subsidiary Skyway Airlines' Dornier 328JET flight operations in March and April (it started pulling down Beech 1900 operations last year). Skyway’s routes will be flown by Midwest’s new partner, Bombardier CRJ200 operator SkyWest Airlines; its airport services business will remain intact.

MAIR Holdings subsidiary Big Sky Airlines recently ceased operations. It operated – you guessed it – Beech 1900 turboprops.

Okay, so we’ve established a common theme here – 19-seat operations, even those that are subsidized by the US Government under the essential air service (EAS) program, are simply not profitable in today’s environment.

But I must admit I was a tad surprised by Midwest’s decision today to shutter Skyway. Midwest only just expanded the Skyway fleet in 2006, after brokering a deal to acquire two 328JETs once operated by Atlantic Coast Airlines (and its successor Flyi) for Delta Air Lines. Additionally, Midwest seemed pretty certain that Skyway would remain a member of its airline family, even after inking the feeder deal with SkyWest.

Fast-forward to today, and Midwest is citing the economics of operating the current Skyway fleet of 328JET regional jets coupled with rapidly rising fuel costs as necessitating the change in strategy.

A Midwest spokesman says Skyway's closure was by no means a "fait accompli" when the deal with SkyWest was inked. However, Midwest is staying mum on just how many CRJ200s will be added to the SkyWest deal (the original pact called for 15), and calls "speculation" any talk of additional growth for SkyWest at Midwest (above what is necessary to cover the Skyway routes).

That Skyway's fate was not set in stone at the time of the SkyWest deal might not provide a whole lot of comfort to Skyway pilots, flight attendants and mechanics now. A total 380 Skyway employees will be laid off over the new few months.

Needing More Than a Lubricated Shaft: Bombardier CRJ100/200 Flap Problem Remains Nuisance for Operators

One of the great things about being a journablogger (i.e. journalist blogger) is that I don’t have to adhere to a word count on my blog. Essentially, for better or worse, I can dump the contents of my notebook onto Runway Girl.

That’s an especially nice feature when covering a story like the Bombardier CRJ100/200 flap problem, and its impact on operators (which, as of Jan 3, were to have complied with a maintenance action in a FAA airworthiness directive aimed at reducing the number of stuck flap incidents that have been linked to cold weather operations).

That action called for CRJ100/200 operators to clean and lubricate the flexible shafts and install metallic seals in the flexible drive-shaft. While a clean, lubricated shaft suits certain purposes nicely, it seems it just isn't enough to resolve the CRJ100/200 problem (ahem). To that end, Bombardier has redesigned a seal, and is readying to have it certificated.

A story now running in Flight International magazine, and found here, talks about all of this. However, the world’s largest CRJ200 operator SkyWest had quite a bit more to say about the subject. Now Air Wisconsin has also chimed in, after one of its CRJ200s was forced to make an emergency landing at Burlington, Vermont last week due to a flap failure.

But let's start with SkyWest. Here’s a slightly abridged version of what SkyWest vice-president of finance and treasurer Michael Kruapp told me:

"SkyWest is probably on the forefront of complying with this [AD]. It is important to note that SkyWest actually noted that this was a problem prior to the issue…and sort of had a fix in place already."

"At this time, we are complying with the AD and taking the required changes as noted and specified by Bombardier. We are having some challenges and difficulty in doing that. From our perspective, we’re still having some challenges with the fix - the recommended fix that we’ve got, we’re trying to make sure that it is and it does work, etc. We’re just working through that process and ensuring compliance with the AD as issued."

"It’s interesting to note that when you get into a situation like this, they [Bombardier] are running through and trying to remedy a known situation right now and I think what they are still trying to do is to make sure that this is going to be a long-term fix."

"We operate an awful lot of these RJs (about 250) and we have a very keen interest to work with Bombardier, helping them, providing them with expertise. The challenge [is] in ensuring that it is a permanent fix and that you don’t have failures after that. We’re working with Bombardier to ensure compliance with the AD and do anything and everything we can as a partner and operator of these aircraft to ensure there is a good fix."

"They are working on continuous improvement. They are realizing they have a challenge here with the recommended solution and they are seeking an even better fix from what they have today."

"Obviously we are working on some of these fixes ourselves, and to the extent that we do that, we take our resources, maintenance…I’m sure most of the operators are incurring their own monies to help this fix as well."

And now for Air Wisconsin. On January 2, a CRJ200 operating as US Airways Express from Philadelphia to Burlington made an emergency landing at Burlington after experiencing a flap problem.

“The flaps failed”, says an Air Wisconsin spokeswoman. She says the pilots “discontinued their approach”, did a “go-around” and choose an alternative runway at the airport after determining that wind conditions were more conducive to landing. The aircraft landed safely.

It is unclear if weather had an impact on the flap failure (although it looks like Jan 2 was one mighty cold day in Vermont).

It is interesting to note that the incident occurred after the carrier complied with the maintenance action contained in the FAA’s air worthiness directive. “Two weeks ahead of the required date, all aircraft had gone through what they needed [and] are compliant with the airworthiness directive,” says the Air Wisconsin spokeswoman.

“It’s obvious that with that aircraft there has been an issue," she adds.

As specified in my article for Flight, Bombardier has been working with US manufacturer Eaton to redesign the flap system. The company has “completed testing of a new seal and, very soon, will share the specifics with the certification authorities”, it says.

Bombardier has also engaged Eaton for additional modifications. The work with Eaton, which is scheduled to begin in February, will further enhance the system's reliability, and is being done "in the spirit of continuous improvement", says Bombardier.

(Astroglide photo from "Must Have Site for Men" at http://www.have.co.uk/)