CC - Agendas - City Council - REGULAR - 8/14/2018

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Prescott City Council Special Voting Meeting — 07/03/2018 Page 6 Mayor Pro Tem Orr thanked staff and all of the airlines that did bid. There were seven different airlines that were interested and only one can be selected. Councilman Sischka said we need to get it right this time. The community has had problems with air service where it has started and stopped over the years. We need to go with an established success story and that is SkyWest. Councilman Goode said he worked on House Bill 2005 and got it through the legislature which addressed the growing shortfall of pilots that is at 10,000 throughout the country. Having ERAU contracting with SkyWest will help with the pilot reliability and service. Having a fifty seat jet that citizens can rely on to meet their needs is so important for businesses and families. Capacity is important because a lot of families won't fit on an eight or nine seat plane. SkyWest has committed dollars and is committed to our community. A marketing campaign will fill the jets and will help get to the 10,000 enplanements. There is no question that SkyWest is the best choice. Councilwoman Scholl asked when would the flights begin out of Prescott. Dr. Sobotta said the anticipated start date is the end of August. Council thanked the Airport Advisory Committee, the bidders and staff for all of their hard work. Airport Advisory Committee Chairman Juliani said the committee went through the analysis in detail and the committee did a fantastic job. The consensus was that SkyWest offered the great solution that Prescott has been waiting for this a long time and can serve us for a long time in the future. Andy Jacobs, on behalf of Advanced Air, wanted to thank the city for the opportunity to visit with the community. They were also very impressed with the community. Looking at the bids, Advanced Air was strong in the fact that they are the only company that provided a market survey in the bid. They believe the two most popular cities are Phoenix and Los Angeles and they offer multiple flights per day. Another strength is they have multiple flights per day with much more opportunities for connections. They also are delivering more options for the lowest federal subsidy. He apologized for the start date, he corrected and said they could start tomorrow. Citizen Jared Adams said the most important thing is accessibility and comfort. Having an airport here and being able to drive to the Prescott airport and get on a plane rather than having to drive to Phoenix is a major convenience for the citizens. SkyWest has connections to pretty much everywhere in the US. Prescott Valley citizen Jonathan McCommack, in his experience, airlines that have flown to Prescott under another air carrier's name have always done better and not mark it as an individual name because people don't know who they are. People know who United is and that is what they are going to look at.