Says 2013 Pilot Training Rule Has Forced The Carrier Out Of Business

Great Lakes Airlines has indefinitely suspended its scheduled passenger flight service, according to a notice posted on the company website. The airline ceased operations on March 26 with no warning to ticket holders.

The airline was a regional carrier flying routes out of Cheyenne, WY using Beechcraft and Embraer turboprop airplanes. In a statement released to the media March 28, the company said it was closing after 40 years of servicing regional airports in the Midwestern and Western regions of the United States. "Great Lakes Airlines has begun implementing employee layoffs," the release said. "The airline, which owns a fleet of aircraft comprised of 28 Beechcraft 1900Ds and six Embraer 120 Brasilia, hopes to sell its remaining assets to interested parties. Critical staff members needed to support the scheduled airline certificate, repair station certificate, reservation platform and  maintain the fleet will be kept onboard until the airline's assets can be sold."

JDA Journal reports that the carrier said in the release that the pilot qualification rule passed in 2013 by the U.S. Congress led it to cut flying hours and routes as it became more difficult to hire and retain qualified pilots. "This change caused Great Lakes Airlines, for the past five years, to suspend flights to small cities in the upper Midwest and Western regions of the US as a result of its inability to employ pilots," the release stated.

Wisconsin Airlines said in a message posted on Twitter that it would offer "any current Great Lakes pilot the opportunity to bypass the interview [and] reserve an expedited class date."

While Great Lakes Airlines is no longer in operation, the company said in a message posted on its website that Great Lakes Jet Express flights operated by Aerodynamics (ADI) are not canceled, despite Great Lakes Airlines’ recent announcement to cease turboprop aircraft operations. "All ADI flight times, schedules and existing reservation remain unchanged. All flights to Watertown and Pierre, South Dakota and Denver, Colorado will not be canceled," the statement said.

(Image from file)

FMI: Original report, www.flyadi.com