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WRPA board meets today, to address swift end to Chicago air service
By KALEA HALL
VIENNA
More details on the abrupt ending of the Great Lakes JetExpress Youngstown-Chicago flights should be released today.
The Western Reserve Port Authority Board of Directors will have a special meeting this morning at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport to “confer with counsel regarding imminent litigation,” a notice reads.
John Moliterno, executive director of the port authority, which oversees the airport, did not want to comment until after the board meets.
The last flight from Chicago to Youngstown landed Wednesday evening. A few hours later, Aerodynamics, or ADI, the company that launched the flights July 1, sent out a news release announcing that flight as the final one for the service.
“ADI had hoped to negotiate an orderly discontinuation of service, but unfortunately has been unable to come to terms with the Western Reserve Port Authority Board,” a news release from ADI read. “The reluctance of the WRPA Board to come to a reasonable ceasing of operations and services leaves ADI with no option other than to discontinue air service immediately.”
The service was expected to end after the WRPA decided Aug. 17 to cut off funding it with a $1.2 million revenue guarantee because it wasn’t meeting expectations.
The WRPA board noted that ADI did not have an interline agreement in place with United Airlines, a main carrier out of Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
The lacking agreement hurt ticket sales because customers couldn’t connect with United flights directly.
ADI entered into a code-share and hosting agreement with Great Lakes Airlines, which permitted ADI to use Great Lakes’ established interline agreements for ticketing and baggage with major legacy carriers in Chicago.
United, however, removed the tickets from its website because it did not have an interline agreement specifically with ADI, the operating carrier.
Passengers did not fill the 49-seat Embraer ERJ-145 jet during its first month of flights. On average, seats were 31 percent filled in July. The hope was to have them at least 45 percent filled.
The airport hadn’t seen a daily scheduled service in 14 years until ADI came in. The airline, which operated as a charter service for more than 50 years before it added commercial service, worked for two years to finally receive approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Passengers with reservations on flights from Youngstown and Chicago should call the Great Lakes Airlines reservations line at 1-800-554-5111 or email refunds@flygreatlakes.com to process refunds.
ADI said passengers “will not be penalized for the termination of service.”