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This is actually old news, however, it was announced in October that Continental Express/ExpressJet was going to start regional jet service between Hobbs (HOB - Lea County Regional Airport) and Houston (IAH - George Bush Intercontinental Airport). However, more recently it was announced that the service has been delayed due to TSA approval which should take about 120 days.
I wonder if this service will ever begin. It could perhaps indirectly compete with American Eagle's Roswell flights.
Currently, HOB is served by New Mexico Airlines to Carlsbad on 9-seat Cessna Caravan turboprops, where the service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. If the Continental service begins and succeeds, I am pretty sure that New Mexico Airlines will pull out and all subsidies will end.
I'm confused by your post. CNM is served by LW, as is HOB. CNM air service is subsidized by EAS, HOB is not. So are you saying that the ExpressJet service IAH-HOB will eliminate the need for any service to/from CNM?
I'm confused by your post. CNM is served by LW, as is HOB. CNM air service is subsidized by EAS, HOB is not. So are you saying that the ExpressJet service IAH-HOB will eliminate the need for any service to/from CNM?
EAS at CNM runs through May of 2011.
Both services at CNM and HOB are subsidized. There is currently only one route out of HOB, and that would be HOB-CNM.
Remember, very few people fly EAS routes due to comparably higher fares. The EAS program was established after the airline industry was deregulated to prevent some of these more remote locations from losing service. If the Continental Express/ExpressJet service turns out to be a success, there will no longer be any need to subsidize LW's service to CNM since it would just be a waste of money when there is already adequate service to IAH.
One recent example of such airport that has graduated from EAS subsidies is MHK (Manhattan, Kansas). American Eagle's service to MHK from DFW has been a great success, that American Eagle added a flight to ORD. Due to the success of these services, there is no longer any need for any subsidies. Previously, service to MHK was provided by Great Lakes Airlines, who provided service to MCI and DEN.
I don't believe HOB is part of EAS any longer, at least according to this site:
Essential Air Service Program (http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/aviation/x-50%20role_files/essentialairservice.htm - broken link)
is there a better source for the current list?
Hmm, interesting. I guess I shouldn't exactly trust Wikipedia. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if New Mexico Airlines pulls out of HOB if/when Continental Express/ExpressJet begins service to IAH. The drive from Carlsbad to Hobbs is only about 1 hour on US 180/62. Some Carlsbad locals might actually drive to HOB to get better air service instead of driving all the way to ELP.
For example, when Delta Connection and American Eagle announced their initial decision to fly to SAF in 2007, Great Lakes Airlines was quick to end their SAF-DEN flights shortly after the Delta and American services were initially planned to begin. Unfortunately for SAF, the service got snagged by a delayed environmental assessment due to complaints by the Santo Domingo Pueblo that passengers would take photos of their land. Delta Connection eventually scrapped their plans for SAF service due to rising fuel costs.
Hmm, interesting. I guess I shouldn't exactly trust Wikipedia.
Anybody can add info to Wikipedia. There is some oversight, but even if they have good intentions, some people enter the wrong information. They are still a good source.
Wikipedia is the worst source because anybody can add info to the site. That makes them completely unreliable, regardless of their percentage of error. Unless you already know the fact you are quoting, they should be the last source used.
Back to EAS. If CO ( UA really ) added the CNM flights, there is a good argument for adding HOB back to the EAS program. If that happened, I would imagine LW could leave their route intact ( which is actually ABQ-CNM-HOB ( LW 4 operates daily and in reverse as LW 1 ) or ABQ-ALM-CNM-HOB ( LW 96 operates M-F and in reverse as LW 86).
Wikipedia is the worst source because anybody can add info to the site. That makes them completely unreliable, regardless of their percentage of error. Unless you already know the fact you are quoting, they should be the last source used.
Andros is aware of that as he's added data to Wiki and then referenced his own additions
to prop up his position(s) on this board without acknowledging that they were actually his
own entries.
Wikipedia is the worst source because anybody can add info to the site.
That makes them completely unreliable, regardless of their percentage of error.
Unless you already know the fact you are quoting, they should be the last source used.
For me, this applies to any page on the www.
Anyone can write anything about anything anytime. (*)
Wikipedia is often a good start and often has good links to corroborating sites.
The more sites that agree on stuff, the more I belive stuff.
That being said, I often quote wikipedia if I already have some level of
knowledge about something and the wikipedia page can fill in the blanks
and/or save me some typing.
(*) I have friends who constantly send me chain emails with conspiracy
theories. Their undies are often in a bunch worrying about this or that
thing that they just heard about and just had to forward it to me and
a jillion other people. Some people just have trouble with the concept
that if they see something in print, it must be true.
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