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Show ROLLO Glyph icsNRQLL0 evidentally been witnessed in other areas. Communiters start, they grow, they get greedy and they no longer want the responsibility of that eliment of the flying public that helped them develop. Cedar City has gone through extensive rennovation of the Municipal Airport to accomodate the major carrier-Airwest--Those in the Chamber of Commerce Com-merce point out that the major carrier encouraged and endorsed' that development. . Why then, must Cedar City, and the entire southern Utah area, start all over again at a position they were in several years ago when Bonanza first began service to this area. The limited passenger capacity of Skywest makes that organization unable to adequately handle the needs of the area. Airwest on the other hand has a 40 passenger plane coming in antl out and if forced by the CAB to provide service, could still be beneficial to southern Utah. ' Companies planning to locate in this area are alsc concerned about the availability of major carrier service. As recently as this past month an organization looking at the area for a potential plant location, indicated the necessity . of a major carrier to conduct their business operations. We need major carrier capacity. We have it. We helped the organization develop their major status. Let's asked the CAB to insist that the carrier commit itself to serve our needs. , There's no need to start all over again. Buthearings are being c held. There are hearings to receive the. input of the public. : Regardless of your feelings, pro or con, take some time to visit the hearings and express your views. t The status that comes with a ' major truck line carrier is important im-portant to the area. It is im- Some important dates for residents to keep in mind are March 16, 17 and 18. On those dates the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) will be conducting hearing in Cedar City on Hugh's Airwest request to discontinue service to the southern Utah area. There are many people who ' feel that the lack of service by Airwest makes the issue a mute point, but there are those, including in-cluding the Cedar City Chamber of Commerce, who believe that a real issue is involved here -- an issue thdt deserves consideration by residents. . It's interesting to note the development of air carriers in Cedar City dating back to the beginning when Bonanza beean a commuter service into the community. At that point in time that's exactly what .Bonanza was - a communiter service. The service was good, the rates reasonable and both the airlines and the area were satisfied. Then there came a merger where three airlines combined to increase their capacity. At that point a successful commuter service, that was financially stable, began a series of financial losses and in order to resolve those losses began to expand into the larger market areas of the major carriers. Cedar City was instrumental in helping the airlines obtain rights to fly between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City - which was the beginning for Hugh's Airwest's expansion into the total western United States. But then Airwest became more i concerned about major routes and less concerned about commuter service. At that point in time the service to Cedar City began to dwindle. The schedules became less and less inviting and the prices began to rise and rise to the point where the service was no longer ad-vantagous. ad-vantagous. That's the point where a new commuter airlines, began to operate out of St. George and is today providing an adequate, but limited service, to residents of the area who wish to commute to Salt Lake City and Las Vegas to tie in with major carrier ser-vices. ser-vices. Airwest then announced that the boardings had dwindled to the point where it was no longer economical to make stops at Cedar City and asked the CAB for permission to discontinue service. The point of the review is to establish a pattern that has poi lam iu me continued development of the airport facilities and it continues an association with the CAB and potential federal revenues. The hearings are scheduled to start each morning at 10 a.m. and are currently scheduled to be held in the courtroom of the City and County building. Should the participation be more than be handled in the courtroom the hearing may be moved. Check with the city offices of-fices before attending, but try to attend. |
