Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette A Skywest Airlines plane is seen at the Houghton County Memorial Airport shortly before loading passengers to Chicago on Dec. 8. Officials from places such as UP Health System — Portage, Michigan Technological University said Wednesday the area would be better served by more flights per day and the addition of flights to Minneapolis or Detroit.

HOUGHTON — Representatives from business organizations and larger employers in the Copper Country expressed their goals for improving air service in the Keweenaw during a special meeting of the county Airport Board Wednesday.

At the Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance (KEDA), discussion has centered on bringing back Delta Airlines to Houghton County Memorial Airport. Business travelers have also preferred flights to Minneapolis or Detroit.

“Chicago is a great airport, but it suffers from being a large airport, very busy, and prone to problems with weather,” said KEDA Executive Director Jeff Ratcliffe. “When weather moves in, it backs the system up, it delays and cancels flights.”

Since 2010, the Houghton County Memorial Airport has been serviced by SkyWest Airlines, which flies a 50-seat jet to Chicago through United Airlines. Before that, Mesaba Airlines flew to Minneapolis as part of the Delta network.

Mesaba withdrew from service in 2010, saying it was unprofitable. That triggered Houghton’s entry into the Essential Air Service program (EAS), in which carriers earn subsidies in exchange for providing flights to smaller airports that would otherwise be without regular service.

SkyWest has submitted the winning bid for every contract since 2010. It is also the only bidder for the next two-year cycle, said Dennis Hext, manager of the Houghton County Memorial Airport.

Reliable air service is one of the biggest metrics for attracting or retaining businesses, said Kevin Codere, a member of KEDA’s board and president of Peninsula Copper Industries. The lack of it has already hurt local business, said Glen Simula, president of GS Engineering.

“We have customers flying up … if the flights are canceled, they just write us off as far as coming up to see us,” he said.

One issue preventing Delta from returning to Houghton County is a scope clause that caps the number of SkyWest aircraft that go onto Delta, Hext said.

When Delta bid in 2010, they bid on three daily flights instead of the two allotted under DOT guidelines. As a result, the contract went to SkyWest, which was $100,000 lower.

Hext recently had an airplane consultant reach out to Delta to see if it wanted to return to the area. Delta informed him it does not want any additional EAS markets right now, Hext said.

“They’re not interested in us right now,” he said. “That’s not to say they wouldn’t, if we could support 70-seat aircraft or more flights, but right now they’re not. And because of the scope clause, they can’t even if they wanted to.”

Some issues with cancellations and travel have already been addressed. People can now get one-way rental cars from Chicago, Hext said. And after problems with the automated weather system at the airport forced cancellations, the FAA eventually allowed manual reporting.

One of the highest priorities is regaining the ability to divert flights to other Upper Peninsula airports when necessary. Because other airports in the U.P. are serviced by Delta, flights unable to land in Hancock usually return to Chicago.

During the days of Mesaba, Codere was on several flights that had to land in Marquette, or Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

“We got in a car, or on a bus, and we were home,” he said. “Going back to Chicago doesn’t do that, and it completely disrupts the business schedule.”

The airport is working with SkyWest on alternates, but there are obstacles, Hext said. If people deplane, there have to be TSA personnel there if passengers disembark. And another airport will be on a Delta computer system, not United.

“It’s far more complicated than it used to be,” he said.

Hext said the airport is also working with SkyWest on a third daily flight during the summer, he said.

More people using the local airport would make it more attractive for airlines, Hext said. But higher air fares make that tough for consumers.

Flights cost more out of Houghton County than at any other U.P. airport. A survey of flights on Expedia Thursday found round-trip prices out of Houghton County were almost $50 more than the next most expensive airport, and in one case over $200. (The search, arbitrarily done for a late June weekend trip to St. Louis, included four other western U.P. airports and Rhinelander.)

Being more expensive has capped growth. Enplanements are up 2 to 3% per month at the airport, Hext said. But other airports in the U.P. have been between 5 and 10%.

“That means the economy is great, but our air fares are out of whack, otherwise we’d be growing at 5 to 10% like everyone else,” he said.

SkyWest controls the fares between Houghton County and Chicago; United controls the other flights. The airlines also work together, Hext said.

SkyWest has lowered the fares before to make them more competitive. That time, a computer glitch was determined to be the culprit.

“I’m hoping that’s what it is this time, because it’s easier to fix,” Hext said. “But the timing is bad, because we’re coming up to the busy season now.”