HOUGHTON — The Houghton County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted Friday to deny SkyWest Airlines’ request to reduce service to Houghton County Memorial Airport, keeping it at two flights a day until SkyWest’s Essential Air Service contract expires at the end of January.

SkyWest gave a 90-day notice of intent in March to end flights at Houghton and 30 other airports it serves through the federal Essential Air Service program. SkyWest said it was unable to provide service due to the ongoing pilot shortage.

The Department of Transportation prevented the withdrawal, ordering SkyWest to provide 12 flights a week until another carrier signed on.

SkyWest presented Houghton County with a revised proposal for one flight a day. That would continue until SkyWest could become certified as a Part 135 carrier, Airport Manager Dennis Hext said. They could then fly with an aircraft with 30 seats or less. Those pilots also need fewer hours in the air than under the Part 121 certificate SkyWest has now.

“Going down to one flight during the summer months, which is our busiest time, would kill us,” Hext said. “But they told me that if we don’t agree with that, they’ll stay with two flights under their contract like they’re supposed to, but that they would leave as soon as possible. If we go to one flight, then they would work with us.”

Hext developed a counterproposal, asking SkyWest to stay with two flights until Nov. 1. They could go to one flight after that until SkyWest was able to use the 30-seat aircraft. By September, he said, a downturn could reduce air travel, which may ease the pilot shortage. Several airlines are also looking to move into the EAS space after seeing SkyWest’s withdrawal.

Fuel prices and the pilot shortage could also mean higher government subsidies for the next contract, though SkyWest has been unmoved by that point, Hext said.

“I don’t think it would hurt us that much by doing this right now because if they did agree to this, it would cover our summer,” he said. “In September we would go out to bid again, which means this would give us time to work with them to come up with a better solution, or possibly have another airline back to bid on us.”

That was Hext’s preferred option from among three he presented the board. Another option was SkyWest’s proposal of immediately dropping to one flight per day. A third option was to deny SkyWest’s request and tell them to serve the rest of their contract.

Hext said he doubted SkyWest would drop out sooner than required, since the same program that administers EAS is responsible for approving SkyWest’s request to fly the 30-seat planes.

Houghton has flown with SkyWest since 2010, the year the airport entered the Essential Air Service program, which subsidizes flights to small communities to ensure at least a minimal amount of air service.

Of the 31 cities SkyWest filed termination notices with, Houghton had the fourth-most passenger traffic in 2021, at about 50,000 passengers.

“In terms of the EAS world, we are very attractive,” said Mike Mooney, who works with Houghton as a consultant. “In terms of United or Delta getting excited, we are not going to do that, especially given the challenges of pilot shortage and fuel.”

Only one airline filed a proposal in April: Boutique Airlines, which offered three flights a day with a nine-seat plane. Houghton County’s airport committee rejected the bid because it did not include a dual-engine aircraft, a requirement under the EAS contract.

However, several airlines, including Contour Air, have signaled they are looking to expand into the EAS markets SkyWest is leaving, Hext said.

Board members disapproved of dropping down to one flight a day after November, which would leave the airport underserved during the Christmas travel season.

“I don’t feel I’m taking a hard position,” said board Chairman Tom Tikkanen. “I think it’s a pretty reasonable position. They have a contract. We uphold our end of it — the airport’s open, it’s maintained, it’s well-run. We’re simply asking that they finish out their contract. We’re not talking about a period of years, we’re talking about a period of months.”

Commissioner Glenn Anderson had been leaning toward the second option before Friday. But he became convinced SkyWest’s need for approval of its application could keep it in line. Vice Chair Roy Britz had worried about the lack of an enforcement mechanism to keep SkyWest in the contract. But Tikkanen’s point swayed him, he said.

“We’re not the ones being hard,” he said. “I still believe in contracts … I’ll stand up and say that you touched me on that one.”

Also at Friday’s meeting, the board approved $1,128,105 as a one-to-one match with nine townships in Houghton County for road projects. The money comes from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds. The deadline for formal acceptance is February and construction must be completed by February 2026.

Projects in Calumet, Laird and Portage townships are ready for this year, County Engineer Kevin Harju said.