Great Lakes to use larger planes for service here

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Great Lakes Aviation agreed Wednesday to use 32-seat Embraer EMB-120 planes for its commercial air service from Jamestown Regional Airport to Minneapolis, Minn., rather than the 19-seat Beech 1900 in its contract.

The EMB-120 plane, nicknamed the Brasilia, has a galley, a lavatory and a beverage service, and it is staffed by a flight attendant, unlike the Beech 1900.

“It’s very welcome, and the community deserves the best aircraft we can get,” said Jim Boyd, chairman of the Jamestown Regional Airport Authority. “And hopefully, we will fill this airplane up like we did with the other planes.”

The JRA and Great Lakes Aviation, of Cheyenne, Wyo., finalized the agreement Wednesday, prior to the evening meeting of the Airport Authority.

The Brasilia, like the Beech 1900, is a turbo prop plane, similar to the Saab planes retired by Delta Air Lines, the current commercial air service provider for Jamestown. Since the retirement of its Saab planes, Delta has been serving Jamestown with CRJ-200 jets.

The Brasilia plane will depart from Jamestown to Minneapolis twice a day, at 7:15 a.m. and at 1:17 p.m. The flight is scheduled to take one hour and 15 minutes from gate to gate, with actual flight time lasting about an hour.

The changeover from Delta to Great Lakes Aviation is tentatively scheduled for March 19.

There may be a possibility of future flights west to Williston, N.D., said Matt Leitner, airport manager, because the plane is based there.

Leitner and Boyd said North Dakota’s congressional delegation had helped convince Great Lakes to use the larger planes.

In other news Wednesday, the Airport Authority:

* voted to move forward with the remodeling of its old terminal, which will cost an estimated $43,775, including a $6,000 contingency and a not-to-exceed engineering cost of $6,122. The JRA will apply for a grant from the state, which could pay for half the cost of the project.

* learned that 599 people boarded planes at the JRA in January, and that as of today, boardings were set to reach 406 — the same as the number of boardings for the entire month of February in 2011.

Sun reporter Kari Lucin can be reached at 701-952-8453

or by email at klucin@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, airport, airline