FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) - Great Lake Airlines will be ending Minneapolis flights from Fort Dodge, the only commercial airline service available at the north-central Iowa airport.
The company says it also is suspending service to Mason City in northern Iowa and in Devils Lake and Jamestown, N.D.; Ironwood, Mich.; and Thief River Falls, Minn. The airline is based in Cheyenne, Wyo.
Great Lakes Chief Executive Officer Charles Howell has blamed the moves on a federal requirement that pilots at small airlines have 1,500 hours of experience. That’s up from a previous requirement of 500 hours.
The airline says it had 304 pilots a year ago and now has 98, leaving it unable to staff its routes.
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