JetBlue and American Airlines have each submitted proposals to the U.S. Department of Transportation seeking the next commercial air service contract for Presque Isle International Airport.
The department released the bids Thursday, one day after Wednesday’s submission deadline.
Presque Isle offers commercial flights through the federal Essential Air Service program, which maintains air service to certain rural communities by subsidizing the cost of flights to make them profitable for airlines.
JetBlue has served as Presque Isle’s air carrier since 2024, offering seven weekly roundtrip flights to Boston on 140-seat Airbus A220s that depart early in the morning and return late at night.
It would retain that service under a new contract, JetBlue Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Robert Land wrote in the proposal.
American Airlines’ bid proposes at least 12 roundtrip weekly flights on a 65-seat jet, split between Boston and Philadelphia. The airline is seeking a two-year contract with an average annual subsidy of $8.2 million.
JetBlue is seeking a four-year contract for an annual subsidy worth $11,521,129, or a two-year term worth $11,745,899 annually.
Both figures are several hundred thousand dollars higher than the $11.2 million JetBlue will earn from the second year of its current contract, which is already the highest Essential Air Service subsidy in the country by several million dollars.
Presque Isle is the first and only Essential Air Service community JetBlue flies to.
If selected for the four-year term, JetBlue would consider offering nonstop flights from Presque Isle to Orlando, Florida, on Saturdays during peak periods, such as harvest break, Land said.
American Airlines previously bid to serve Presque Isle in 2024, proposing 12 weekly roundtrip flights to Philadelphia for an annual subsidy of $17.3 million. That proposal did not gain much local traction, as attention focused on JetBlue and United Airlines. The latter had operated out of Presque Isle’s airport with service to Newark since 2018.
The city was largely split between those two airlines. Its Airport Advisory Board voted almost unanimously to recommend United. The City Council voted nearly unanimously in favor of JetBlue.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has final say in what contract to select, but the council’s recommendation serves as the official position of the city of Presque Isle and carries weight.
The 2024 process was so contentious that the airport attempted to move it behind closed doors in 2026.
Airport Director Scott Wardwell proposed last summer that the council shift its deliberations over what airline to recommend into executive session. He called for the council to take a straw vote in that closed-door meeting, returning to public session to vote unanimously in favor of the airline that won the straw vote.
The change was designed to project unity and not deter airlines from bidding by speaking negatively about them in a public forum, Wardwell said.
But First Amendment experts told the Bangor Daily News that the policy was illegal.
Two weeks after voting to approve it, council reversed its decision, at the urging of the city attorney, and one councilor apologized for voting in favor of it, as a result of that reporting.
A new procedure, adopted by the council earlier this month, sets in motion an eight-day timeline from when the proposals are released to the council making its recommendation to the Department of Transportation.
The Airport Advisory Board will meet to first discuss the bids Monday, followed by a joint session between the board and City Council on Wednesday.
Airline companies who have bid to serve the airport will present at that meeting, followed by public comment and discussion between councilors and the advisory board. The council will then vote on its airline recommendation.
Wardwell and Presque Isle City Manager Sonja Eyler will send a letter of recommendation to the Department of Transportation on March 27.
JetBlue’s current contract expires at the end of August. The selected carrier will begin — or in JetBlue’s case, retain — service beginning on Sept. 1.
