Patriot Express to resume weekly flights

[unhappycamper]

Patriot Express to resume weekly flights
By Vince Little, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, September 11, 2008

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The Patriot Express will be back in the skies over mainland Japan and Okinawa on a weekly basis starting next month, the U.S. Transportation Command announced Tuesday.

Beginning Oct. 2, it will pass through Yokota every Thursday and Friday on a round trip mission from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The U.S. military’s only chartered commercial air service in the Pacific is now guaranteed with Northwest Airlines through March 30, officials said.

TRANSCOM did not receive an acceptable offer to cover Patriot Express flights from April to September 2009, according to Larry Lorentzen, a transportation analyst for the organization’s operations and plans directorate. He said it’ll reopen the bidding process with various Civil Reserve Air Fleet carriers after Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year.

"This process is not unusual for annual requirements, and all CRAF carriers, including Northwest Airlines, will be eligible to fill remaining weekly mission schedules," he added.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57315