Daily Montanan: Alpine Air CEO questions Postal Service data for air service in Montana

The U.S. Postal Service said it shifted the majority of mail in Montana that was going through air to ground transport several months ago, but the chief executive of the air transport company said the federal agency relied on bad data to do so.

Alpine Air CEO Michael Dancy said this week he doesn’t believe the Postal Service will be able to meet its own standards for one- or two-day mail either despite its pledges to do so.

“I think they’ve just decided that it’s OK to fail delivery standards in the state of Montana,” Dancy said.

Alpine Air has worked with the Postal Service in Montana for some 35 years.

A spokesperson for the Postal Service said again that it isn’t changing Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express in Montana.

“The contract move was simply to transition to more reliable surface transportation,” said spokesperson Kim Frum in an email.

Last month, the Postal Service abruptly stopped air service in Montana and then went silent in the midst of air cargo negotiations with Alpine Air despite the company’s offer to reduce its contract by $3 million.

The Postal Service has been in financial trouble, and in 2021, it released a plan to get its budget on track and, it said, “forge a bold vision for transformation” and provide “service excellence.”

It had projected a loss of $160 billion during the course of 10 years. Its plan, which included reductions in air service and investments in ground transportation, estimated a net income of $0.2 billion instead.

But implementation in Montana has been fraught with controversy.

Both U.S. Sens. Jon Tester, a Democrat, and Steve Daines, a Republican, have urged the Postal Service to reverse course in the decision about air service and have been critical of other effects on Montana.

“Once again, it appears that the USPS is turning its back on rural America and attempting to solve its budget woes on the backs of our nation’s rural citizens,” said Tester in a July 18 letter to the Postmaster Louis DeJoy.

But the Postal Service stepped away from negotiations anyway, and Dancy said since then, he took a closer look at the federal agency’s plan, “Delivering for America.” And he said he found it lacking when it comes to information about air transport.

For one thing, he said, the data about air transport reflects information for all air carriers, not just postal carriers, and it doesn’t reflect Alpine Air’s record in Montana.

The report described air transport as “very unreliable,” and it said the following: “Air transport has major uncertainties and risks (weather, flight delays, etc.) that can drastically impede service performance.”

Before the pandemic, it said ground transportation met a 92% on-time performance rate, but air transportation had 89.4% on-time performance.

Dancy, however, said Alpine Air counts a 99% on-time rate, and it produced the same even during the pandemic, when it was deemed an essential service.

The Postal Service’s plan, however, doesn’t make note of the 99% rate. The agency spokesperson said its plan “looks at the network as a whole and does not single out specific providers/states.”

Dancy also questioned the ability of ground transportation to deliver top service in the winter given Montana’s weather and roads, a factor Tester noted in his letter as well.

In its plan, the Postal Service said it will invest another $11 million in vehicles, but this week, the agency did not provide the Daily Montanan performance data for ground transportation related to Montana.

“Unfortunately, your request for ground data is not publicly available information,” Frum said. “However, what I can tell you is in keeping with the DFA plan, the majority of the mail for this contractor, much like others nationwide, was transitioned to existing ground transport several months ago.

“The remaining minimal volume wasn’t enough to justify continuing the service.”

The Postal Service did not directly address whether it can continue to meet delivery standards during the winter months or when mailing distances are on the longer side, such as across the country.

Last week, as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Tester secured provisions for rural postal service in the appropriations package. Those include language directing the Postal Service to provide a briefing regarding the end of air service contracts that affect priority and express mail in Montana and other rural states.

Dancy, for one, is skeptical one- or two-day service is still possible in a state the size of Montana.

“There’s just no way they can do that,” he said. “And they know there’s no way they can do that. But that’s what they’re representing.”