Deadline looms for area's airline service

Outlook good for month's end, but service must maintain afterwards

MOSES LAKE — Passenger numbers are improving, but the area's Essential Air Service remains in jeopardy, and will continue to do so following an upcoming deadline.

The federally subsidized Essential Air Service program requires the Port of Moses Lake and Big Sky Airlines to maintain a certain minimum number of passengers utilizing the service, said port manager Craig Baldwin.

The port was informed by the Washington State Department of Transportation last year that it had 12 months to get passenger numbers up, or lose the subsidy. Over the course of the year, in order to meet those goals, the port and Big Sky in February switched air service from flights to Seattle to flights to Portland, Ore., and to Boise, Idaho in order to reduce operational costs.

"A lot of our community does business in both those communities, especially the food processing plants," Baldwin said. "A lot of them have corporate offices in Boise, the PUD, for example, in Portland. We have found that Portland and Boise have been really good for this community."

The government looked things over several months ago, but the port still wasn't quite meeting the minimum requirements for passenger numbers, although they had increased, Baldwin said.

The government agreed to give the community the full year, until Jan. 31, to demonstrate the passenger numbers can rise, but if they don't, the government will consider termination of the subsidy portion of the air service, Baldwin said.

"Of course, without the subsidy, financially, it probably wouldn't be feasible for the air carrier to be here," he said. "The community had to take that on, the port cannot do that legally."

Two angles needed to be looked at, Baldwin said — a financial obligation and putting passengers on planes.

The Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce agreed to lead the way, and Baldwin and chamber manager Karen Wagner went around to organizations, businesses and industries to spread the word about the situation.

"If we don't have air service, we're dead in the water so far as any kind of future development goes," Wagner said.

"One of the things businesses look at when they come in here is certain criteria," Baldwin agreed. "Do you have air service? Do you have rail? And they go through their checklist on what they're looking for."

Baldwin said Wagner took the lead on the money side of the situation, while the port worked to encourage people to get on the planes.

Wagner said $9,000 was needed for the balance of the year-long commitment from the Department of Transportation, based on 600 enplanements the chamber and port estimated it would be lacking for the year, and asked for contributions to cover the cost, which includes taxes and landing fees. The community responded with contributions ranging from $2,000 to $100 and everywhere in between, she said.

"People gave what they could give, realizing the need was right now," she said. "We had to have it all in the bank before the 31st."

Baldwin said the estimation of being 600 passengers short is an improvement over the 2,400-passenger shortage last year.

As part of their efforts, the port and the chamber worked with the Columbia Basin Job Corps on an educational program for students who might not otherwise have the opportunity to fly.

"They're in the Job Corps learning real-life experiences and real life jobs, and we took that to the standard that we would give them the opportunity to be able to fly, experience first hand flying, getting through airport securities and then they'd come back and report," Baldwin said.

"We needed 600 passengers to make the quota that we needed to maintain EAS," Wagner said. As of today, given that all the planes take off and land as they're supposed to, based on boarding numbers from the people who've already purchased tickets, she said, "we should make that with one extra. That means we will have made 600 passengers. If enplanements go the way they're predicted to go, the weather is good, we should exceed the 600 people we need by about 300 to make over quota."

Baldwin believes the air service will continue to grow, but said a return of Seattle service would still be a ways off.

"One's got to come before the other," he said. "Seattle, while we agree is important to our community, we couldn't support it financially. The airline couldn't support it. The more people that fly will give us the advantage and the ability to negotiate additional service at some point."

"We'd love to have Seattle back, but we have to be able to justify it," Wagner echoed.

Wagner said the service is a day-to-day thing, noting that passenger numbers are lost every time a plane cancels. For example, a Tuesday morning flight to Portland had to return to Moses Lake because of fog at the Portland airport, she noted.

Baldwin said the airline service has improved its reliability, and cancellations from the last month have been "truly weather-related. Unfortunately, we can't control those cancellations, but if you look at other cancellations that are controlled by the airline, those have been very few lately. So they've really stepped to the plate. I think they're doing a tremendous job for this community."

And just because the numbers are there for January doesn't mean the air service is off the hook, Baldwin cautioned. As long as Moses Lake is an Essential Air Service community, he said, the government can pull any 12-month period and see if the community still meets the requirement.

"Just because we get through Jan. 31, which allows us to keep it, doesn't mean we're out of the clouds," he said. "We still have to continue to maintain air service."

Baldwin and Wagner estimate that means an average of 700 passengers per month.

"When we got to talking about this, I knew in my heart it could be done," Wagner said. "This community has never let us down when there is something as important as air service. We've come through in all sorts of circumstances, and this Essential Air Service is just the last of those little hurdles we've had to overcome."