Moses Lake chamber discusses flight service

MOSES LAKE - Community members gather Tuesday to discuss how to get the area's flight service off the ground.

The Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce and Big Bend Community College quarterly Chamber Day at BBCC program discusses flight service Tuesday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the community college's ATEC Building.

The community discussion includes how efforts can be supported, commitments with travel bank and revenue guarantee, what services are most desired and plans for attracting an air carrier.

"We have more than 100,000 people flying out of our area every year, and we definitely would love to have that service local, " chamber Executive Director Debbie Doran-Martinez said. "It helps our local community residents in getting to the places they need to go for work and for pleasure, but it also helps us in promoting our industry."

Air service is one of the first things new businesses eyeing the area are looking for, Doran-Martinez said.

"The corporate powers that be coming in to make those decisions have a need to get in and get out quickly," she explained. "So it's definitely important and as our community grows, we need to have that service available to us."

Doran-Martinez said 100 or more business partners who are willing to pledge $2,000 or greater are needed.

"Collectively, we need to probably be hitting about $750,000 to $1 million in pledged business," she said. "This will help us to attract an air carrier to come here, because they know we're going to fly them, because we're stepping up to the plate ahead of time and saying, 'We're willing to pledge this much money.'"

Pledges can only be accepted from businesses under travel bank regulations, Doran-Martinez said, although the meeting is open to the public.

Doran-Martinez noted it's impossible to please everyone all the time, but the goal is to land three to four flights per day to a destination.

"We're shooting for Seattle right now, because if we can get you there, we can get you anywhere," she said. "We're shooting for it to be a true code share with a major airline. What that means is, you go online and you book your flight from Moses Lake to wherever your final destination is. Your bags get checked at Moses Lake, you don't have to deal with transitioning them."

The most recent carrier out of Grant County International Airport, Big Sky Airlines, was not a true code share, Doran-Martinez noted, so residents were required to purchase a ticket from their Web site, and then go to another company to purchase tickets for the next leg of their flight.

At the meeting, residents can fill out a survey sheet about how often they travel, how many people within their company, how many flights per year, their top three destinations and how much they could pledge.

For more information, call the chamber office at 509-765-7888.