|
There are now two options on the table for a flight change at Del Norte County Airport. SkyWest Airline officials had suggested changing the current Sacramento flight to a third San Francisco flight. However, the question arose at the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority meeting Wednesday whether to keep the Sacramento destination and just change flight times. Both the public and board members expressed a desire for an early morning departure/late night return flight to either Sacramento or San Francisco. This flight would more than likely stop in Arcata, but that’s at the discretion of SkyWest. Few people have taken the current Sacramento flight — it averages only four passengers, compared to 15 on the two current San Francisco flights. “(SkyWest) thought it might be better passenger-wise to go to San Francisco,” said Airport Manager Jim Bernard. Then again, maybe no one utilizes that flight because it leaves at night and returns in the morning. This is not conducive to business travel, said Chairman David Finigan, because a one-day trip turns into two. “That’s the whole point,” Finigan said. “You go do business in one day.” Bernard will be pursuing those two options with SkyWest and bring back alternative flight times and destinations to the board. The idea is that the scheduling is more “user-friendly,” he added. Finigan suggested a 6 a.m. flight to San Francisco or Sacramento. The earliest flight out of Crescent City is 9:10 a.m. “The eye on the prize is enplanements,” he said about increasing the number of passengers at the local airport. Local resident Jeff Reed travels about twice a month as part of his job for the National Park Service, and usually uses the local airport, he said. “I implore you to have a 5:45 or 6 a.m. flight going anywhere,” Reed said, eliciting laughter. It’s hard to get out of the western region, jumping airport to airport, without getting an early start, he said. “A flight around sunrise is what we need,” Reed said. Mary Jo Kenny, also a local resident, agreed. “If you can’t leave early in the morning, there are few choices,” she said about traveling long distances, adding that it once took her 22 hours to get to Peru from Sacramento. The other option down the line is a flight to Medford, Ore., which would get travelers out of the San Francisco fog and provide an easier connection to northern cities. Bernard said he will talk to Skywest about whether the airline would seriously consider adding a flight to Medford if Del Norters raised the money. Travel banking is a common way for small communities to get airline service to a particular location for a certain length of time by guaranteeing a certain revenue level. “Lets take it to the next step,” Finigan said. Bernard is arranging for Sixel Consulting Group to give a presentation to the board in February on how to create a travel bank. The Eugene, Ore.-based company conducted a survey last summer on the local air service and what changes airport users would like to see. “There’s no local experience,” Bernard told the board about the necessity to get a consultant to do the job. “No one locally knows how to do it.” An aspect that jumped out of the survey was that locals want a better connection to Portland — one way to do that is to go through Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport. The nearby airport has 60 daily flights to Portland, Eugene, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City. |