PORT ANGELES — Keeping a commuter airline flying between the North Olympic Peninsula and Seattle might only be accomplished with an area-based effort, rather than relying on another commercial airline to provide service.
“If you want it done right you have to grow your own,” said Bill Benedict, co-owner of Port Angeles-based airfreight company Mountain High Aviation.
Benedict’s comments came Thursday after the announcement that Horizon Air would end service between Port Angeles and Seattle in early January.
Benedict and Jay Sakas, both of Sequim, purchased Mountain High Aviation earlier this year after careers as commercial airline pilots.
A commuter airline, operating aircraft designed to carry 9-15 passengers, could at least break even, according to Benedict, who is also a Clallam County deputy sheriff.
Horizon Air flies 37-seat turboprop airplanes on the four roundtrips on the Seattle-Port Angeles route and the airline claims flights average 44 percent of passenger capacity.
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The rest of the story appears in the Friday/Saturday Peninsula Daily News.