PORT ANGELES — Kenmore Air is hanging on, continuing to provide passenger air service to Seattle despite declining ridership, Port of Port Angeles commissioners were told earlier this week.
The commissioners also decided they would not raise taxes and settled with owners of a restaurant damaged in flooding in 2009 during Monday’s meeting.
Although Kenmore Air, the only airline to provide scheduled passenger service out of Port Angeles, continues to experience declining ridership, the airline’s restricted schedule is keeping planes full, Kenmore Air marketing director Craig O’Neill told Port of Port Angeles commissioners.
The small airline — which offers three flights daily between Port Angeles’ William R. Fairchild International Airport and Boeing Field in Seattle, with shuttle service to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport — has reached the saturation point in traditional advertising in the Port Angeles area, O’Neill said.
“Everyone in the Port Angeles area knows about us,” he said.
“It’s the economy” that is the problem, O’Neill said.
“Leisure travel is down” he said.
Ridership figures
Kenmore Air carried 30.5 percent fewer passengers during the summer quarter, which ended in September, than in the same quarter last year, O’Neill said.
So far this year, the airline’s annual passenger count is down 22.3 percent from 2010, he added.
“We are concerned about [Kenmore’s] economic viability,” said John Calhoun, port commissioner.
The port will do everything it can to help the airline stay in Port Angeles, commissioners said.
That includes reducing unnecessary fuel purchases caused by an indirect approach to the airport, they added.
The port is required by the Federal Aviation Administration — or FAA — to remove some Lincoln Park trees that are threatening to grow into the flight path.
Port commissioners want to make the runway more accessible by removing most of the hundreds of Douglas fir trees in the park.
The port is proposing a plan to replace the trees with a shorter variety and develop the park differently.
ONeill said the airline is at the end of a two-year grant fund, which will force the airline to cut back advertising spending over the next few months.
He said the airline may shift its focus to social networking advertising and has worked toward an agreement with an online travel booking website.
The airline plans to stick around, he said.
“There is no talk of leaving this market,” O’Neill said.
“We’re looking forward to the day when the demand allows us to go to a more aggressive schedule.”
No tax hike
Commissioners elected to keep the tax rate where it is.
The port has the right to add 1 percent each year but has not taken that option in several years, commissioners said.
Shirley Nixon of Port Angeles, saying that the port was doing well in its business ventures and has a healthy capital budget, asked why commissioners weren’t decreasing the tax rate instead of keeping it as is.
“I think it would go a long way with the public to roll it back,” Nixon said.
Commissioners explained that a negative 1 percent tax could not simply be replaced in the future if the port’s financial picture changes but agreed that the basic idea sounded good.
“I agree with your logic,” Commissioner Jim McEntire said.
However, that money is needed to maintain the assets that the public currently owns, he said.
Flood settlement
Commissioners agreed to a settlement with owners of the Plunkin’ Shack Cafe for flooding damage.
Patti and Brian Larson, owners of the business at 704 Marine Drive, sued the port and the city of Port Angeles in May 2010 for $63,212 in compensation for damaged equipment and loss of business.
They said in the lawsuit filed in Clallam County Superior Court that the city and port failed to maintain the Tumwater Creek culvert under Marine Drive, where the stream backed up during a heavy rainstorm Nov. 16, 2009, and flooded their business, as well as the Pettit Oil location across Tumwater Street.
The port will pay half of the $40,000 settlement, which will cost the port $10,000 after insurance, said Jeff Robb, port executive director.
The city of Port Angeles settled in early November, Robb said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.