PORT ANGELES — Port of Port Angeles commissioners extended a landing fee waiver for Kenmore Air Express through 2008 and 2009.
In a letter to the three port commissioners, Kenmore indicated that paying landing fees would be a hardship — and that if fees were again waived, they would spend more to market their services to Port Angeles.
The landing fees are not the only income to the port from the airline — it also gets $3 per passenger originating in Port Angeles.
In 2007 the total revenue from those fees was about $40,000.
The airline is now flying three roundtrips daily between Port Angeles and Seattle’s Boeing Field.
“Kenmore indicated that the operational cost to provide service continues to rise and remains high primarily due to the continued escalation of fuel cost,” said Jeff Robb, airport and marinas manager.
(Robb will become the new public works director for the city of Sequim on March 1. See story, Page XX)
The expected income from the landing fees would have been about $47,000 for both years.
“If they are successful in increasing passengers, then our originating passenger income will go up,” Robb said.
Passengers moving in and out of the airport has declined from 35,026 in 2005 to 26,889 in 2007, Robb said.
