PORT ANGELES — The Port of Port Angeles this week readjusted its sights on landing airline passenger service for the North Olympic Peninsula, taking Seattle-Tacoma International Airport out of the picture as a destination for the time being.
While mulling over their 2015-20 Strategic Plan on Tuesday, port commissioners removed the William R. Fairchild International Airport-Sea-Tac route as an avenue for re-establishing daily commercial passenger flights and “sustained service past 2020.”
They also removed trying to secure Transportation and Security Administration passenger security check-in assistance in Port Angeles — once flights to Seattle are restored — that would have allowed direct entry to Sea-Tac terminals.
“Our ability to influence that decision is limited,” John Nutter, port director of finance and administration, said of the TSA feature at the Tuesday meeting.
The port has secured a $200,000 federal Department of Transportation grant that expires in January 2020.
It would cover revenues of a carrier that fall below the cost of providing service to the Seattle area — but only if that service is to Sea-Tac.
In later interviews, Commissioner Steve Burke and other port officials said the different approach to Sea-Tac had to be taken.
They cited concerns by commercial carriers and pilots that airline traffic at Sea-Tac was too heavy to maintain reliable schedules to and from Port Angeles — an assertion disputed by a Sea-Tac spokesman.
Paine Field in Everett has emerged as an option to Sea-Tac, they said.
“Where we decided to refocus our efforts is looking at either Paine Field, which is going to start up air service with some commercial carriers next year, or Boeing Field,” Burke said Wednesday.
“We’re not excited about Boeing Field, because that’s been tried, and people tend to not like that option.”
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines have said they will start up service from Paine Field in 2018 and are expected to provide TSA security checkpoints at Paine, Jerry Ludke, port airport and marina manager, said Thursday.
Kenmore Air provided the only scheduled commercial passenger flights in Clallam and Jefferson counties when the company in November 2014 shut down flights from Fairchild to Boeing Field, where there were no TSA services and a shuttle transported passengers to Sea-Tac.
Kenmore cited stiff competition from shuttle and bus companies and low ridership for the company’s departure.
That left Fairchild only with charter passenger service supplied by Rite Brothers Aviation Inc. and port officials emphasizing jet service to retain not only Fairchild’s 5,000-foot runway but the ability to continue fixed-wing medevac flights that occur about once a week.
The port has contacted or been contacted by 13 airlines and Rite Brothers about providing scheduled service, to no avail.
Burke said Wednesday in an email that the port is “still in touch” with Mokulele Airlines of Hawaii, which did not return a call for comment Wednesday.
“We’re not saying no to Sea-Tac, but until [carriers] come back and say they can do it, we’re not going to be putting any effort into it,” Burke said Wednesday in an interview.
Sea-Tac could handle 92 flight operations an hour and was averaging 88, “which only leaves a couple of spaces per hour,” Dan Gase, the port’s real estate and business manager, said Wednesday.
“In a broad, technical sense, yes, they might have room if everything is working perfectly,” he said, adding that bad-weather days could cause lengthy landing and take-off delays.
Sea-Tac spokesman Perry Cooper said flight delays were not an issue in Port Angeles being unable to obtain air service.
Cooper said the average of 88 flights was a peak-period level and that airlines will be flying out of Paine Field because of demand from Everett-area passengers who don’t want to deal with traffic to Sea-Tac, not because of overcrowded skies above the airport.
“We do not have constant delays or those kinds of things,” Cooper said.
“We are not at an overcapacity situation at Sea-Tac.”
He said Sea-Tac’s own master plan foresees having 66 million passengers by 2024 compared to the 44.7 million in 2016.
“There is no one particular aircraft or airline that gets affected by traffic patterns,” Cooper said.
“The impediment [in Port Angeles] is having a carrier able to sustain that route.”
But Ludke said problems at Sea-Tac were an issue with two charter-service pilots he’s spoken to whom he would not identify.
“They are just saying that Sea-Tac is so busy that maybe you should consider other airports in the area,” Ludke said.
“That’s coming from pilots that fly there every day. This is not the port making a decision to switch from one to the other; this is bubbling up from the pilots.”
Ludke said the port’s $200,000 federal Small Community Air Service Development Program grant is not available to a carrier that does not fly to Sea-Tac.
“We’d have to talk to the folks in [Washington] D.C., about switching to another airport in the Seattle area,” Ludke said.
“We’re not just going to call them up now and request some change.
“Too much is in flux.
“We’d want to have clear direction on what might be changing, too, if we make a formal request.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
