PORT ANGELES — Kenmore Air President Todd Banks said he is willing to meet before the end of the year with city, county and Port of Port Angeles officials who made a last-ditch effort last week to keep his passenger planes flying in and out of Port Angeles.
Banks said it’s difficult to say if the suggestions offered in the officials’ letter will lead to a resumption of service.
Port Executive Director Ken O’Hollaren, Port Angeles City Manager Dan McKeen and Clallam County Administrator Jim Jones made the pitch in a 1½-page letter two days before Kenmore’s final flight out of the port’s William R. Fairchild International Airport on Friday.
You can read the letter by clicking here (Adobe Acrobat is required): http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Kenmoreletter.
Their proposals included government entities buying blocks of airline tickets at volume discounts for official employee travel as well as potentially allocating lodging tax funds to advertise Kenmore service from Port Angeles to Boeing Field.
Citing low ridership and high fuel costs, Kenmore announced Oct. 31 that it would be dropping the only scheduled airline passenger service in Clallam and Jefferson counties after a decade of providing those flights.
“We hope Kenmore’s departure from our community will be short-lived and our local economy will swing into gear just as much of the rest of the state and nation is now experiencing,” the officials said in the letter.
Banks said Friday he received it too late to reverse the decision to stop flights as of Saturday.
“The next thing is for us to try to get together and really understand more of the details of the letter, those sorts of things,” Banks said.
“I was encouraged.”
The meeting may take place the first week of December, Banks said.
“We will have a meeting and talk about the details of the letter.
“It all depends on what’s really being offered. They put these pretty broad concepts in there, but I don’t know how that impacts our financial model.
“Until we really understand that, it’s hard to say if it’s going to lead to resuming service.”
Port Commissioner Colleen McAleer, who wrote the letter, said Saturday it was good news that Banks was willing to meet.
“I’d be happy to meet with him to explore ideas and discuss ideas to improve their revenue,” she said.
Air passenger service is still provided to Seattle by Rite Bros. Aviation at Fairchild airport.
On the ground, the Dungeness Line has scheduled bus transportation from Port Angeles with stops in Sequim and Discovery Bay, and Rocket Transportation provides door-to-door shuttle service.
Port Airport and Marina Manager Jerry Ludke said Friday that Fairchild’s terminal will be closed for the time being but may eventually be reopened for general aviation pilots.
Ludke said he has been reviewing information on airlines that fly into other commercial airports for potential replacements for Kenmore.
“I haven’t contacted any particular airline directly,” he said.
“One of those things you want to do is see what happens, does Kenmore really end up leaving, and once that in fact happens, you take the next step.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
