PORT ANGELES — The Port of Port Angeles is participating in a grant program that will help Dash Air stay in the air once flights take off, which is expected to be next month.
Port commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to revise a Minimum Revenue Guarantee (MRG) with Dash Air for providing commercial air service at Fairchild International Airport.
Minimum Revenue Guarantee is a grant program through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) that helps small regional airports get air services.
The Port of Port Angeles initially applied for the grant in 2016 and received $200,000, but it had to extend the grant year after year until Dash Air arrived to provide air services.
“DOT provides money to help them (Dash Air) meet a minimum revenue guarantee so that keeps their revenue at a point where they can operate for a period of time before they have to go off on their own,” said Caleb McMahon, director of Economic Development for the port, in a phone call on Tuesday.
“The funds cannot go directly to Dash Air but can be given to a government entity like the port to be used to support air services,” he said.
“It’s like giving them training wheels in a sense,” McMahon said.
When Dash Air announced it was going to bring commercial air services back to Port Angeles, it initially planned to offer six flights a day, but permitting issues with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and compliance issues with DOT required them to make changes, which, in turn, required changes to the MRG with the Port.
“The MRG was based on the six-flights-a-day schedule, but since then, Dash Air has had some issues getting permitting from the FAA and compliance issues with DOT so they’ve had to make a change to offering just four flights a day,” McMahon said.
Dash Air also is providing flights to other regional airports apart from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, such as Boeing Field and Paine Field; the latter are not covered by the port’s MRG with Dash Air.
“Our MRG does not cover those flights, which also led to the change in our MRG numbers,” McMahon said.
Despite those changes, the port still stands to benefit from this program once Dash Air takes to the skies, earning an estimated $1,042.33 per day, which comes out to just over $3 million a year.
Clint Ostler, president of Dash Air, said in an email Tuesday that the startup is still on track to take off on Aug. 11.
“We are still progressing,” Ostler said. “The aircraft is heading down for FAA sign-offs this week. Once approved, we will make an announcement and open the reservation system.”
The Port of Port Angeles receives $150,000 annually from the FAA for airport improvements. That is the amount that is established for airports with fewer than 10,000 passengers a day.
The port hopes to meet and exceed that threshold, which would allow it to receive $1 million in funds from the FAA.
“That’s the hope, ” McMahon said. “We don’t have any specific expectations, but it would be great if we could get regional service going here and get to that benchmark that the FAA has set. It would definitely help Fairchild get more income from the FAA directly, which will help us to improve the facilities, maintain the runway and everything associated with it.”
One of the requirements on the port’s end of the deal for this program is to provide either monetary or in-kind services.
Taking the route of in-kind services, the port is waiving Dash Air’s terminal rent and landing fees for a year.
“Basically showing DOT that we are contributing to this as well,” McMahon said.
The port also is matching the grant with $133,000, making the total grant amount $333,000.
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Reporter Ken Park can be reached at kpark@peninsuladailynews.com.
