PORT ANGELES — Two ground transportation companies that provide passenger service to Seattle have seen a sustained bump in ridership since the departure of Kenmore Air from William R. Fairchild International Airport, their owners said Monday.
Meanwhile, the Port of Port Angeles, which operates the airport, expects to award an estimated $40,000-$50,000 contract within the next four weeks to determine area passenger needs as part of a “demand forecast study,” port Executive Director Ken O’Hollaren said Monday.
The results will be made available to carriers interested in replacing Kenmore and should be completed by mid-March, he predicted.
“We are very much in a marketing mode on the entire facility and hope to attract a new carrier or re-attract Kenmore,” O’Hollaren said.
“We feel we need to be armed with that kind of data to make the most effective marketing push we can.
“We certainly want to get the study to help us understand the landscape a little better.”
Kenmore Air President Todd Banks said Monday the company would re-establish service to Port Angeles “if the economics makes sense,” though he and port officials have not touched base in weeks.
Dungeness Line owner Jack Heckman and Rocket Transportation owner Kathy Roman said Monday their companies have seen increases in ridership of at least 10 percent on the North Olympic Peninsula since Kenmore ceased operation Nov. 15.
Dungeness Line passenger and West End resident Wayne Foth was headed to Seattle on Saturday on a trip he otherwise could have taken via Kenmore had the company not ceased the only commercial airline passenger service in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Kenmore cited years of declining ridership, high fuel costs and competition from the likes of Dungeness Line.
“I probably would have flown there,” Foth said.
Then again, Foth said Dungeness Line is cheaper, and he doesn’t need to worry about parking once he gets to Seattle.
Driver Tony Wallace said passenger numbers have increased on the scheduled passenger carrier since before Thanksgiving.
Heckman said passenger volumes have grown “in the range of 10 percent” on the company’s four, 27-passenger buses, three of which are stationed in Port Angeles and one in Port Townsend.
“There have been few situations where we’ve been close to full, but we certainly are not in a position where we need to add larger buses or more runs at this point,” Heckman said.
Roman bought a new five-passenger minivan in December for $35,000 specifically to carry the additional passengers that came Rocket’s way after Kenmore left.
“It’s a guess, but I’d say we’re 20 percent busier,” Roman said.
“I would say on average we were half-full before, and now we are averaging three-quarters full.”
She may buy another, larger 10-passenger van this March depending on passenger volumes.
“If it turns out to be a must-buy, I will.”
Roman said that in December, Rocket, which provides door-to-door service, experienced a first: A van filled up three weeks in advance.
And that happened three or four times.
“They were completely full, to where we had to add more vans to that day,” Roman said.
She also has increased staffing by about a half-time person just to get the phones answered.
“There has definitely been an increase in call volume,” she said.
“The staff noticed a big jump after Kenmore left.”
But Rite Bros. Aviation, which offers charter flights out of Fairchild, had only five extra flights that company owner Jeff Well attributed to Kenmore’s departure.
Rite Bros. also lost an aircraft maintenance contract that generated about $2,000 a month, so employee hours have been cut.
And the rental car business he runs at the airport “is almost nonexistent,” Well added.
“With the current economic climate on the Peninsula, I don’t see anything changing significantly in the near term in demand for flights.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
