Paine won’t be ‘another Midway’

Published 7:05 pm Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Lynnwood City Councilman Ted Hikel said last week that if Snohomish County allows commercial regional flights at Paine Field, Paine could become “another Midway,” referring to the downtown Chicago airport that is an alternative to O’Hare International Airport.

It won’t happen for several reasons.

First, there won’t be demand for either airlines or passengers to use Paine as an alternative to Seattle-Tacoma International as Midway is to O’Hare, New York’s LaGuardia Airport is to Kennedy, or Washington’s Ronald Reagan Airport is to Dulles. In those three cases, people use Midway, LaGuardia and Reagan because they are closer to the center of their metropolitan areas than the major international airports. No airline will offer Paine as an alternative to Sea-Tac because Paine is convenient only to those of us north of Seattle. That makes it practical only for regional carriers like Horizon Airlines or one of the airlines that flies small planes to the San Juan Islands. These airlines could attract enough area residents to be profitable. I doubt that Allegiant Airlines, which has proposed starting twice weekly flights to Las Vegas, can find the routes profitable.

Second, if any airport in the area were to become “another Midway,” it would be Boeing Field, just a few miles south of downtown Seattle. Boeing Field didn’t become another Midway or LaGuardia in the 1960s when it was a terminal for the airline that flew around the Northwest as Horizon does now. It hasn’t become another Midway in recent years with Sea-Port airlines running small commuter planes to Portland.

Third, the county has taken steps to make expansion of service difficult. By providing for a small terminal and a small parking lot, the county has put itself in a position to limit the number of flights.

Fourth, by controlling the terminal, the county can bargain to limit the number, time and types of flights.

Paine isn’t opening the floodgates

Edmonds Mayor Gary Haakenson said last week that allowing commercial flights from Paine Field would “open the floodgates” to more flights.

That won’t happen because there’s not likely to be demand for more than Horizon Air’s proposed four daily flights to Portland and two to Spokane and probably not enough for Allegiant’s proposed flights to Las Vegas. The only other airlines that have a chance to succeed at Paine would be San Juan or Kenmore airlines, both of which fly to the San Juans.

It also won’t happen because the county can control the number and times of flights and the kinds of planes that the airlines use.

Yost Pool important for more than just Edmonds

Efforts to save Yost Pool are important not only to residents of Edmonds but also people from nearby cities that don’t have outdoor pools. Likewise, Edmonds residents have a stake in preserving indoor pools in nearby cities.

Evan Smith can be reached at entopinion@heraldnet.com.