EVERETT – Twice a month, Don Davis hops into his car and drives 208 miles from Marysville to Portland, Ore. The three-hour trip can be a grind, but it’s faster than flying from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Portland, he says.
It’s at least an hour’s drive to Sea-Tac, and since Sept. 11, 2001, it can take two hours to check in and clear security. The flight to Portland is another hour, making the trip four hours. He can drive it in three hours. So Davis drives.
“It’s better than sitting around an airport,” he said.
Don’t tell Davis that having airline service at Snohomish County Airport, or Paine Field, would hurt his quality of life.
“From Marysville to Paine Field … even in rush hour traffic, I could get there easier,” he said. “I could be home with my wife a half-hour after my plane lands.”
Davis is information systems manager for Jeld-Wen, which manufactures doors and windows on the Everett waterfront. He’s been with the company 31 years, having started when it was Nord Door.
He is based at the Everett plant, but he’s also responsible for operations in San Diego and Wisconsin, and twice a month he travels to Klamath Falls, Ore., where Jeld-Wen has its corporate headquarters.
All that time spent traveling makes him a “passionate” advocate of having airline service at Paine Field, he said. “It just strikes a chord with me.”
He says opponents have some serious misconceptions.
The additional noise would be negligible, he said. Small commuter aircraft are far quieter than the large jets from Boeing Co. and Goodrich Corp. that use Paine Field.
“We’re not going to have United Airlines and their 747s in and out of there every hour,” Davis said. “I just can’t believe that those little airplanes are going to disrupt anybody when we’ve got 747s taking off.”
Besides, he adds, the airport’s been there since 1936 – a lot longer than most of the surrounding subdivisions.
“They knew there was an airport there when they moved in,” Davis said. “If they honestly thought the airport wasn’t going to grow, they’re out of their minds.”
Opposition by a handful of airport neighbors is blocking service that would benefit the entire county, Davis said.
“The people around the airport don’t want it, the people in Mukilteo,” he said. “But there’s a whole lot more people in Snohomish County. … If those people spoke up, it would happen, and happen quick.”
The words come out faster as Davis warms to the idea.
“I can see all the reasons why we should have it,” he says, gesturing. “They outweigh …”
Davis pauses and smiles. “I get so excited I can’t really express how I’m thinking.”
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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