The knee-jerk opposition by several of our elected county officials recently does not do justice to a proposal by Allegiant Air to provide commercial air service at Snohomish County Airport, Paine Field. The right approach to this proposal would be to meet, discuss and perhaps negotiate with this prospective customer and business partner, before any public rebuffing.
Paine Field is the home of the largest commercial airplane manufacturing plant in the world, operated by the Boeing Co., and many other aviation-related businesses. With the recent construction of the Future of Flight Aviation Center &Boeing Tour and the addition of the Paul Allen Flight Heritage Collection, it is now a showcase for aviation history, technology and success looking to the future. Aviation, and particularly the commercial passenger airplane business, is the economic life blood of this community and we would do well to investigate it in all its possibilities.
The aviation industry is responsible for 22 percent of the wages earned in this county and a significant portion of our tax revenues. Having county government discourage commercial air service at Paine Field would be the equivalent of the city of Detroit discouraging the use of passenger cars. Morally, if commercial airplanes aren’t good enough for us, should we be making them to sell to everyone else in the world? It’s time for us to be willing to see commercial passenger airplanes be used at our airport, if we want to be in the commercial airplane business.
Paine Field is an underutilized but otherwise outstanding and well-managed county asset. Its runways, safety areas and other features have been continuously improved and updated over many years with substantial investments by the county and the FAA. Repeated solicitation and use of FAA funding by the county has come with the clear understanding that commercial air service cannot be turned away arbitrarily. Despite protestations to the contrary by a vocal minority of citizens, county government is not bound by any written or moral agreement to not encourage commercial air service at Paine Field; nor should it.
How much noise would commercial passenger airplanes produce? Today’s Stage 3 or better commercial passenger airplanes, which are required by federal law to be used for commercial passenger air service, are quieter than commercial passenger airplanes of the past and the critical noise footprints from these airplanes would occur entirely on airport property. Ironically, the most noticeable airplane noise is that associated with the many small general aviation aircraft and corporate jets that currently use Paine Field. Smaller aircraft are not required to meet the same stringent noise standards as commercial passenger planes.
How much more air traffic can we expect if commercial passenger service takes place at Paine Field? If every Sea-Tac Airport passenger who lives in north King County and Snohomish and Skagit counties were to abandon Sea-Tac entirely and fly only into or out of Paine Field — a highly unrealistic expectation — flights at Paine Field would increase less than 30 percent, from the current 410 to about 530 average takeoffs or landings per day. Recent studies suggest that only as much as 10 to 15 percent of Sea-Tac passengers from this area would shift to Paine Field because of limited connections and destinations, making it more likely that actual average daily takeoffs or landings would increase from 410 to about 430, depending on the aircraft used.
Still, a market for commercial passenger air service may exist, as evidenced by the interest expressed by Allegiant Air, and it’s in our interest as a community to investigate such opportunities. If Paine Field could attract 15 percent of Sea-Tac customers from this area, Snohomish County could stand to receive on the order of $20 million in additional annual revenue. These funds would go a long way toward paying for a modest passenger terminal and providing additional funds for the many social and infrastructure programs we need in our county.
The market will ultimately tell us whether commercial air service is right for Paine Field. If so, wouldn’t it be nice to have the option of flying out of Paine Field at less cost rather than fighting through Seattle traffic to use Sea-Tac?
The doomsday prognosticator Chicken Little apparently has been a successful lobbyist at county offices. A review of the facts shows that the sky is not falling. It’s opening up in the form of new potential opportunities, such as Allegiant Air, that need to be given a good look.
Hugh Townsend, a principal with Reid Middleton, Inc., was a member of the 2006 MRD Review Panel and is a board member of the Economic Development Council of Snohomish County.
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