Paine Field prepares for Horizon, Allegiant airline service; air terminal being designed

By John Wolcott

SCBJ Editor

Commercial airline service is closer than it’s ever been for Paine Field.

Both Horizon Air and Allegiant Air are planning to launch flights within weeks at Paine Field, Horizon destined for Spokane and Portland and Allegiant flying to Las Vegas.

Despite continued opposition by the Snohomish County Council majority, with the exception of Councilman John Koster, the council, County Executive Aaron Reardon and county staff are reportedly continuing to negotiate in good faith with the airlines.

Congressman Jay Inslee recently wrote to Carol Suomi, manager of the Seattle Airport District Office of the Federal Aviation Administration, thanking her for confirming that “Snohomish County is currently and has consistently acted in good faith regarding compliance and the length of time that the negotiations have been going on.”

Inslee noted that “current concerns regarding negotiations have been resolved and will not prejudice Paine Field in FAA consideration of future FAA discretionary funds … if statutory requirements and grant assurances are not met at some future date, Snohomish County is aware of the potential consequences that may lead to a denial of future FAA discretional funds.”

Todd Brunner, co-sponsor of Citizens Right To Fly From Paine Field, said he understands that funding in the recently passed $775 billion stimulus package includes discretionary funding for airports throughout the country.

Paine Field has requested $73 million for several projects, including Taxiway A, which is an area of the airfield that the Boeing Co. needs. The Seattle FAA office has the descretion to fund that work so long as the county is in compliance on airline negotiations.

Also, Brunner said, there will apparently be up to $800,000 available in FAA funding for the air terminal, about half of the estimated $1.5 million cost of the facility.

Executive Reardon said at a recent Everett Chamber of Commerce meeting that even though he was still personally opposed to air service at Paine Field “it will happen.”

That’s why many airline supporters are enthused about the progress despite storm clouds over nearby Mukilteo, where Mayor Joe Marine and the city council continue to threaten lawsuits and obstructions to delay or stop the airlines.

Dan Russo, vice president of marketing and communications for Horizon Air, told SCBJ in a recent interview that he’s been meeting weekly since the end of January with county officials to design the terminal and retrofit the existing facility to accommodate a comfortable waiting area for residents and federal TSA requirements for security checks for boarding passengers.

“What has worked for us in similar situations has been adding modular structures adjacent to existing structures. We’ve also got environmental due diligence ahead. All those things will determine when we’ll get going,” he said.

Horizon Air’s facilities staff are working with Paine Field staff, wanting to ensure costs for the facility are usual and customary compared to other facilities, he added.

“This is all a normal part of the negotiation process,” Russo said. “We’re just a tenant, as we are elsewhere for ports, counties and cities.”

Russo said Horizon flights from Paine Field will not affect the airline’s flights from Bellingham.

“Our whole analysis is based on the Snohomish County catch basin, which is much larger than Bellingham’s. But up there we get a lot of cross-border traffic from Canada,” he said. “They’re two separate things.”

As for the Paine Field area, Russo said many people going to Spokane or Portland just drive because it’s better than having to go to Sea-Tac.

“A key component for people flying from Paine Field is that Portland will connect you to the rest of the national air transportation system. Once you get on at Paine Field you can go anywhere on the national network,” he said.

Fly Paine Field’s online poll last fall was unscientific said co-sponsor Todd Brunner but “the survey showed more than 1,000 people a day could choose to use Paine Field instead of making that long drive.”

Passenger service will create more jobs in the county, he said.

“We have one of the finest airports in the Pacific Northwest,” said Fly Paine Field co-sponsor Greg Tisdel. “Yet we have to endure up to three hours of traffic to get to and from Sea-Tac. Even with its present 400 take-offs and landings a day, Paine Field has plenty of capacity to handle a few daily passenger flights.”

He said Sea-Tac airport is “getting further and further away from Snohomish County every year” and noted that travel on I-5 will be even more challenging in the future as the region’s population grows and as highway constructon, including the Viaduct and SR 520, disrupt traffic even more.

Allegiant Air, the first airline to approach the county about flying from Paine Field last spring, considers Paine Field “an excellent candidate for service,” said Robert Ashcroft, vice presidnet of planning, in a letter to Airport Manager Dave Waggoner.

Ashcroft said Allegiant has completed 21 consecutive quarters of profitability by offering low-frequency, scheduled nonstop service from smaller U.S. cities to such vacation destinations as Las Vegas, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Phoenix and Ft. Lauderdale. The airline flies 150-seat Boeing MD-80 jet aircraft.

While flights would be to Las Vegas initially, demand will spur expansion to other destinations, he said.

“For instance, Allegiant Air will serve six destinations from Bellingham this summer, including Las Vegas, Reno, Palm Springs, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco,” Ashcroft wrote.

The air service would be used a great deal by businesses as well as the general public, said Todd Brunner, who maintains that the airport is a major public asset for the county that’s little recognized.

“There are four basic areas of importance there,” he said, “starting with aviation and aerospace industries. That’s a direct economic driver for the county. There’s also general aviation, corporate and business jets to support local businesses and commercial aviation, which provides local access to our national and international air transportation system for all the citizens of the county. We need a balanced and fair use of the airport for all of these groups.”

Even last September, when Allegiant Air was the first one who had let its plans for Paine Field be known, it was plain to see that emotions run high about commercial air service at Paine Field, County Councilman John Koster wrote in an SCBJ editorial.

“Let’s all take a deep breath, step back from the heat of the issue for a moment, and take a sober look at the realities of the situation.

“First, some facts: Paine Field was deeded to Snohomish County by the Federal government following WWII. The deed has conditions. One condition is that the county may not discriminate against passenger service,” he wrote.

Under FAA airport grant assurances, Koster wrote, an airport must be made available for all types of uses, types, kinds and classes of aeronautical activities, including commercial aeronautical activities offering services to the public at the airport.

“This clause conditions both the deed itself and our federal airport grants that average millions of dollars per year,” he wrote. “When my four Democratic brothers on the county council adopted their “Hell no, we won’t go” resolution they kicked a federal beehive.

“Soon the Federal Air Administration (FAA) sent the county a letter dated June 4, 2008, which I have placed on my website … there you will see the FAA reminded the county of its duty under Grant Assurances 22(a) and patiently advised the county of its obligation under federal law to ‘negotiate in good faith’ with Allegiant Airlines ‘or the lease of parcels to conduct aeronautical activities,’ ” he wrote.

The letter also states “the FAA does not view the Mediated Role Determination (MRD) as a prohibition on scheduled passenger service”, and pointedly warns “failure to negotiate in good faith may subject the county to an enforcement action under FAR Part 16.”

In other words, “it ain’t our football, and we can’t take it home,” Koster wrote. “If we want to play we have to share.”

If the county chooses not to share, there will be consequences, he said.

“First, the feds will come take their football home, leaving us millions shy in annual federal grants. Secondly, we may jeopardize our long-standing agreement with Boeing to maintain and make necessary capital improvements to the airfield, gravely impacting Boeing and the thousands of jobs they provide.

“Whether that portion of the county’s population that lives within the vicinity of Paine Field can persuade the rest of Snohomish County to put their neck in that noose remains to be seen,” he said.

When political campaigner Ron Dotzauer, hired by Save Our Communities to fight the airlines, sent an e-mail smear of Allegiant Airlines, he asked, “Who is trying to use Paine Field for commercial purposes?”

Koster said, “Well, that would be Boeing, ATS (formerly Goodrich), ATS Customer Airlines, Future of Flight, Castle &Cooke Aviation, Korry Electronics, Goodrich Landing Gear, Goodrich Aerostructures, Flying Heritage Collection, Museum of Flight Restoration Center, and Honeywell, to name a few.

“The County Council has no prerogative to choose sides in a swirling dogfight and play the game of ‘us against them,” he said. “To the contrary, our duty is to prudently pursue the best interest of the county as a whole. We can, and should, save Paine Field from the FAA, save Allegiant from the opposition group, and save the opposition group from Dotzauer.”

For Tom Hoban, co-owner of the Coast group of commercial real estate companies, based in Everett, seeing airline service at Paine Field this close is a reminder of nearly four years ago when he approached Horizon Air and other airlines about their interest in Paine Field.

“I told them I kept trying to bring new companies to the county and kept losing them when they found out we didn’t have regional air service,” Hoban said in an interview.

“By the time the company CEO and his staff got through I-5 traffic to Everett they turned around and went back,” Hoban said. “We had just formed the Private Enterprise Council and the leaders agreed to build a coalition to help bring airline service to Paine Field. The airlines were receptive when I talked with them. Now they’re here.”