SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM ܂ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2018 ܂ 3B
Salem passenger flights a step closer
Jonathan Bach
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
A coalition of business leaders pushing to bring
commercial passenger flights back to Salem’s McNary
Field will apply for a $500,000 state airport grant next
year, one of the biggest steps in returning the service to
Salem as early as 2020.
Brent DeHart, a member of the MidValley Com
mercial Air Service Steering Committee, said the group
has focused on United Airlines and Alaska Airlines as
“top candidates” to provide the commercial air service
in Oregon’s capital, though they have yet to approach
the companies.
Following airline runs from the 1940s to 1990s, Sa
lem flyers watched for years as commercial air service
turned touch and go, including one of the latest sorties
by SeaPort Airlines in 2011.
That forced residents and business officials to
board in Eugene and Portland, the closest commercial
service airports to Oregon’s capital.
Enter the latest effort, which aims to connect Salem
to Seattle, San Francisco or Denver.
Advocates need from $1.7 million to $2 million for
“risk mitigation” for their plan to take off, and began
seeking pledges in June. That money acts as “skin in
the game” and helps airlines offset possible losses, ac
cording to the committee.
They have so far garnered more than $250,000,
said Curt Arthur, who coordinates pledges for the
committee.
In a move supporting the venture, the Salem City
Council voted this month to allow the Salem Area
Chamber of Commerce, the coalition’s financial agent
and grant applicant, to apply for a Rural Oregon Air
port Relief grant from the Oregon Department of Avia
tion.
DeHart, owner of Salem Aviation Fueling, said the
money would pay for two things: recruiting an airline
consultant to carry the committee through a twoyear
process; and providing a marketing fund to promote
commercial air service in the region if Salem gets it.
Authorized by the 2015 Legislature under House Bill
2075, the rural airport program is paid for through 2
cent aviation gas and jet fuel taxes that sunset in Janu
ary 2022.
The name “rural” may conjure images of small cities
and smaller airports. But under state administrative
rules, a rural airport is actually defined as “an airport
that principally serves a city or metropolitan statisti
cal area with a population of 500,000 or fewer.”
Under the program, Crater Lake Klamath Regional
Airport in April 2017 was awarded $70,200 to help with
an “air service marketing plan,” according to a Septem
ber Department of Aviation report.
“ODA paid out a total of $48,002.45 and closed the
grant after (the airport) lost commercial air service
due to the airline pulling out after bankruptcy,” the re
port states.
In another example, $66,420 was awarded to
Southwest Oregon Regional Airport on the Oregon
Coast for a “marketing campaign to increase passen
ger loads.”
Another $104,000 went toward a rural air service
economic study by ECONorthwest covering multiple
Oregon airports, with the goal of further defining the
rural airport program’s mandate of “assisting commer
cial air service to rural Oregon.”
The program had more than $2.1 million in unallo
cated revenue as of the September report.
As it seeks $500,000 in grant money, the Salem
Area Chamber of Commerce will need to show: how
much airfare will probably cost, and what they’re bas
ing those rates on; what aircraft are expected to fly
Diners eat lunch on the patio of Flight Deck Restaurant and Lounge with a view of the runway at McNary
Field on April 6, 2016. STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE
from McNary Field; and how the “applicant will maxi
mize filling of seats,” according to a city staff report.
Matthew Lawyer, a Department of Aviation pro
gram coordinator, said he could not comment on an
application because it wasn’t in front of him, though
agency and chamber officials have met already.
Several business officials appeared Nov. 13 before
the City Council in support of the commercial air ser
vice initiative.
In testimony, Scott Snyder, general manager of the
Grand Hotel in downtown Salem, said commercial air
service would boost room sales, consequently in
creasing in Transient Occupancy Tax collections and
nearby retail sales.
“Salem hotels experience a vacuum on a weekly ba
sis,” Snyder said. The Grand Hotel sees 15 to 20 guest
rooms check out on Thursdays because of Friday
morning flights from Portland International Airport,
and guests stay in Portland the night before, he said.
“How do I know that this happens? Well, my front
desk is printing their boarding passes for them,” Sny
der said.
Tim Hay, who said he flies about 100,000 miles a
year as part of a new job, said he was one of the people
Snyder was talking about.
“We actually choose to have our meetings in Port
land rather than Salem, costing the city of Salem busi
nesses about $60,000 to $70,000 a year because there
is no way of getting people from Portland down to Sa
lem in an effective manner,” Hay said.
Chamber spokeswoman Kate Gillem said the City
Council’s approval marked “one step in the journey to
ward bringing commercial air service back to Salem.”
She said rural airport grant applications can be sub
mitted in the first quarter of 2019.
Pledges from business officials totaling $500,000
went toward attracting Delta Air Lines to Salem in
2007, but the airline’s time here came to a close in
2008.
However, DeHart pointed to rising oil prices at the
time as a big reason behind Delta’s exit, with national
and international economic factors undermining the
service. Salem proved its viability as market for this a
decade ago, he said, and now it’s ten years stronger.
As far as potential airlines now, “our data points to
United Airlines and Alaska Airlines being the top two
candidates,” DeHart said.
The key, he said, is for flyers to be able to connect to
major hubs. “People could get one stop from Salem to
Tokyo.”
Email jbach@statesmanjournal.com, call (503)
399-6714 or follow on Twitter @jonathanmbach.
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