OFF PAGE ONE
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
East Oregonian
A9
Boutique:
Continued from Page A1
“The EAS contract and
bid process for Pendleton has
been accelerated and moved
from later in the year to now,
seven months early,” he said.
The bids were due
April 11.
“The DOT received one
bid for our EAS Service,”
Honemann said. “That
respondent was Boutique
Airlines.”
The East Oregonian left
messages for local Boutique
Air manager Shawn Simp-
son, but as of deadline
Monday, April 18, he had not
off ered a comment.
Passenger numbers
on the rise
The number of passengers
boarding for the small airline
hit 447 in March in Pendleton,
the most since February 2020,
the start of the pandemic,
which had 541, according to
data from Honemann.
“There was an obvious
decrease in enplanements in
early 2020 when the country
went into pandemic response
mode, and some recovery
later in 2020 and into 2022,”
he said.
Boutique in 2019 at Pend-
leton, he reported, had a total
of 6,763 passengers. Then
ridership plunged as the
pandemic ramped up, with the
airline recording 343 passen-
gers in March of that year and
just 58 in April. That was the
low point, though, according
to the data.
Since then, Boutique Air’s
passenger count has been
climbing, with occasional
dips punctuating the trend.
“We are not at pre-pan-
demic enplanements, lagging
(more than) 25% compared
to averaged pre-pandemic
enplanements,” Honemann
said.
Boutique in November
and December 2021 carried
416 and then 399 passengers,
but in January the numbers
Dam:
Continued from Page A1
The administration is
contacting stakeholders to get
more information to under-
stand the system and process,
said Michelle Hennings, exec-
utive director of the Wash-
ington Association of Wheat
Growers.
“We continue to be
engaged with the adminis-
tration at CEQ,” Hennings
said. “Looking at the blog, we
would have liked to see more
focus on the impact this would
have had on farmers across the
country.”
It’s important for farmers
to remain fully engaged in
educating the decision-mak-
ers, Hennings said.
“We have to keep in mind
that farmers are facing signif-
icant disruptions already,
including drought, input costs,
the supply chain and rail reli-
ability,” she said. “This would
just cause another major
disruption in our transporta-
tion system, which would be
very harmful to the wheat
farmer.”
The Biden administration
is focused on infrastructure,
Governor:
Continued from Page A1
Oregon, along with Wash-
ington and California, lead the
nation in timber production.
According to Oregon Forest
Resources Institute, Oregon
leads the nation in producing
softwoods and plywood prod-
ucts, with more than 28% of
U.S. plywood products being
made in Oregon.
McCloud decided to join
the race after being disap-
pointed with the current lineup
of gubernatorial candidates.
“Before I was a candidate,
I was an Oregon voter who
looked across the spectrum of
candidates to see the one that
I felt would represent not just
me and my values, but who
was the one that had the ability
to unify the state of Oregon,”
he said. “And after some time
observing and listening, I felt
that it was important for me to
attempt to take matters into
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Elite Taxi vehicles await fares April 5, 2022, at 332 S.E.
Dorion Ave., Pendleton. Pendleton City Council at its meet-
ing Tuesday, April 19, considers a new ordinance to allow
ride-hail companies, such as Uber, to coexist with taxis.
Uber:
Continued from Page A1
Charly Hotchkiss/East Oregonian
An airport employee helps prepare a Boutique Air fl ight for takeoff during a hailstorm Thurs-
day, April 14, 2022, at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport, Pendleton.
dropped 297. Honemann said
that was not due to the coro-
navirus.
“January 2022 was a
rough month for weather in
Pendleton and Portland,” he
explained, “(with) low ceil-
ing, freezing fog conditions,
snow … Weather cancella-
tions were the primary cause
of that dip.”
Honemann off ered some
industry context about
Boutique’s termination notice.
“Skywest, a major EAS
provider,” he said, “also
submitted a Notice of Termi-
nation of Service to the DOT
for 29 communities, citing
similar economic challenges.”
Honemann also said he
does not think recent devel-
opments at the Walla Walla
Regional Airport are going to
dent Boutique’s numbers.
Alaska Air Group, parent
company of Alaska Airlines,
is planning to transition from
turboprop planes to full-jet
aircraft for its Horizon Air
services sometime in 2023.
The Embraer 175 jet
aircraft will be the newest
addition to the airport,
replacing the turboprop
Bombardier Q-400, which
has served passengers for
many years and is consid-
ered a good workhorse
aircraft for regional fl ights.
The Port of Walla Walla is
preparing now for the switch,
with a facilities remodel to
accommodate the new planes.
But Horizon’s fl ights out
of Walla Walla go to Seattle,
Honemann said, not to Port-
land. He said “there is little
to zero competition” so the
platform shift for service of
the Walla Walla to Seattle
route won’t have an eff ect on
enplanements or operations at
Pendleton.
Hennings said.
“We appreciate that they
have reached out to stake-
holders to have discussions
to better understand what’s
happening,” she said.
“There are a lot of
unknowns about this CEQ
process but Farm Bureau
is keeping an eye on this
process,” said Sean Ellis,
spokesman for the Idaho
Farm Bureau. “CEQ is one of
several conversations taking
place right now on this issue
and we’re continuing to watch
all of these processes. We
continue to monitor the situ-
ation with the lower Snake
River dams and will respond
as necessary.”
Farmers support salmon
recovery, but want a solution
that will benefi t all stakehold-
ers instead of harming one
more than others, Hennings
said.
The wheat industry is
concerned, but there are
members of Congress who
understand the importance of
the dams, Hennings said.
“One of the cleanest modes
of transportation is barging,
not putting 150,000 trucks
back on the road,” she said.
Glen Squires, CEO of the
Washington Grain Commis-
sion, questioned the contin-
ued focus on removal of
the four Snake River dams,
long a target of environmen-
tal groups. He noted that the
federal government recently
conducted a four-year study
of the Columbia-Snake River
operating system, in addition
to a state and federal assess-
ment from Washington Sen.
Patty Murray and Gov. Jay
Inslee.
“I think there’s some ques-
tions about, what is this that
CEQ is now doing?” he said.
“Is it information, data, is there
science, are they just getting
everybody’s opinions?”
Squires wonders if eff orts
could ultimately go beyond the
four dams.
The blog discusses intro-
ducing salmon into blocked
areas.
“We don’t know if that
means installing fi sh ladders,
which the Snake River already
has fish ladders, or if that
implies taking out all the other
dams for reintroduction,” he
said.
Idaho Far m Bureau
will continue to support its
members’ position in support
of those lower Snake River
dams, as well as all dams,
Ellis said.
my own hands, rather than
sit back and complain about
what another candidate is or
is not doing, or what they can
or cannot do.”
McCloud said he could
be the candidate to unify
Oregon’s growing political
divide between rural Orego-
nians and those living in the
Portland-metro areas, and that
he wanted to help heal the rift
between Eastern Oregonians
who may feel like they have
been left out of Oregon’s polit-
ical process by the Democratic
majority in Portland.
“They’ve been neglected.
They have not been viewed
as important, and, at the
same time, we’re fi nding that
our rural communities are
subjected to harmful stereo-
types,” he said. “So I think
it’s important, as somebody
who is going around travel-
ing, talking to people, meeting
with them, listening to their
stories, that I have an oppor-
tunity to stand in the gap and
really help clarify and repair
some of the perception that
Oregonians have developed
about each other.”
McCloud also levied his
status as the fi rst Black Repub-
lican gubernatorial candidate
in Oregon as a way to help
bridge those same political
divides.
“I have some separation
from the other candidates in
that typical language that’s
generally used when we talk
about extremist policies, it
will not apply to me,” he said.
“I think that’s an advantage
that I have.”
While McCloud has no
previous government experi-
ence, the decision to run for
governor was not taken lightly,
he said.
“I was with my 13-year-old
daughter, and I had fi nished
typing out the fi ling paper-
work,” he said. “And I said to
her, ‘Should I do this?’ And
she is actually the one that
pressed the submit button, and
let me know that my family
was behind me 100%”
Praise for Boutique
Honemann said he is
pleased with Boutique, which
maintains the second-largest
fl eet of Pilatus PC-12 single
turboprops in the country.
“I really like our level
of service and provider,
Boutique, and think it is a
great model for the needs
of our community,” he said.
“No TSA. (Pendleton to Port-
land) in under an hour. Three
round-trip f lights a day.
Excellent airframe and plat-
form. Feels like you are fl ying
private.”
On April 18, Honemann
updated progress on the
contract award process.
“Last week, DOT got
one bid (from Boutique) for
a two-year contract. We’re
now gathering statements of
support from the commu-
nity,” he said. “Those need to
be in by May 3. I don’t see any
issues in the award process.
We should have uninter-
rupted service with the same
provider. I think that’s a good
thing.”
Pendleton Economic
Development Director Steve
Chrisman said airlines have
been having a rough go.
“Boutique had staffing
shortages even before the
pandemic,” he said. “The
contract was made well in
advance, so there were also
wage issues. When COVID
hit, the big airlines encour-
aged early retirement, but
business recovered a lot
faster than expected. They
needed to get more staff , and
where else than from the little
airlines?”
Long-term, however, he
said, Boutiques service in
Pendleton “will be healthier
and more reliable under the
new contract.”
Honemann said the next
step for the airport and airport
commission is to provide a
statement/comment for the
formal record. The commis-
sion meets in the Doolittle
Raiders Conference Room on
Wednesday, April 20, at 6 p.m.
Kerns and finance direc-
tor Linda Carter wrote the
strict state requirements for
running those programs
means it can be diffi cult to
fi nd providers for them.
“Protection of the provi-
sion for public transporta-
tion, rather than promotion
of free enterprise, is autho-
rized by the state,” they
wrote. “The city has a
strong interest and is obli-
gated to make sure that
transportation providers
are available to the public.”
Staff also is asking the
council to act on the issue
with urgency. Passing
an ordinance is usually a
weeks-long process: the
council usually has the title
of the ordinance read aloud
at a meeting and then waits
two weeks or more for their
next scheduled meeting to
hold a public hearing and
consider approval.
Staff is encouraging the
council to expedite that
process signifi cantly. Under
the city charter, the council
can use a series of votes to
get around their usual meet-
ing requirements: a major-
ity vote to consolidate the
readings into one meeting,
a unanimous vote to hold
a public hearing and then
another unanimous vote to
pass the ordinance. If the
fi nal vote doesn’t achieve
unanimity, the council
could approve it by major-
ity vote at its next meeting.
The new ordinance only
has a fi ve-month lifespan
before it automatically
expires. Near the end of the
fi ve months, the council is
expected to evaluate the
ordinance based on whether
it “protects the public” and
if it can meet the city’s
transportation needs and
off er new modes of trans-
portation without harming
the city’s contractor.
Should the council
approve the ordinance on
Tuesday, the pilot program
would run through Pendle-
ton’s event season, includ-
ing Pendleton Bike Week,
Pendleton Whisky Music
Fest and the Round-Up.
It won’t take nearly as
much procedural eff ort for
the council to consider a bid
to do street overlay projects
this summer.
City offi cials didn’t know
how supply chain issues and
soaring oil prices might
affect street construction
costs, but the $1.3 million
bid from American Rock
Products of Pendleton was
well below the city’s esti-
mate. The bid will cover
overlays and reconstruc-
tion projects at 19 blocks
around town, mostly roads
that front residential prop-
erties.
The council also consid-
ers approving a bid of
$362,581 from Doolit-
tle Con st r uct ion of
Snoqualamie, Washing-
ton, for slurry seal work. A
slurry seal acts as a fi lling for
cracks and gaps in asphalt
and helps extend the life of
streets in good condition.
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