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STATE MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, October 13, 2021 A9 Central Oregon attractive for new airlines OSU lands $10M By SUZANNE ROIG The Bulletin Submitted photo The airline Avelo began direct fl ights from Burbank, Califor- nia, to Redmond in May. It’s not the only smaller airline that sees potential in Central Oregon. rated resort areas like Teth- erow, Eagle Crest, Prong- horn, Black Butte Ranch and Sunriver — collected $11.5 million in tran- sient room taxes, a 51.9% increase over the previous year. In Bend, the transient room tax collection for fi s- cal year 2021 was $11.1 million, a 26.2% increase from the previous year. Deschutes County col- lects an 8% transient room tax and Bend collects a 10.4% lodging tax for each night. “What we’re seeing because of the pandemic and COVID-19 is there’s been a shift by smaller, boutique airlines to move into the Western outdoor market,” said Zach Bass, Redmond Airport director. This past summer Red- mond saw about as many passengers as it did before March 2020 when the pan- demic caused the closure of businesses and travel as a way to curb the spread of the virus. In July 2019, 102,000 passengers passed through the airport, com- pared to July 2020 when a mere 37,000 came through. This July, however, there were 105,000 passengers in the Redmond Airport, Bass said. There are seven airlines providing about 25 fl ights a day out of Redmond, Bass said. The number of fl ights tends to fl uctuate depend- ing on time of year. Carriers include Alaska Air, Ameri- can Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Allegiant Airlines, Bou- tique Air, United Airlines and Avelo. Bass said the air- port is working with Amer- ican to see if it will operate direct fl ights from Redmond to Dallas that could start this spring. Travis Christ, Avelo Air- lines head of marketing, said that since May, the direct fl ights from Redmond to Burbank, California, three times a week have done well for the newcomer. The air- line, which also launched fl ights in Medford and Eugene, has made a business plan out of fl ying from non- hub airports near large cities to popular visitor destina- tions, like Bend, Christ said. Avelo uses 189-seat Boe- ing 737-800 aircraft out of Redmond, one of 17 destina- tions the airline off ers across the Western United States. Additional destinations are being added. Fort Collins, Colorado, is being added this week and will go from New Haven, Connecticut to mul- tiple destinations in Florida come November. Launching a new air- line isn’t easy, but it wasn’t nearly as diffi cult as Avelo anticipated. Pent up travel demand among visitors spurred travel in the United States since many interna- tional locations were closed due to COVID-19 restric- tions, Christ said. “We’re the new way to Los Angeles,” Christ said in an interview. “Peo- for hemp research By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press CORVALLIS — Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center has received a $10 million USDA grant to study how and where the ver- satile crop can support rural economies across four Western states. The fi ve-year project was one of 15 proposals to receive funding from the National Institute of Food and Agricul- ture, which awarded $146 mil- lion for sustainable agricultural research. OSU established the Global Hemp Innovation Center in 2019 — one year after hemp was decriminalized in the 2018 Farm Bill — to provide scientifi c data necessary for spurring investment in the nascent industry. The center combines more than 40 OSU faculty in 19 aca- demic disciplines to research all aspects of hemp, from cultiva- tion to end products. Jeff Steiner, associate direc- tor of the center, described hemp as being locked away in a time capsule for more than 80 years after it was banned in the U.S. It is the center’s job to fi nd out how hemp can be incorporated into modern agricultural prac- tices and production systems. That in turn helps to drive new markets for the crop, includ- ing essential oils, grain and fi ber. “While enthusiasm for hemp has grown, there is still a tremen- dous lack of knowledge about the crop,” Steiner said. For this project, OSU is part- nering with eight other institu- tions to match hemp genetics and best agricultural practices with growing areas east of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada in Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada. It all starts with the plant, Steiner said. Hemp grown pri- marily for oil extraction is not genetically the same as hemp grown for grain or fi ber. Opti- mum growing conditions for one type may not be suitable for another. What’s more, Steiner said hemp must fi t into local agricul- tural systems and crop rotations so it does not displace other commodities, such as hay and potatoes in the Klamath Basin. “It’s not like we have to start from scratch, but we have to apply all this knowledge and make it work for hemp,” Steiner said. Researchers are also look- ing at where to add processing capacity for hemp, and whether those facilities can be built in rural and tribal communities. Tribal partners include the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Central Oregon, which has taken a keen inter- est in hemp to boost economic development. “The Warm Springs Tribe has interest in exploring and expanding our agricultural opportunities in hemp pro- duction, and this is one ave- nue to achieve this,” said Lau- rie Danzuka, cannabis project coordinator for the tribe. Danzuka said the collabora- tion will allow tribal farmers to identify potential suitable uses for hemp and utilize best farm- ing practices for its production. Steiner said the up-front par- ticipation of tribes and other rural communities in the project is critical to their success. “The potential economic opportunities this new com- modity may have presents tre- mendous potential for rural communities, and our proj- ect has set out to ensure those opportunities are equally avail- able and relevant to all kinds of farmers,” Steiner said. He pointed to studies indi- cating the global industrial hemp market could reach $36 billion by 2026. Part of that relies on hemp’s ability to tap into other markets, such as the nutraceutical industry and the textile business. “It’s a matter of fi nding how hemp can be more economical than existing products in those sectors,” Steiner said. “There’s a huge potential for where this can be fi t in.” GRANT COUNTY VETERANS SERVICES 541.620.8057 530 East Main Street #5, John Day, OR S261920-1 S264770-1 BEND — Central Ore- gon’s strong, upwardly mobile population is attract- ing attention from smaller, boutique airlines that see business potential and are adding nonstop fl ights to the Redmond Airport. The new fl ights on aha! ExpressJet Airlines and Avelo that were just announced, are direct, elim- inating the need for connec- tions and crowded airport hubs or long drives to larger airports. The new airlines joined Allegiant’s return to Redmond in 2019, when it announced it would fl y from Redmond Airport to Las Vegas and Mesa, Arizona. Attracting new airlines during the pandemic plays a role in keeping Central Oregon top of mind for air- lines and travelers who are courted by the Central Ore- gon Air Service Team, a group that includes the air- port, the Economic Devel- opment for Central Oregon, Visit Bend, Visit Cen- tral Oregon, and the Red- mond and Bend chambers of commerce. Central Ore- gon is attractive to visi- tors, especially during the pandemic, because its out- doors lends itself to physi- cal distancing. “It’s a sign of the regions’ success to see new airlines and fl ights launch- ing from Redmond Air- port,” said Julia Theisen, Visit Central Oregon CEO, in an email. “Airlines are attracted to Redmond Air- port for a number of rea- sons, including growth in the region by visitors and in-migration, airport fees that are aff ordable ... and the eff orts we make to meet with our airline partners as often as possible to keep Central Oregon front of mind.” In fi scal year 2021, which runs from July 2020 to June 2021, Deschutes County — the unincorpo- ple are eager to get out of the big, congested airports, with expensive parking and crowds. “We want to serve these areas that have been under- served, and it was good for- tune for us that a lot of the bigger city folks moved to these other areas, causing an infl ux of in-migration.” The city of Redmond did off er Avelo $25,000 in mar- keting support, matching money the airline is spend- ing to drum up interest among travelers. Also starting in Novem- ber is aha! by ExpressJet Air- lines, the airline’s hotel and air leisure brand, that off ers nonstop fl ights from the Reno-Tahoe to Redmond. The three -times -a -week direct fl ights avoid layovers and crowds. Choosing to fl y to Redmond was easy as the destinations are similar, said Tim Sieber, head of aha! ExpressJet Airlines business unit. Both destinations focus on outdoor activities. Both destinations have disposable income. Both destinations have a robust food and beer scene. “It made sense to link the two destinations by an air- plane,” Sieber said. “The two destinations are very similar, and the direct fl ight provides an opportunity to exchange people between two markets that share a lot of the same interests.” With an eye on the travel data, ExpressJet said it rec- ognized that Reno-Tahoe had a lot of visitors from Bend and Redmond who had to either drive or make a connection in Portland, Sie- ber said. “We see an opportunity for providing direct fl ights that avoid time in airports and the potential exposure to COVID-19,”Sieber said. “We think people want that and they want to go to less crowded places for activi- ties. Clearly there’s a lot of pent -up demand for short trips.”