Port shifts focus to building ridership for Portland flights

WENATCHEE — With daily commercial air service between Pangborn Memorial Airport and Portland now scheduled to begin in October, the Chelan-Douglas Regional Port Authority is shifting from landing the route to ensuring it succeeds.

During the board's July meeting, commissioners discussed how to complete the financial commitments that helped attract Alaska Airlines while beginning the next phase of the effort: marketing the service and encouraging businesses and travelers to use it.

Executive Director Jim Kuntz told commissioners Alaska Airlines representatives will attend the Port's Sept. 8 meeting to present a proposed marketing plan. The federal Small Community Air Service Development Program that helped secure the route requires the Port to spend $50,000 on marketing, and Kuntz said the airline is expected to outline how it would promote the new service.

The Port is also working to finalize the local funding that supported the federal grant application.

Earlier this year, the Port contacted contributors from the former Bay Area Service Coalition fundraising campaign, asking whether they wanted previously pledged funds returned or redesignated toward the Portland revenue guarantee. Kuntz said many donors have not yet responded, and commissioners agreed a second letter should be sent explaining that, absent a response within 30 days, those funds would be transferred to support the new service.

The discussion then turned to whether securing the Portland route presents an opportunity to seek additional community support.

Commissioner Jim Huffman suggested that now, with flights confirmed, the Port may have a stronger case for attracting new contributors than it did while the service was still only a proposal.

Commissioner Richard DeRock urged a different approach.

Rather than immediately asking businesses for more money, DeRock said the Port should focus first on making the service successful.

"I'd rather subsidize the cost right now, get the service, get people using it, market the heck out of that," he said. If the route proves valuable over the next two years, he argued, businesses will have experienced those benefits firsthand and any future request for community support would rest on demonstrated success rather than expectation.

Part of that strategy, commissioners agreed, will be changing how the route is presented.

Kuntz said many travelers still think of the service simply as a flight to Portland, when its real value lies in the destinations beyond.

"We've got Bay Area service. We just got it," Kuntz said, explaining that while Pangborn will not offer nonstop flights to Northern California, the new Portland connection effectively opens convenient access to the Bay Area and dozens of other destinations throughout the West.

Commissioners said future marketing should emphasize those onward connections to cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco rather than Portland itself. They also discussed coordinating messaging with chambers of commerce, tourism organizations and travel agencies throughout the region.

Kuntz said the Port expects to have a clearer picture of its remaining financial commitment after the second round of donor responses is complete and Alaska presents its marketing proposal in September.

For commissioners, the conversation marked a transition from recruiting an airline to building lasting ridership.

The Portland flights are coming.

Now, they said, the task is making sure North Central Washington embraces them.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media