Truth (DRAFT/Under Development)

 

On a New York-to-Denver flight, a commercial jet would generate 840 to 1,660 pounds ofcarbon dioxide per passenger. That's about what an SUV generates in a month.

- USA TODAY 12/19/2006

 

The idea that an airport is an economic driver is a myth when it concerns the ability to build a sustainable resource for employment, economics, and the environment in Bellingham, WA. Rail is there!

KGMI Radio Interview

KGMI Radio Podcast

The airline industry is highly speclative. - Art Choat - BIAAC Meeting 7/15/2008 & Aviation Director for the Port of Bellingham.

Art Choat is correct. So why would you need to continue on the pace and buck the trends with the ability to reach four major airports within a radius of 50 to 100 miles. Everett, Abbotsford, Seattle, and Vancouver.

 

 

DELTA

03/07/2006 Bellingham Herald

Airport Gets New Link to Salt Lake City: Delta to Fly Twice Daily to Hub

While the financial numbers are yet to be crunched, Choat said he expects the added service to bring hundreds of thousands of dollars in new revenue to the airport each year. It's money the airport will plow back into covering the expenses that the expanded service will generate, he said.

 
06/2007 Frontier Presentation
Delta Never Expanded Two months later reduced traffic to one flight that summer. Delta later terminated service at BLI.

08/21/2007 Bellingham Herald, Delta to cut midday Bellingham flight. Second daily flight may return by late winter
BELLINGHAM — Saying that it expects air traffic to decrease after school starts, Delta Airlines will be reducing its flights from Bellingham to Salt Lake City starting Sept. 5. Sky West Airlines, which operates the route, will cut the
number of daily flights out of Bellingham from two to one. The remaining flight will depart Bellingham International Airport at 6 a.m. The last day of service for the 12:45 p.m. flight is Sept. 4. Anthony Black, a spokesman for Delta, said the airline typically reduces flights when there is less demand, and the start of the school year is one of those times. He expects the second flight to be back in late winter or early spring.


Art Choat, aviation director for the Port of Bellingham, which runs the airport, said air travel does have some predictability, and it does tend to slow down after school starts.

Everett - The Southern Catchment

"Interstate 5 congestion from Arlington going south is making Bellingham a much more popular airport," Choat said.

06/20/2006 The Everett (WA) Daily Herald, A Sea-Tac Alternative

"We get a lot of people coming up from Snohomish County.", said Art Choat, the airport's aviation director.

06/2007 Frontier Presentation
 

 

10/29/2008 Bellingham Herald, Allegiant, Bellingham airport take go-slow approach

In recent months, Allegiant has joined other airlines in expressing interest in offering flights out of Everett's Paine Field, if political opposition to that can be overcome. If that happens, Ashcroft said Allegiant's expansion there isn't likely to come at Bellingham's expense.

As he sees it, Paine Field would be better-situated to serve Snohomish and north King County travelers than Bellingham. Few of those travelers now make the trip north to fly Allegiant.

12/15/2008 Art stated at BIAAC that we see very little from the south.

01/10/2009 Everett Herald, Horizon Air sees flights from Paine Field by April

The statement Few of those travelers now make the trip north to fly Allegiant is not the same as We get a lot of people coming up from Snohomish County. This is misinformation at best that is consistant throughout the years at BLI.

 

06/05/2008 Allegiant Air's proposed flights to Las Vegas create controversy at Everett's Paine Field
Western Airlines

In the same set of slides, which the Port of Bellingham presented to Frontier, promoted a defunct airline(tour operator) Western Airlines still flying out of BLI when it had already left 4 months early after filing for Bankrupcy. The Slide was presented in June 2007.

Western Airlines: Bankruptcy records indicated that the airline founder’s personal financial woes may have played a part in the airline’s rush to get up and running in early 2007. Port of Bellingham e-mail records showed that port officials had grave doubts about the startup airline’s financial viability in the weeks before its first flight. The airline shut down after just three weeks.

1/20/2007 Western Airlines cancels all flights - king5.com
SkyBus

From a Skybus press release this week:

Skybus service to Bellingham is contingent on the airline and the Port of Bellingham finalizing an agreement. Port Aviation Director Art Choat said an agreement will be brought to the port commission's board early in May.

"Our local business and leisure travelers are enthusiastic about additional flight destinations out of Bellingham," Choat said. "We believe Skybus's business plan is solid, and we look forward to welcoming them to Bellingham"

SkyBus Left. Western Folded
 
 
 

As for Allegiant, the carrier apparently is targeting customers from both the greater Seattle and Vancouver areas with the Bellingham flights. Bellingham is about 50 miles from Vancouver and about 95 from Seattle. In a press release, Allegiant calls Bellingham "a gateway to British Columbia, Canada."  - USA Today

 

ABBOTSFORD, BC 45 minutes from Bellingham

Abbotsford Airport Passenger Numbers Remain Strong in 2008

Written by Abbotsford International Airport

Saturday, 24 January 2009

Abbotsford International Airport (YXX) continued to draw high numbers of passengers last year, announced Dave Kandal, Chair of the Abbotsford Airport Authority today. The total passenger count for 2008 is 503,693 and passenger traffic in 2009 is expected to increase substantially as the airport improves service and facilities to accommodate travelers. “I have no doubt that our passenger numbers will continue to grow,” said Kandal. “The Fraser Valley is still one of the fastest growing regions in the country, despite the economic downturn, and our airport is a regional transportation hub for this section of the province.”

 

Infrastructure

Allegiant Loves to move!

SFO - OAK

After SFO spent millions in infrastructure linking BART to SFO, Allegiant moves to OAK where BART is not in place.

06/06/2008 Allegiant Air to Begin SFO - Bellingham, Washington Service 

10/31/2008 ALLEGIANT AIR ANNOUNCES NEW NONSTOP SERVICE BETWEEN OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AND BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON, A GATEWAY TO BRITISH COLUMBIA

MidAmerica Airport loses passenger carrier Allegiant Air

Allegiant departing Huntsville

 

 

Is Expansion Required at BLI (10:30A on a Tuesday 2008)?

 

 

URS Study

The URS Study was conducted to present an overall analysis for justifying air service at BLI.

 

Abbotsford Airport, which is 45 minutes away and has flights to India, Eastern Canada, and Mexico is not on the slide. Why would this be missing, when it is a larger airport offering more routes? The Port of Bellingham paid $225,000 for this study.

5 out of 6 of the above items are considered certain.

Paine Field is starting service which will draw from the south. Seattle Times Link

Price of Oil/Airline Health - Peak Oil is coming and the overall airline health does not mean migrating to smaller markets to grab lower landing fees in lieu of the quality of life issues. BLI is one of the closest airports to a residential area and is located in close to the treasured San Juan Islands.

Cost per Emplanned Passenger. This is based on the number of emplanned passengers? This can vary depending on the agreements setup by the Port of Bellingham to entice travellers. This also inflates numbers considering if this was a marketing /pilot for the airline. And at our expense.

Overall Economic Downturn, OK we don't need to actually assume we need to justify that this has not happened.

Canadian Border/US Border - Passport Required. If your crazy enough to risk coming to fly from Bellingham, WA via Canada, then there might be a risk.

Abbotsford, BC is expanding and I would look to WestJet in taking market share shortly.

Westjet Cancels Abbotsford, BC to LAS Flights. Abbotsford is a sleeping giant and when the demand is right, BLI will be impacted. BC traffic would be eliminated (Port's own catchment figures est. 823K). This is why URS left the community in the dark and off the slides. Any analyst will tell you that Westjet is simply waiting to pounce on BLI's traffic.

 

 

Fog may help port clarify number of passengers from lower BC.

Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009

Clover Island Inn shelters travellers stranded in Tri-Cities

By Pratik Joshi, Tri-City Herald staff writer

KENNEWICK -- Clover Island Inn in Kennewick became a makeshift shelter for some stranded Allegiant Air passengers twice recently, and they didn't seem to mind their overnight stay in the Tri-Cities.

General manager Mark Blotz and his staff checked in hundreds of passengers whose flights were diverted to the Tri-Cities because of heavy fog in Bellingham.

"We did it with a smile on our faces," he said.

About a week ago, Allegiant asked Blotz on short notice to provide 100 rooms for about 175 passengers on their way home from Reno, Nev., and Las Vegas.

On Wednesday, about 116 passengers returning from Palm Springs, Calif., couldn't land at Bellingham and ended up at the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco.

Both times, Blotz and his team were praised by their guests, about 95 percent of whom were from Canada and had never heard of the Tri-Cities. Some of them even wrote on comment cards that they would like to visit the Tri-Cities because they found the hotel staff so friendly.

Clover Island Inn made an additional $15,500 serving Allegiant passengers, but more importantly, the hotel made new friends, Blotz said.

It was a challenge to take care of that many people without advance notice, said Jean Mathews, food and beverage manager.

"You can only prepare so much food and so fast," she said.

But it brought out the best in us, she said. Almost everyone on staff put in an extra five hours of work at night and returned for an early morning shift to serve breakfast to guests, she said.

It was a great experience, adding that workers at the inn wouldn't mind another similar challenge, Mathews said.

None of the guests complained, despite being tired and hungry, Blotz said.

Passengers "make the most of it" when they know it's a weather-related delay, said Allegiant spokeswoman Tyri Squyres, who confirmed the flight diversions to Pasco earlier in the week. That's not unusual, she said.

Blotz said he knows it may not happen again anytime soon.

"I'm ready to put a fog machine in Bellingham," he joked.

 
This story was not in the Bellingham Herald. One would think that the 95% of out of county fliers would have been of interest to local officials and question why we are supporting lower BC's aviation requirments, placing our city at risk.

 

 

05/01/2007 Port of Bellingham Minutes
Mr. Art Choat, Director of Aviation, reviewed that Allegiant Air has been making weekly flights to Las Vegas, Nevada, from the Bellingham International Airport since June 2004. Beginning May 25, 2007, Allegiant Air will be making three trips weekly between Bellingham and Reno, Nevada.
Mr. Choat explained that to support the start-up of the new service to Reno, staff is recommending a twelve month period (May 25, 2007 through May 24, 2008), in which the Port assists Allegiant Air in their marketing of the new destination. This would be the same program used in 2004 when Allegiant began service to Las Vegas. The Port will reimburse Allegiant Air $3.00 per enplaned revenue passenger traveling from Bellingham to Reno, Nevada. Payment from the Port to Allegiant shall be based on paid marketing invoices submitted by Allegiant to the Port and all marketing must include the Bellingham International Airport (BLI).
Mr. Choat noted the Port’s marketing participation will be from new revenues generated by the new Reno air service from BLI. The Port’s participation in the marketing for the first 12 months of operation is estimated at $60,000.
Motion approved with a 3-0 vote.

 

 

 

 

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