Oregon Public Broadcasting

A consultant from Eugene is getting a warm reception for a plan to start airline service to eight smaller Northwest cities, including Roseburg, Olympia, Bremerton, and Port Angeles.  Flights would feed into a connecting hub in Portland.  Correspondent Tom Banse has more.

Industry consultant Mark Sixel helped Astoria and Newport get a federal subsidy to start air service to Portland.  But he says the venture looks more sustainable – and the airfares more affordable -- if the small planes could fly a broader network of routes. 

So Sixel has lined up airport authorities in Roseburg, Olympia, Hoquiam, Tacoma Narrows, Bremerton, and Port Angeles to board.

Mark Sixel: “We’re looking at nine seat aircraft.  The type of airline that runs that type of service is familiar to a lot of people in the Seattle area.  It’s Kenmore Air, which is based there, and also a company out of Massachusetts called Cape Air.”

Recruiting one of those carriers is contingent on getting a second federal grant for air service development.

Sixel says scheduled flights to Astoria and Newport could start this summer.  The other cities would connect to the Portland hub in summer 2009.