"Oregon Airports Call for Help"

Monday, March 17, 2003

Call for Help
KVAL 13 - Eugene (OR)


Portland - Commercial airports such as Oregon's six small- to medium-sized
fields need greater federal support to better compete with larger hubs,
airport managers and airline executives told a House subcommittee hearing in
Portland Monday.

Like the railroads of the old West, airports are now critical for rural
development, said Bob Noble, president of the Eugene Airport, which serves
about 600,000 people in the southern Willamette Valley.

"We're concerned all these airports could see significant loss of air
service," Noble said. "Some communities could lose service altogether."

U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio of Eugene, the ranking Democrat on the House
aviation subcommittee, hosted the hearing in Portland. The subcommittee is
on a fact-finding tour as Congress considers legislation on commercial and
general aviation.

Emblematic of the troubles of small airports, the Eugene field has lost 31
percent of daily business since last fall, the second largest loss among the
nation's small- to medium-sized airports, according to a national study.
Only Myrtle Beach, S.C., lost more air service, with a 36 percent drop,
according to the advocacy group Reconnecting America.

Many Eugene flights were eliminated by now-bankrupt United Airlines, through
its contract carrier United Express. Horizon Air and America West Express
also trimmed flights.

About 50 percent of the commercial air business in the Eugene area is now
funneled up to Portland International Airport, prompting about 200,000 car
trips a year up Interstate-5, according to Noble.

Noble asked for federal funds to meet new security requirements, and to
upgrade equipment at the Eugene tower to fix a radar blind spot. "It's a
safety issue," he said.

Partially offsetting the loss at small fields is growing demand for
city-hopping propeller or small jet planes that avoid hubs, Dale Johnson,
chief of operations for SkyTaxi, a Salem-based air taxi service, told the
subcommittee.

The Federal Aviation Administration and NASA are supporting an effort to
improve safety for small passenger planes through better navigation and
avionics, hoping to redesign the nation's air transport system around
smaller aircraft.

Oregon has 91 general aviation airports, six small commercial airports and
Portland International Airport.

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