"EAS grant could link Redding to Los Angeles"

Thursday, June 12, 2003

Airport grant could link Redding to L.A.
Horizon considering route if subsidy comes through
By David Benda
The Redding (CA) Record Searchlight


Redding Municipal Airport wants federal assistance to help it land nonstop
service to Los Angeles.

City Airports Manager Rod Dinger plans to apply for a U.S. Department of
Transportation grant aimed at enhancing airline service in small
communities.

Dinger will ask the City Council on Tuesday to approve an application for
the grant. While Dinger is still crunching numbers, he estimates Redding
would apply for $500,000 in federal funds. The application deadline is June
30.

The application would be buoyed by a letter from Horizon Air, saying the
carrier would start nonstop service from Redding to Los Angeles should the
funds be awarded, Dinger said.

"They are suggesting two daily nonstop runs to Los Angeles," Dinger said. "I
think if things fall into place quickly, it could happen before the end of
the year."

The federal money would be used to help Horizon defray startup costs for the
service and pay for advertising, Dinger said.

Horizon and SkyWest fly turboprops into Redding. Horizon offers two daily
flights to Portland, Ore. SkyWest has seven daily flights to San Francisco.

Dinger said Horizon would fly the 70-seat Bombardier Q400 from Redding to
Los Angeles. The Q400 is the same plane Horizon now flies in and out of
Redding Municipal Airport.

Horizon officials said Wednesday that they will support Redding's grant
application, but that no commitments to service have been made.

"If they happen to receive the funds we would then take a look at the
service (to Los Angeles). We have also given out letters of support to
several cities in the Pacific Northwest and California," Horizon spokeswoman
Cheryl Temple said from Seattle.

The Department of Transportation funds come from the Small Community Air
Service Development Pilot Program. The program, which plans to dole out 40
grants totaling $20 million, aims to help communities address air travel
problems such as high fares and inadequate service. No more than four
communities in any state can receive funds.

Bolstering Redding's claim it can support the Los Angeles flights is a
passenger analysis commissioned by the city, Dinger said.

The $40,000 study completed by Mead & Hunt, an aviation consulting firm,
tracked airline passenger tickets purchased in 2002. The survey area reached
as far as Mount Shasta to the north, Corning to the south, Old Station to
the east and Willow Creek to the west.

Thirty-three percent of north state travelers who bought plane tickets flew
out of Redding Municipal Airport in 2002. Most of the others drove to
Sacramento to catch flights, the analysis shows.

The study also shows Los Angeles as the top destination for north state
travelers. Ontario was second, followed by San Diego, Las Vegas and
Portland. Southern California airports in Orange County (eighth) and Burbank
(ninth) also made the top 10.

"That information is very important to take to an airline, to show them we
can support service, other than just to San Francisco and Portland," Dinger
said.

Last year, Mead & Hunt helped Sun Valley, Idaho, secure funds from the
federal program Redding seeks to tap into. The money was used to land
nonstop Horizon service from Sun Valley to Los Angeles.

Mike Boggs of Mead & Hunt said 178 communities applied for the federal funds
last year. He expects at least that many to apply this year.

Boggs noted that the passenger analysis his company did for Redding is an
important step in identifying gaps in a community's air service.

"These studies in and of themselves don't make you successful" in adding air
service, he said. "But if you don't do the studies, you don't know what the
problems are and what the potential is."

To provide more proof that Redding can support service to Los Angeles,
Dinger wants to create a bank in which businesses could purchase travel
vouchers.

The vouchers are like debit cards. Businesses that purchased vouchers would
draw down their account for flights to Los Angeles.

A similar program helped Stockton persuade America West to start flying jets
into the Central Valley city. In 2000, Stockton businesses purchased
$800,000 in vouchers to help seal the deal with America West.

Village Travel Manager Marianne Thompson said a Redding-to-Los Angeles
flight would do well if customers could connect to a variety of other
flights after landing at Los Angeles International.

Thompson figures her customers would be willing to pay between $150 and $175
for a round-trip ticket to Los Angeles.

"When United fares are in that vicinity, we sell a lot of tickets (to San
Francisco)," Thompson said. "When tickets get above $200, then they start
talking about driving to Sacramento."

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