SeaPort Flies Into the Sunset

We were flying home on Tuesday evening and caught a connecting flight in Salt Lake City back to Portland. It was a beautiful clear night and as we let down over the Great Salt Lake we flew past the airport and saw the myriad Delta flights lined up at their gates. This brought back memories of 3 years ago coming in from Baltimore and catching a connecting flight directly to Salem. What a pleasant flight, especially the part about being met at the airport and then a 5 minute drive home. Those were the days! "But," I thought, "there's always SeaPort." Little did I know.

I picked up the back newspapers when we got home et voila, no SeaPort. Was ist los? It seems that the subsidy from Newport ran out and so did SeaPort. Salem got caught in the middle. I wasn't sure about the fit for Salem in my April 2 post welcoming them, but I am a little surprised that they stayed less than 3 months before pulling the plug. It's unfortunate for Salem because it will make it even harder to attract an airline. This area can support airline service if it goes to the right places, connects into a large system, and is competitively priced. The future isn't much better for SeaPort. It is clearly just chasing subsidies. In the Federal budget reductions that will likely be coming soon, the Essential Airline Service (EAS) subsidies are almost certainly a goner and alas, when that happens, so is SeaPort. Sic transit gloria.

www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20110712/NEWS/107120330/-1/7daysarchives/Another-airline-skips-town