PENDLETON — Boutique Air seeks to renew the Essential Air Service contract for flights between Pendleton and Portland, but challengers Southern Airways and Alaska Seaplanes have also made bids for the service.

Boutique has provided flights to and from the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton using the federal subsidy since 2016. The contract expires May 31. The airline, according to its proposal, wants a total annual subsidy of $4.27 million for the first year, the most of the three airlines.

Boutique Air also is open to either a two-, three- or four-year long contract with a 5% increase each year, and it promises to spend at least $50,000 per year in each market for advertising and marketing.

Southern Airways in its proposal requests $4.25 million in compensation for the first year and wants either a two- or four-year contract. And Alaska Seaplanes is requesting a subsidy of $3.79 million, according to its proposal, and wants a four-year contract but would consider alternative lengths.

Each airline would provide flights 21 times per week between Pendleton and Portland 21 times per week on Pilatus PC-12s. The aircraft can seat up to nine passengers and have a range of amenities, including power outlets, leather seats and enclosed lavatories.

Boutique Air

Boutique CEO Shawn Simpson said the airline provides value to the community in two major ways — reliability and reasonable pricing.

“If you don’t have reliable air service then no one is going to use it,” he said. “We have a proven track record of delivering really great reliability.”

During the past 12 months the airline has maintained 99.65% controllable completion across nearly 6,000 scheduled flights, according to its proposal, and it promises to maintain at least 98% controllable flight completion.

In the $4.27 million bid, Boutique Air states its average fare is $69. Simpson said it is important for Boutique to offer reasonable prices that don’t shut anyone out from being able to travel. Boutique Air offers fares as low as $49, as well as a voucher program for tickets around $70.

“That’s a fairly reasonable price to get the distance that’s being flown,” he said.

Boutique also updated all of its planes in the last year and a half, he said, “so the interiors are really nice.” The proposal outlined additional benefits for Boutique passengers..

Boutique Air in 2017 entered into an interline and codeshare agreement with United Airlines, and Boutique in 2019 added an interline agreement with American Airlines. This allows passengers to book through and connect with flights on either airline. Passengers also can book Boutique flights through computer reservation systems, including Worldspan, and through online travel agencies, including Expedia and Travelocity.

Southern Airways

Southern Airways has interline agreements with American, United, Alaska and Hawaiian airlines, according to its $4.25 million bid. Southern Airways CEO Staff Keith Sisson said those agreements can help put Pendleton on the map because it puts the flights onto those airlines’ websites. Southern also is an affiliate with ACE Rent a Car. The rental car options show up when customers are booking through online travel agencies.

“We do think that this does increase inbound connectivity for people that are coming into the region or into the area to do business,” he said. They’re not going to buy the plane ticket if they don’t think they can get off of the airport property.”

The airline has also joined TSA PreCheck, according to the proposal and offers online check-in and has its own mobile booking application. Passengers also can book flights online.

Southern Airways has an average fare of $89, according to the proposal.

Southern Airways targets a marketing budget of $25,000 per year through print, television, radio and digital advertising until reaching its enplanement goal, according to the proposal.

“For EAS the goal is to always have more passengers flying in the current year than flew in the previous year,” Sisson said. “Once that goal is reached, we actually pivot a lot of those funds — if they’re still available — to community outreach programs.”

This includes sponsoring chamber of commerce or rotary club events.

Alaska Seaplanes

Pendleton would be Alaska Seaplanes’ first market outside of Alaska. The airline has served Essential Air Service communities for 18 years, according to its $3.79 million bid. However, President and co-owner Kent Craford said the company does not rely on the subsidy as a revenue source.

The company’s leadership has strong ties to Northeast Oregon and Southeast Washington. Craford said the airline recognizes the Pendleton airport as a regional hub for air travel, serving communities beyond Umatilla County.

Craford was the CEO of SeaPort Airlines, which in 2008 edged out Horizon Air as the EAS provider in Pendleton. But SeaPort’s board in 2009 ousted Craford, and the airline went out of business in 2016.

The Alaska Seaplanes president said the airline brings the best mix of experienced financial stability, connections through the company’s partnership with Alaska Airlines and “good old-fashioned on the ground hustle and marketing.”

The company has an interline partnership with Alaska Airlines and has full visibility with global distribution systems, according to the proposal. Alaska Seaplanes is a Federal Aviation Administration recognized Safety Management System operator.

Alaska Seaplanes in its proposal said it has an average fare of $98.

Alaska Seaplanes takes a three-pronged approach when it comes to marketing with advertising, branding and community relations, according to the proposal. A change in air carriers would create an awareness challenge, so the company in a four-year deal would spend $95,000 for marketing in year one, $80,000 for year two and $75,000 for the subsequent years.

Craford said Alaska Seaplanes intends to partner with local and state travel promotion agencies and organizations, such as Travel Pendleton, Wildhorse Resort & Casino, the Port of Portland and Travel Oregon.

Pendleton to Seattle?

Boutique Air and Southern Air proposed the possibility of adding a trip between Pendleton and Seattle.

Boutique Air in its proposal wants to retain the option to shift up to seven of the 21 round trips from Portland to Seattle. This came from direct community input, Sisson said.

Southern Airways presented two route options. The second option included offering seven round trips to Portland and 14 rounds trips to Seattle.

Alaska Seaplanes did not include a Pendleton to Seattle option in its proposal. Craford said he is aware of the community interest in connectivity to Seattle, but it “would be a terrible mistake to cannibalize one of Pendleton’s three flights a day with a flight to Seattle.” He said having the combination of flight options is important to maintain ridership.

“When you go from two flights a day to three, you’ve increased service 50%, but you’ve multiplied the number of possible combinations,” Craford said. “When you have one round trip a day, you have one option. When you have two round trips a day, you have four options. When you have three round trips a day, you have nine options to get there and back.”

Flights to Seattle could be something the company explores in the future — separate from the three flights to Portland. Craford added Alaska Seaplanes also looked at adding a connection to Salem from Portland — especially seasonally during the legislative session.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has extended the deadline for public comments regarding the Essential Air Service contract for Pendleton to Tuesday, March 19, at 8:59 p.m. at www.regulations.gov. The docket ID number is DOT-OST-2004-19934.