Legislators choose new airline

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February 3, 2010

By JOE LOTEMPLIO The Press Republican Wed Feb 03, 2010, 09:13 PM EST

PLATTSBURGH — In what played out as a very public job interview, Clinton County legislators chose Colgan Air to become the next daily carrier at Plattsburgh International Airport.

Legislators voted 7 to 3 in favor of Colgan in hopes that the airline’s larger aircraft will help air traffic increase and the community grow.

“We need to grow, and it is time to move forward,” Legislator Robert Butler (R-Area 6, Saranac) said at Wednesday night’s county Finance Committee meeting, which lasted about 2½ hours.

Colgan will be the county’s recommendation to the federal Department of Transportation to receive a two-year contract under the Essential Air Service program.

The airport is now being served by Cape Air under the federal program, which subsidizes airlines to serve under-populated areas.

Cape Air, which flies nine-passenger Cessnas, wanted to continue the service and offered to provide three daily trips to Boston, four during the summer months, for an average price of $65 one way.

Colgan offered two flights daily under EAS and one each on Saturday and Sunday for an average fare of $75 on 34-seat aircraft with pressurized cabins and a flight attendant.

They would also offer a third daily flight Monday through Friday not under the EAS program.

Before legislators voted Wednesday night, they heard from representatives from both airlines, the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce and the public.

Phil Reed, the corporate director for Pinnacle Airlines, Colgan’s parent company, said he believes Colgan can increase the volume of passengers flying out of Plattsburgh.

“I think you are ready,” Reed said.

When pressed to guarantee a price of $75 one-way to Boston by Legislator Keith Defayette (R-Area 5, Schuyler Falls), Reed said Colgan was looking at a target price of between $75 and $125.

Dan Wolf of Cape Air said his airline has tailored its service to what the market wanted and offered to fix prices at $65 one way.

“If that’s what you want we can do that tomorrow,” Wolf said.

Cape Air has increased the number of emplanements at the airport from about 4,000 a year in 2007 to about 10,000 in 2009.

County Legislature Chairman Jimmy Langley (R-Area 7, Peru) said the county is ready for even more passengers and noted that the county makes its money on the number of emplanements.

“I think we are hurting ourselves if we don’t open up to a larger market,” Langley said.

Garry Douglas, the president of the chamber, said a survey of about 15,000 people in the Montreal area showed that more Canadians would fly out of Plattsburgh for business if there were bigger airplanes.

“Cape Air has been very good, but they don’t fit this market,” Douglas said.

“We need to embrace this as an exciting opportunity, not as controversial.”

Several members of the local business community told legislators that larger aircraft would better serve their needs.

“Canadians don’t want Cessna service,” James Tooley, plant manager of Nova Bus, a major Canadian bus manufacturer that located in Plattsburgh last year, said.

“Use the same courage you did when you decided to move the airport.”

The new airport was opened in 2007 on the flight line of the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base, having been built with about $50 million in federal funding.

When it came time for a vote, Butler, Langley, Harry McManus (D-Area 1, Champlain), Sara Rowden (D-Area 4, Town of Plattsburgh) and E. Tom Sears (R-Area 3, Beekmantown) voted in favor of Colgan.

Sears cast his vote via e-mail from Florida.

Defayette, chairman of the Airport and Finance Committees, Robert Heins (R-Area 10, City of Plattsburgh) and Jackie Walker (R-Area 8, City and Town of Plattsburgh) voted in favor of Cape Air.

Walker also cast her vote via e-mail from Florida.

The voting was done in alphabetical order, but John Gallagher (D-Area 9, City of Plattsburgh) and Sam Trombley (R-Area 2, Ellenburg) wanted to wait to cast their votes until the others had decided, which Heins, as chair of the meeting, allowed.

When it became apparent that Colgan was going to win, Trombley cast his vote for Colgan.

Gallagher tried to give a vague answer, saying he would vote in favor of Cape Air if they had bigger airplanes, but they don’t.

Heins, counting Gallagher as a supporter of Colgan, then noted that the vote was 7 to 3 in favor of Colgan and that would be the county’s recommendation to the Department of Transportation for the Essential Air Service nod.

Heins said he voted in favor of Cape Air out of loyalty.

“You can’t turn your back on that,” he said.

Colgan’s Reed said he expects Colgan to begin flights out of Plattsburgh within 90 to 110 days after the DOT makes its decision, which should come about a week after the Feb. 5 deadline.

When asked again what the prices would be, Reed said, “We’ve not set any prices yet.”

E-mail Joe LoTemplio at:

jlotemplio@pressrepublican.com