Direct Air Service Starts From Redmond To Denver

Jet service between Redmond and Denver launched Saturday to positive reviews from passengers.

"(It's) just a convenient flight, saves a lot of time rather than going through Portland or Seattle," Bend resident Dave Bowman said as he waited Saturday to check in at the United Express desk for the first flight to Denver.

SkyWest Airlines is operating the United Express flight only on Saturdays and Sundays until September. Some business officials hope the flight is successful enough that it will convince airline schedulers to convert it to daily service.

Bowman, 46, moved to Bend with his son roughly a month ago while his wife and daughter stayed in New Jersey so his daughter could graduate from high school there, he said.

"(The new flight) is something I knew we'd be using immediately," he said, "chiefly just to go back and forth to New Jersey because of how direct it is."

He said he's tired of two- hour layovers in Portland or Seattle.

"It'll be either Salt Lake or Denver," he said, referring to daily Delta Connection service between Redmond and Salt Lake City. SkyWest also operates the Delta flights.

Sandi Schroeder of Des Moines, Iowa, flew through Denver to Redmond on Saturday for a family vacation at Eagle Crest Resort.

"It probably cost a tad more, but in the long run it probably made more sense," Schroeder, 27, said.

Otherwise, she said she would have had to rent a car or ask relatives in Central Oregon to pick her up after flying to Portland. Schroeder and another passenger, Diane Martin of Redmond, noted that the flight seemed popular. The 50- seat jet was full, they said.

Martin, 46, waiting at the baggage carousel, said she appreciated having a direct flight home.

As part of her job, she flies east periodically throughout the year for training on new medical equipment.

"I think (the new connection) will be helpful," she said.

"I love it. I think it's great.

They should have other connections, too."

Horizon Air is scheduled to start daily service to Los Angeles and Eugene on Aug. 1, flights that are expected to drive more passengers through Redmond Airport. The facility counted a record 188,995 boardings last year, largely due to the Salt Lake City jet service that began in March 2005.

The airport plans to expand its terminal beginning early next year, enlarging waiting areas for travelers, and adding a second baggage carousel and a basement for federal Transportation Security Administration officials. The project will more than double the size of the current building.

The airport is currently expanding its parking lot. That project is expected to be complete by Thanksgiving.

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