Yakima Joins Together to Raise Funds for a Second Sea-Tac Flight

May 12—Yakima-area governments and community members are trying to bring a second flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport back to the Yakima Air Terminal by September.

The cities of Yakima and Union Gap, as well as Yakima County, are considering committing $230,000 to a fund that will help bring an early-morning departure to and late-night arrival from Sea-Tac. They say they need $500,000 total to enter a yearlong agreement with Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines for the flights.

Horizon Air reduced its schedule to a single, early afternoon flight to and from Yakima in September 2022, down from four flights a day before the pandemic. Horizon reduced flights to several Northwest communities last year due to a lack of pilots and a switch to new aircraft.

In a meeting at the Yakima Convention and Event Center on Thursday, Airport Director Rob Hodgman asked local business owners and community members to contribute and raise the remaining $270,000.

Profit goal

The money would go into the Air Service Development Fund managed by the Yakima Development Association. It would be used to agree on a minimum rate guarantee with Alaska Airlines, which owns Horizon Air.

The minimum rate guarantee would promise Alaska Airlines a certain amount of profit from a year of operating the second flight at the Yakima Air Terminal, said Yakima Assistant City Manager Rosylen Oglesby.

Alaska Airlines would share its projected profit. If the airline did not meet its stated profit goal, the shortfall would be paid out of the Air Service Development Fund at the end of the year.

"Throughout that agreement period, we'll receive reports from Alaska," Oglesby said in an interview Friday morning. "It's a projected revenue. They tell us what they're aiming for."

Oglesby said Alaska Airlines' projections would be shared before any agreement is finalized but that they have not been shared yet.

Hodgman said minimum rate guarantees are becoming more common across the country and that officials in Wenatchee and Walla Walla had already raised enough for additional Sea-Tac flights with Alaska.

"What we are facing ... is not only common in Washington state, but across the county," Hodgman said.

He believes $500,000 was relatively low compared to minimum rate guarantees airlines had asked for at other airports.

Additional flights

In a presentation to local businesses, Hodgman said passengers are returning to air travel and that more seats on airplanes are being sold across the country. He added that Yakima, due to its location and proximity to Seattle, could be profitable for airlines.

If the additional flights meet the profit standards set out by Alaska Airlines, money from the Air Service Development Fund would not be used. Hodgman also said that a second flight could generate local jobs and have a positive economic impact.

Air travel at the Yakima Air Terminal has shrunk during the first few months of 2023, Hodgman said. The percent of seats occupied on Horizon Air's daily flight has decreased. Hodgman hoped that with additional flights at more convenient times, occupancy rates might climb.

Hodgman asked for $25,000 as a minimum contribution from businesses but said anyone could contribute. He said officials are considering taking smaller contributions from community members.

Jonathan Smith, executive director at the Yakima County Development Association, said the financial technicalities around contributions are still being finalized, but that a steering committee would likely be set up to provide input.

Hodgman said it is likely that minimum rate guarantees will be common in the future and it is possible they would be required for additional flights after this year. City of Yakima officials remained focused on an agreement for a single year — a second daily flight from September 2023 to September 2024.

"If we do additional years of service, we'll have to evaluate that every year," said Yakima City Manager Bob Harrison.

Hodgman said officials are trying to get federal grant funding to offset some future costs, but those would likely not be available this year. He hopes to secure the additional flight by September, before the Fresh Hop Ale Festival.

"What it comes down to is do we want to restore these flights," he said.

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