Chautauqua County officials address the Jamestown City Council on the county’s airports (February 5, 2024)
Jamestown City Council has received an update from County officials on efforts to bring commercial air back to the Jamestown Airport.
Several Chautauqua County Legislators, County Executive PJ Wendel, and Airport Manager Shannon Fischer attended Council’s work session Monday.
Fischer said the County has started the Air Service Recovery Program, which was previously being referred to as the Market Study for the airport, that will take three to six months to complete, “Part of that study, as I said is data driven, will be looking at the catchment area. What areas are you guys traveling to? Are you going to Buffalo, Erie, Pittsburgh? There will be a leakage study done to see what we’re missing out on. How can we get those folks to come to our area? So, those will be surveys going out. We’ll probably be reaching out to you in the next few months.”
Fischer said the County also will be looking at funding opportunities, including the Essential Air Service (EAS) designation which gives subsidies to commercial air to lower flight costs for consumers.
She said the Air Service Recovery Program is being done as part of reapplying for the EAS designation, “We still do qualify for Essential Air Service. In the past, it wasn’t that we didn’t have the ridership, and I know this is previous to when I was here, but we had the people who wanted to fly. It was the service at the time that kind of went downhill. So, we know that’s a huge hurdle in getting the right airline back here. Also, everything has to come together and align. It’s not going to be an easy process but it’s something we can do.”
Fischer said Chautauqua County is also working with nine other airports who are in a similar situation in having lost commercial air service to look at legislative avenues to help find other funding sources.
She said part of the study will include looking at all possible routes, given that Pittsburgh and Cleveland are no longer hub airports, “You stop there and then you’re going to another destination and then onto your destination. Not a lot of people want to do that. So, the better option is a bigger airport.. the Dulles of the world.. those type. I can’t determine that right now. [Councilmember Joe Paterniti “I think Bradford flies to Dulles”] Yes, and it’s a similar service to what we’d probably have here.”
Fischer said the Department of Transportation had told the County the last time they applied for EAS designation that they didn’t feel all possible routes had been studied, so the current study will help with that issue.
She added that there is interest from commercial air to come to the Jamestown Airport but that the EAS subsidies are needed to make it affordable for consumer and sustainable for the Airline.
County Executive Wendel said that if the Air Service Recovery Program study finds that the Jamestown area won’t support the return of commercial air, the county is ready to pivot, “Then we do have the opportunity to expand and put T-Hangers, smaller hangers, where right now there are people coming from Akron in New York that don’t have an airport but are coming to Jamestown because we have hanger space.”
Wendel said there is currently a waiting list for hanger space in Dunkirk and that adding more hangers to Jamestown would help bring in needed revenue.
