Editorial: Air service comes with rewards and risks

Published 10:28 am Wednesday, January 21, 2026

It’s always intriguing whenever somebody floats a new concept for bringing passenger air service to the Astoria-Warrenton Regional Airport.
As detailed in reporter Jay Corella’s Tuesday story, “Airport Advisory Committee mulls commercial aviation at AST” (tinyurl.com/Boutique-Air-Astoria), Oregon’s North Coast may be a big enough destination to support a “niche airline” seeking to connect larger markets with “unique leisure travel destinations.”
Boutique air, a small San Francisco-based regional airline, has some experience in Oregon, currently flying between Portland and Pendleton. A Boutique pilot suggests it might offer four round trips a week between Astoria and Seattle.
This differs from other past attempts to launch economically sustainable flights here, which involved connections with Portland. As the 2024 Astoria Regional Airport Master Plan notes, PDX is close enough that most prefer to drive. There also is reasonably convenient bus service. In contrast, a link to the Seattle market — at least a three-hour drive if all goes well — could be quite appealing.

The history of (local) flight

To be genuinely viable, any air service needs to stand on its own two feet — or, to coin a phrase, fly with its own two wings. One particularly notable flop in the history of local air service crashed into financial reality and pulled out almost instantly when it was no longer buoyed by taxpayer support.
As neatly summarized by OPB, “SeaPort Airlines started flying between Astoria, Newport and Portland in 2009. But it was only sustainable with government subsidies totaling more than $2 million a year. When those subsidies started running out, SeaPort canceled the service, blaming market trends and fuel costs.”
In SeaPort’s defense, 2009 was savaged by the Great Recession. But even so, its apparent lack of commitment was striking to many here.
It’s also worth delving a little deeper into local history with our report from January 2003:
“Those who would bring commercial passenger service back to the airport on the edge of Youngs Bay face a dearth of airlines willing or able to serve smaller markets and a skeptical flying public that watched Empire Airlines, Horizon Air and Harbor come and go between 1994 and 1999.
“Empire was predominantly a cargo operation. Its two-month foray into passenger service here was unsuccessful.
“Horizon offered consistent service and ridership met the company’s expectations — topping out at 1,900 passengers a month before the airline pulled out of the market. Horizon left after a year because it restructured its fleet toward regional jet service, eliminating the propeller planes that served Astoria.
“Harbor’s stay could fairly be described as a mess. The Gig Harbor, Wash.-based carrier was inconsistent.Travelers were stranded as flights to and from Astoria were canceled. Company executives complained of lower-than-expected ridership, but admitted problems with reliability. Harbor left Jan. 11, 1999.
“Given this dismal history, the deck seems stacked against air service returning to Astoria.”

Big crowd coming?

It was bracing to read in Corella’s story that the port is looking to become a departure point for cruise ships in the near future, rather than a brief stop-off as it is now.
“We can be looking at increasing our cruise ship business from 15 now, to 50, 60, 70 realistically here in the next few years,” Port Deputy Director Matt McGrath said. “At that point, commercial [air] service really kind of becomes a necessity, not just a luxury.” (The Port of Astoria operates the airport.)
Such an increase in cruise ships would be transformative, but may be an example of “be careful what you wish for.”
A large ship can disembark 7,000 to 8,000 people, and air service would allow some to join a cruise here or fly home. That represents an enormous potential customer base for local stores, restaurants, hotels and other businesses.
On the other hand, you don’t have to look far on the internet for tales of woe concerning the impacts of over-tourism.
All this bears careful thought and citizen involvement.