North Country Now

MASSENA -- Skywest Airlines representatives pitched their United-branded jets as a means to capture customers who they may lose to Syracuse and Burlington.

On Wednesday, two company officials gave town officials a short ride on a CRJ200 jet they flew to Massena and tried to persuade the Massena Town Council to award them the Essential Air Service contract. The EAS program offers federal subsidies to keep planes flying out of underserved areas. The current Massena EAS airline is Boutique Air, and their contract is about to expire.

Greg Atkin, Skywest's managing director of marketing development, told the board they plan to use 50-passenger United-branded jets to make four daily flights back and forth between Massena and Ogdensburg and Chicago and Washington, D.C.

"How did you come up with the idea that a 50-passenger jet will get filled up in Massena and Ogdensburg?" Town Supervisor Steve O'Shaughnessy asked Atkin.

"Has anyone here driven to Syracuse to fly or Burlington to fly?" Atkin replied. "Most of you will no longer have to do that."

He said that Chicago O'Hare Airport offers 600 United flights daily to more than 140 domestic airports and more than 25 international. And Dulles airport in Washington has 250 United flights per day to more than 70 United States destinations and 20 overseas.

He said since passengers would be leaving Massena and Ogdensburg on United planes and getting on a United connecting flight, they will not need to be screened by the Transportation Safety Administration a second time.

"None of the flights we're connecting to in Chicago or Washington would require the security reclearance," Atkin said.

He also said passengers flying out of Massena on Skywest's United planes would be able to take advantage of the United rewards points programs and be able to rest in a United lounge at the two hubs.

The hangar that Boutique now uses to store their nine-passenger airplanes would be too small to store Skywest's. Councilor Sam Carbone was concerned that the plane being left outside in the winter may render it unable to fly if it ices over. Atkin said they often leave airplanes out during cold months in Ottawa and they don't have problems. If they did, he said they would fly a replacement from either Chicago, Washington or Detroit.

"Pretty unlikely the weather is awful in both Chicago and Washington at the same time," he said.

Councilor Tom Miller said with Skywest planning to fly Massena to Ogdensburg to Chicago, he is concerned people might just drive to Ogdensburg to get on the plane. Atkin said what they see in other states indicates that may not be the case.

"People board the one closest to them and we think that will be replicated," he said.

Councilors also noted that Massena offers free parking and Ogdensburg charges.

A woman in the audience who did not identify herself asked if people would still be able to get to places closer to Massena.

"What happens to those of us who like to travel on a more domestic level like Albany ... or New York City?" she asked.

"It would be possible to take a flight to Washington and have it connect to New York or Albany, but that's not the intent of our service," Atkin said.

Atkin said their tickets average in price at $101.

"Some will be lower than that ... some will be higher," he said. "I wouldn't say there's one fare we're going to commit to for the full term. What we want to do is make sure we're competitive.

"The marketplace in airfares is dynamic."