BY JIMMY LAWTONNorth Country This Week

OGDENSBURG – Officials from three airlines pitched the pros and cons of their Essential Service proposals at the Ogdensburg Airport on Tuesday.

The goal of the meeting was to garner community input to help decide which airline the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority will recommend to the Department of Transportation for the EAS award. The OBPA will meet again June 13 at 5 p.m. at 1 Bridge Plaza to further discuss the proposals and has invited the public to attend.

Although all three options for the future air service have pros, each also has unique drawbacks.

The airlines include Boutique Air with an 8-passenger aircraft, Contour Air with 30-passenger aircraft and Breeze Air with 137-passenger aircraft.  

All submitted proposals offering a variety of options that include trips to Chicago, Washington DC., Boston, Newark, Westchester, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Contour Air

Currently, air service to Ogdensburg is provided by Contour Air.

 The airline offers a 30-passenger jet with 12 weekly flights to Philadelphia, Pa. Their proposal would remain the same but with an average fare estimated at $75.

CEO Matt Chaifetz admitted to the public Tuesday that Contour struggled with its commitment to Ogdensburg for the past two years. He said Ogdensburg presented a unique challenge as the remote location made it difficult to get parts for maintenance and said the schedule was busy and left little time to deal with issues as they arose.

However, he said Skywest is now a 25% shareholder in the company, which has been a major game changer. He said the partnership has given the company access to more planes, improved maintenance turnaround that will allow the Contour to address the frequent cancellations in flights the airport saw in recent years.

In fact, Chaifetz said he’d even be willing to put a clause in the contract that would allow the OBPA to terminate the agreement if the company fails to meet desired metrics.

One of the biggest strengths for Contour Air is interline partnerships with other airlines, which allows customers to book connecting flights as one purchase. This means avoiding baggage reclaims and checks between flights and would allow customers to book flights from Ogdensburg to say L.A., which would connect from Contour’s D.C. flight.

Breeze Airways

Breeze Airways would provide a 137-passenger jet and is offering two options, however due to regulation changes, the second option has since been scrapped.

The remaining proposal would provide one daily round trip flight from Ogdensburg to Washington D.C. One-way fares were estimated at around $60.

The scrapped proposal would have provided two weekly flights from Ogdensburg to Orlando.

Breeze said a change in federal regulation placed a distance limit on EAS travel that disqualified the Florida flights.

However, Breeze is in ongoing conversations with the airport about offering flights outside of the EAS proposal that could include flights to Florida.

Breeze Air representative Eric Fletcher noted that he was formerly an employee of Allegiant Air, which once offered flights from Ogdensburg to Florida, which were not part of an EAS contract.

He said Breeze Air currently offers that service in Plattsburgh and says market data suggests that such flights could be profitable in Ogdensburg, despite being ineligible for federal subsidies.

The weakness in Breeze’s proposal is the lack of interline partnerships. 

Fletcher said that while he believes that such partnerships will exist by 2024, at this time he can’t share details. 

Essentially that would mean travelers would need to book their connecting flights from D.C. separately, if such deals do not come to fruition.

As for strengths, the larger jet planes tend to be more palatable for some fliers and the planes will include Wifi and options of three levels of seating ranging from general to first class. 

Fletcher noted that the company believes it can capture the Canadian market in Ottawa with the flights to D.C.

Boutique Air

Boutique Air’s proposal is lengthier than the other two with a total of seven options. Boutique flights would offer an 8-passenger plane with a pressurized cabin.

Option 1 would include 28 weekly round trip flights from Ogdensburg to Washington D.C. in the offseason and 35 weekly round trips to DC in the peak season. The proposal also notes that Boutique Air reserves the right to move roughly half of those flights to Newark, New Jersey, or Westchester County. Fares are estimated at $99.

Option 2 would provide 21 weekly round trip flights to Newark or Westchester and seven round trip weekly flights to Chicago. Fares are estimated at $119.

Option 3 would provide 21 round trip weekly flights to Washington D.C. and 7 weekly roundtrip flights to Chicago. Fares are estimated at $129.

Option 4 would provide 14 weekly round trips to Washington D.C. and 14 weekly round trips to Pittsburgh, Pa. Fares are estimated at $99.

Option 5 would provide 28 weekly round trip flights to Boston, similar to what is currently offered at the Massena airport. Fares are estimated at $89.

Option 6 would provide 28 weekly round trips to Newark / Westchester. Fares are estimated at $89.

Boutique CEO Shawn Simpson pointed out that while their planes are unique, efficient and incredibly safe, their model for success is very different from their competitors. 

Boutique flight completion is 99.6 percent, with cancellations solely due to weather or airport closures.  That’s because the company has maintenance crews and spare planes available on hand to ensure downtime is minimized.

The company currently provides air service at Massena and is also interested in promoting the area and local events to draw people to St. Lawrence County.

Boutique's biggest weakness on paper compared to its competitors is the smaller plane size can be a deterrent for some, but Simpson noted that those who fly on the Piaggio Avanti planes tend to enjoy the experience.

What is Essential Air Service?

The Essential Air Service (EAS) Program is a federal subsidy for airlines to provide commercial air service to rural communities that would otherwise lack such connectivity due to market conditions.

Although the final decision rests with the Department of Transportation, Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority and the community have the ability to influence that decision.

Those who would like to review the above proposals and submit comments can do so by visiting www.regulations.gov/document/DOT-OST-1997-2842-0456/comment

Input can also be sent to Michael Martin at the Department of Transportation  at Michael.F.Martin@dot.gov before June 19.