The Chautauqua County Airport is pictured. County officials have submitted a third proposal to restore Essential Air Service to the airport.

The third proposal to bring Essential Air Service back to the Chautauqua County Airport in Jamestown includes fewer riders a year than previous proposals and a higher cost to the federal government.

Chautauqua County recently issued its newest proposal for EAS at the airport, this time using Southern Airways instead of proposals to use Boutique Airways, the preferred airline in filings in 2018 and 2019.

County officials argue the federal government should restore Essential Air Service

RIDERSHIP

The 2025 proposal projects 60% full planes flying to Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. Depending on whether the county chooses to offer 12 trips a week or 17 trips a week, the county expects between 6,642 and 9,407 passengers a year to use the airport if Essential Air Service is restored by the federal government. There would be between 1,230 and 1,742 yearly flights from the county airport under the new proposal.

That’s a large decrease from failed proposals in 2018 and 2019 to restore Essential Air Service. The 2018 proposal estimated 2,112 scheduled flights, 17.5% fewer flights than the 2018 proposal and 36.3% fewer flights than the 2019 proposal.

The 2025 passenger count for the 17 trip per week model decreased 25.1% from the 2018 proposal with Boutique Air and 36.8% from the 2019 proposal with Boutique Air.

FEDERAL SUBSIDY REQUIRED

There is no fare revenue listed in the 2025 proposal, but a check this week showed a round trip ticket from Bradford, Pa., to Dulles International Airport on Southern Airways costs $129. If the Jamestown airport charged the same rate, passenger revenue to the Jamestown airport for the 9,407 passengers on the 17 trip a week model would generate $1,213,503 a year. That’s a significant increase from the 2018 and 2019 proposals, which were charging much lower fares. The 2018 proposal with Boutique Airways would have generated $439,757 in passenger revenue with a $35 per ticket fare while the 2019 proposal with Boutique Airways would have generated $1,123,469 in passenger revenue with a $75 per ticket fare.

Total operating expenses for the 2025 proposal are $3,860,368 – nearly equal to the 2019 proposal’s total costs of $3,908,645 and more than the 2018 proposal (which included flights to Pittsburgh) of $2,800,229.

What has increased is the federal subsidy requested by the airlines. The 2018 proposal requested subsidies of $2,500,484 in the first year of the agreement with the county and $2,562,996 the second year. The county’s 2019 proposal’s federal subsidy increased to $2,980,608 for the first year and $3,070,027 for the second year. The subsidy increases again in the 2025 proposal to $4,053,386 in the only year the subsidy is requested. That request is assuming the use of the 17 trip a week service. The subsidy would decrease to $3,641,434 if the county uses the smaller 12-trip package.

A FINAL DIFFERENCE

In 2019, part of the county’s pitch to the federal government included guarantees of revenue to the airport from the county, municipal partners and the business community. The county was going to pay $72,000 in cash as well as $52,000 worth of in-kind services while municipal partners planned to kick in $12,000 worth of in-kind services. The business community, meanwhile, planned to pony up $75,000 in cash and another $87,000 worth of in-kind contributions. All told, the county, municipal partners and businesses planned to underwrite the Essential Air Services contract with $298,000 of investment.

“The objective of the community sponsorship program is to partially underwrite the cost of an EAS contract and to create a portfolio of goods and services that is intended to provide value added travel experience for visitors and create a business climate that will stimulate and sustain community patronage of the local service,” the 2019 proposal stated.

There is no such guarantee as part of the 2025 proposal, with the county opting instead to cite statistics from its most recent air service study showing what the county says is a pent-up demand for air service. A 2024 passenger leakage analysis shows more than 58% of the county’s outbound airline passengers use the Buffalo or Pittsburgh airports, with 21.6% using Cleveland and 5.2% using Rochester.

“This leakage not only highlights the pent-up demand for local air service but also points to the critical need for federal support to reestablish a competitive offering at JHW,” the 2025 proposal states.