Two Regional Carriers Looking To Set Up Shop At Snohomish County Airport

The FAA has scheduled September 14 as the release date for its decision as to whether to allow commercial flights at Paine Field in Everett, WA. The airport is home to Boeing's main assembly plant, but has otherwise been traditionally considered a GA airport.

Horizon Air and Allegiant Air have both petitioned the FAA for the right to operate scheduled services at Paine Field, and they've been waiting for a decision for a long time. The Mukileto Beacon reports that an initial Environmental Assessment (EA) report was completed in December, 2009, and opened up for comments. At that time, the FAA said they would have a determination in "a few months."

The EA examined the impacts that commercial flights would have on the surrounding area in terms of air quality, traffic, and of course, noise. The 2009 draft EA said there would be no significant impact from allowing commercial operations at Paine Field.

The primary opponent of allowing scheduled air service at the airport is a group called "Save Our Communities" (SOC). The group's vice president Greg Hauth said that its primary concern is that once scheduled air service is allowed, there are "laws on the books that allow unrestricted growth at an airport." Hauth says that the draft EA did not take into account growth in the number of scheduled flights beyond an initial 12 per day. He said that the FAA purposely limited the scope of the study to avoid having to do a full Environmental Impact Statement as would have been required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

As to the delay, FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said that it had taken that long to digest the more than 900 comments that were received on the draft EA. Comments on the final EA will be open through October 14.

(Paine Field image from file)

FMI: Final Proposal, www.faa.gov