Airline Travel Up at Pangborn Airport, But Flights Could Fall to as Little as One on Some Days

Airline travel from Pangborn Airport is making a strong rebound from a steep slowdown during the pandemic, but there's another concern.

The latest numbers show passenger traffic is back to 77 percent of the level it was in 2019, while flights are actually more crowded than two years ago.

Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority CEO Jim Kuntz says the reason flight loads are high is because the number of flights keeps dropping.

"We're going to be down to two flights a day because they can't find pilots," said Kuntz. "There's going to be certain days of the week when Wenatchee gets all of one flight a week.  That's not coming back until the fourth quarter of 2022."

Kuntz made the comment during a Tuesday meeting of the Regional Port Authority when discussing the latest report on the airport.

Pangborn airport is served by one airline, Horizon Air, which in normal times will provide three to four daily flights to Seattle.

However, staffing issues are complicating flight scheduling.

Horizon's parent company, Alaska Airlines, is moving regional airline pilots up to its national carrier to make up for pandemic related retirements, which is leaving flights to places like Wenatchee under staffed.

Kuntz says the number of flights will continue to fluctuate unless an additional airline comes to the airport.

“We’re still a year out unless we get new service,” Kuntz said.

Money from parking fees has also rebounded sharply to approach pre-pandemic levels. The latest numbers, which show parking sales between January and September, actually are higher than 2019 levels between June and September. 

The Port Authority credits its move in May to take over parking management from a third party –Republic Parking – with the boost in parking revenues.

Another area where the airport has been outstripping pre-pandemic levels for revenues is car rentals.

After 2020 saw a drop to less than half of 2019’s car rental revenues, this year brought a surge to well past the level of two years ago from July through September.

Kuntz says the spike is directly connected to the increase in wildfires during the three-month period.

“The fire season unfortunately just helps a ton with car rentals,” said Kuntz. “We knock it out of the park during fire season, regretfully but we do.”

The Port Authority collects 10 percent of the money generated at the airport from car rentals.