Addition of morning departure, evening return expected to boost local economy

An early morning flight out of Falls International Airport and an evening return from the Twin Cities is now guaranteed for at least the next two years under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation and Delta Airlines.

U.S. Sen. Al Franken, who worked on the agreement with Sen. Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, discussed the impact of the agreement in a teleconference Wednesday with Bob Anderson, chair of the International Falls-Koochiching County Airport Commission, and Susan Baratono, commission secretary.

“This agreement will allow the much needed financial stability and consistency with scheduling at the airport,” said Franken. “And this new arrangement with Mesaba should also boost the local economy and local tourism, as it always does in these cases. Both (Mesaba and the Falls airport) offer exceptional and critical services to Minnesota.”

The new summer schedule will begin June 10, according to Anderson, who explained that the additional flight is a result the Essential Air Service agreement the U.S. DOT put into place for the Falls airport with Delta Airlines, of which Mesaba is a subsidiary.

The schedule will involve three daily nonstop flights to and from Minneapolis-St. Paul, going back to a two-flight schedule in the fall.

“One of the things the EAS agreement does is requires Delta to have an aircraft overnighted in the Falls, so it’s available for early morning departure and evening return,” Anderson explained. However, he noted that the airline has the right to adjust the schedule day-to-day.

The airport lost 20 percent of its enplanements over the past year, said Baratono. The new schedule is expected to help boost the passengers getting on the planes.

“We’ve heard lots of comments telling us how important it is to get that third flight schedule back,” said Baratono.

Anderson explained that the early-morning departure and late-night return to the Falls is critical for people who need to make other airline connections, as well as avoiding the need to travel to other airports to get back to the Falls.

Anderson said the EAS agreement, which adds back the third-flight to schedule, has been a long time in coming.

“The commissioners have asked me to thank everyone for their patience and support as we waited for this agreement to come to fruition,” said Anderson. “Now we can offer people the kind of service they’ve been telling us they want.”

Franken said the community has lots to celebrate these days, including Voyageurs National Park, Rainy River Community College, and Boise Inc., the region’s largest employer which will celebrate 100 years of paper making next month.

Under the EAS, the airport received a subsidy from the U.S. DOT. “We expect that will continue until we get the enplanements back up,” Anderson said. “We’ve seen a decline both with the economy and schedule. Now that we’re seeing the economy coming back and the new schedule, we hope to have enplanements to the point where we do not need the subsidy.”

Anderson explained that Delta agreed to the third flight, which is not covered under the EAS program, only for the summer months because the tourist season will make that flight profitable for them.

In the fall, Delta will return to the two-flight schedule called for by the EAS program. However, the early morning departure and the evening return will continue as part of the two-year EAS agreement, even after the summer schedule concludes.

The EAS program provides federal financial assistance for airlines to continue service to communities where their profits have declined, Anderson explained. The program was put in place after the airlines were deregulated many years ago and federal transportation officials were concerned that the airlines would move to a large hub-based system, abandoning the many smaller communities that had good air service in place before deregulation occurred. He said only communities that had commercial service in place before deregulation are eligible for the EAS program now.

“It’s a good safety net,” he said. “We’re grateful to have it. The DOT order will guarantee us two flights in and out every day, to arrive and depart at reasonable times, for the two-year period of the contract. And after that, the contract will go out for bids again for another two-year time span, but the same rules still will apply and DOT will make sure we have a reasonable arrangement.”

Anderson said the EAS program “ensures that in the future we can avoid the unfortunate schedule Delta has imposed on us for the last nine months. We are very relieved and happy. We’re going to shout it from the rooftops that we’re back.”

Franken said he’s looking forward to visiting Borderland during Congress’ recess in August.