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Massena Town Council 

endorses Cape Air 

proposal 

ESSENTIAL AIR SERVICE: 

Massachusetts carrier offers to continue 

flights from NNY to Albany, add 

connecting flights to Boston 

By LAURA BOMYEA 

JOHNSON NEWSPAPERS 

FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2010 

ARTICLE OPTIONS 

A A A S E3 

O SHARE ^ •..'•.. . 

MASSENA — The Town Council has, in a ceremonial 

vote, backed Cape Air's proposal to continue serving 

Massena International Airport. 

Cape Air is one of three airlines hoping to secure a 

federal Essential Air Service contract to serve 

Massena, Watertown and Ogdensburg airports. It now 

provides service to Albany, and it submitted a bid to 

add connecting flights to Boston. 

Town Supervisor Joseph D. Gray abstained from 

Wednesday's vote, saying he felt it was not necessary 

for the town to take a position on the issue. An air 

carrier will be selected by the U.S. Department of 

Transportation. 

Richard B. Corbett, who manages Cape Air's 

operations in Ogdensburg, attended Wednesday's 

meeting to answer questions from board members 

about the bid submitted by the Hyannis, Mass.-based 

airline. 

Cape Air gave the government three options: 

• Maintaining the status quo of three daily direct 

flights from each of the three airports to Albany, with 

an annual subsidy of $4,562,619; 

• Offering three daily direct flights from Massena 

and Ogdensburg to Albany, in the event Watertown 

opted to go with a larger carrier, for a subsidy of 

$3,134,907; 

• Adding service three times daily to Boston via 

Albany from two or three of the north country 

communities, for a combined annual subsidy of 

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Business Development Corp. Director Jason A. 

Clark said a recent air senice sun'ey brought back 

nearly 60 responses. Of those, 68 percent preferred 

Albany as the destination for planes leaving Massena, 

while 85 percent selected either Albany or Boston as 

the preferred destination. 

"People are interested in being able to fly out very 

early in the morning and return late at night," Mr. 

Clark told the board. "They want to be able to go do 

their business and return later that same day. Positive 

responses for Albany and Boston far exceeded any 

other city." 

Mr. Corbett said many of those associated with 

one of the region's four universities that have been 

using the service have come to the Massena airport, 

where boardings consistently have outpaced those in 

Watertown and Ogdensburg. According to Cape Air's 

proposal, 10,572 passengers have used the service 

from the Massena airport since service began there in 

September 2008, compared with 6,738 in 

Ogdensburg and 7,997 in Watertown. 

Under the proposal to add a Boston leg, Cape Air 

would continue to offer three flights each day between 

at least two of the three communities and Albany, and 

would give passengers the option of catching a 

connecting flight in Albany to hop over to Boston. 

"I think that Boston connection is a great idea," 

Councilman Charles A. Raiti said. "I would like to go 

on the record supporting the Cape Air bid. I think they 

deserve our business because they helped us out when 

nobody else would, and it's a great service." 

Also in the mix are proposals from two other 

airlines — Gulfstream and Charter Air — that 

submitted bids last week for service to the three 

airports. 

Gulfstream is looking to fly nonstop round-trip 

flights from each of the north country communities to 

Boston on 19-passenger Beech 1900D turboprop 

planes for an annual subsidy of $7,583,211. The 

company's proposal says it is offering an "all or 

nothing" contract, indicating it would serve all three 

airports or none at all. Two flights would be offered 

each weekday and one each on Saturdays and 

Sundays. 

Charter Air has made two separate proposals: 

• Nonstop and one-stop flights from two of the 

three airports to John F. Kennedy International 

Airport in Queens on 30-seat BAE 3200 Jetstream 

planes for annual subsidies between $2,759,171 and 

$2,985,816. 
• Nonstop and one-stop flights from all three 

'airports to JFK for an annual subsidy of $4,568,040. 

Officials said they were not seriously considering 

the Charter Air proposal at this point because the 

airline reportedly has not been certified to fly 

Essential Air Service routes. 

Whichever proposal the town prefers, Mr. Corbett 

encouraged the board to make its preferences known 

to ensure the community receives the service it wants. 

"In the process we have just been through with 

Plattsburgh and Saranac Lake, community input was 

very influential," Mr. Corbett said. "Your 

recommendation will carry a lot of weight with DOT." 

The board agreed to write a letter of support for 

the Cape Air proposal for a Boston connection, and 

asked Mr. Clark to include the results of the 

community survey to strengthen the endorsement. 

Mr. Gray said he remained unconvinced that the 

town should be weighing in on the issue, and 

abstained from voting. 

"I appreciate what Cape Air has done," he said. "I 

went to Hyannis to see the operation and was very 

impressed. But it is what it is — it's a nine-passenger, 

not pressurized, one pilot, can't-fly-above-the-weather 

plane. I've heard no complaints about it except the 

size of the plane." 

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