By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – Dash Air President Clint Ostler announced over the weekend that his company’s 3-year effort to bring scheduled shuttle flights between Fairchild Airport and SeaTac have come to an end.
Ostler said in a news release that the company “has made the difficult decision not to proceed with plans to operate scheduled flights” because of financial difficulties.
Rival airline Kenmore Air filed a complaint to the US Department of Transportation in 2022 alleging Dash was about to start interstate passenger service despite not having the appropriate licensing to do so. In its complaint, Kenmore accuses Dash Air of misleading the public, violating US law, and not being a fit and proper airline.
Despite Dash’s intention to make flights only to SeaTac and back, the USDOT took the complaint seriously enough to essentially stall the startup’s business plan for the next year or more. The result was, since Dash has been working with other air carriers to offer charter flights, the DOT required them to become a Public Charter Operator. That meant the company had to maintain a security bond of $200,000. Dash partnered with local businesses to raise the required funds, but Ostler said they were unable to reach the goal and the funds raised have now been returned.
So, what’s next? There’s a lot of buzz about inquiries from other companies. Port of Port Angeles Executive Director Paul Jarkiewicz told KONP in an email, “Several entities have inquired whether the MRG (Minimum Revenue Guarantee) is still active and in place, and we hope that something will come out of those inquiries.”
Ostler told KONP, “There is certainly a market [in Port Angeles] and I hope someone picks up where I left off. The region is hungry for air service.”
But Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce Director Marc Abshire sounded downright prophetic as a guest Monday morning on KONP.
“It’s been a tough battle for them, and they’ve been challenged primarily by lack of capital, be honest with you. Not lack of know-how or, oh my gosh, desire. I mean, they worked so hard to make this happen and, honestly, I don’t think they’re done yet. I mean, I think Dash Air is done, but the forces behind Dash Air have not given up. And the effort’s not over to bring regularly scheduled flights between Port Angeles and Seattle in the near future.”
Stay tuned to find out if he knows something the rest of us don’t.