Airports Update   

Alaska Airlines Surprises Communities By Announcing Cessation of Service to LAX

On Thursday, March 10, Alaska Airlines Announced that it would be discontinuing service from Humboldt County and Redding on April 17th.

The announcement came as quite a surprise to both communities.  In mid February, Alaska officials started working with Humboldt County organizations to promote spring and summer service, including a fare sale that was to continue through May 15th. 

In addition, representatives from both airports met with airline officials on March 7th to discuss service expansion and Alaska officials traveled to Redding to discuss their terminal expansion plans.

Alaska Airlines, in public statements, has said that flights did not meet their goal of 70% to 80% fill rates.  However, public data for the most recent quarter (Q3 10) shows a 72% load factor for the flight.  In addition, in an "Air Service Risk Assessment" commissioned by the Arcata/Eureka Airport in December 2008, quarterly load factors for the Arcata-Los Angeles flight were shown to fluctuate between 65% and 84% with the average of 74.5% for the twelve quarters included in the study.  

In written statements, Alaska CEO Glenn Johnson stated that the service was ended "after six years of losses"  However, in March of 2007, nearly two years after the inaugural flight, Horizon Airlines wrote:

The success of our air service from Eureka/Arcata and Redding to Los Angeles can be directly attributed to the effort and support of the business communities in the two north state communities that lobbied Horizon to provide it. The success we enjoyed on these routes gave us the confidence we needed to proceed with adding similar service on unserved routes within California such as Santa Rosa to Los Angeles"

Local service from Alaska/Horizon airlines began in 1994.  In 2004, the Redding and Arcata Airports, working with economic development agencies in both regions, worked with the airline to institute twice-per-day service to Los Angeles.  This was accomplished by securing a Small Community Air Service Development Grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.  This $500,000 grant was matched with over $80,000 in funds raised from the communities and was used to offset the cost of starting the service. 

• Alaska Airlines announcement can be found by clicking here 
• Local coverage can be found by clicking here. 
• Coverage from Redding can be found here.   

Air Service Development Activities Continue

RREDC, the County Aviation Division, and other community organizations continue to work together to expand and improve air service in Humboldt County.  This effort involves developing market data and meeting with airline officials to demonstrate the market opportunities in our region.   Market presentations to airline officials continue. 

The most recent recruiting effort was in earlier this March at the

 "Network 2011" airline conference.  Based on feedback received from airline planners, updated market, revenue, and cost data is being prepared and follow-up meetings are being scheduled with two airlines.  In addition, both RREDC and the Aviation Division will be continuing to work with Skywest officials in an effort to expand and improve their service.

Aviation Newsletter Started 

RREDC and the Aviation Division have created a e-newsletter to inform the community about local aviation issues and activities. 

RREDC Business Spotlight:  

Fire & Light Originals recently shipped more than two tons of dinner and glassware to the Sydney Opera House for an event so secret that even Fire & Light doesn't have the details.  

Right now, hundreds of vases, tea lights and 750 place settings are on the way to Down Under. Fire & Light president John McClurg said this order alone used almost 9,000 recycled bottles and jars from the Arcata Community Recycling Center.

Fire and Light Originals is one of Humboldt County's best known product lines and is available all over the U.S. and Canada. Beautiful, functional, colorful - Fire & Light glass takes discarded bottles and jars and uses the timeless technique of hand pouring  to create dinnerware and giftware that appeal to all tastes and decors.

Green is more than a Fire & Light color. Most colors in the F&L palette use 91% recycled glass. Fire & Light has been recognized by the County of Humboldt, Safe Bidco and the California Resource Recovery Association for their conservation efforts. The cardboard and shred used in shipping and the wooden kegs used to cool the ladles are also recycled from local businesses.

Fire & Light was founded in 1995 as a collaborative between Arcata Community Recycling and local investors.  John and Natali McClurg purchased the business in 1999. They moved into the Aldergrove Industrial Park in 2002. They have been customers of RREDC since 2003. 

Go to www.fireandlight.com to learn more about Fire & Light Originals.

RREDC Update

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At its February meeting, the RREDC board of directors voted to oppose the elimination of redevelopment agencies in California as proposed by the Governor.  In addition, the board received the agency's annual audit and reviewed the draft FY 2012 budget.  

Regularly updated information on RREDC activities and economic development in general can be found via the RREDC website

and on our Facebook page.

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Small Businesses Succeed With RREDC Loans

The schedule for February is: