Oct. 20—Humboldt County is recruiting airlines to provide flights to the rest of the Pacific Northwest, but those flights are unlikely to start service until an industrywide pilot shortage is addressed.
In August, the Humboldt County airport near McKinleyville received $850,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation to recruit daily nonstop service to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, but the county's Aviation Director Cody Roggatz said an ongoing shortage of pilots will likely delay any new northbound service for the time being.
"It's not isolated to any one or two airlines," Roggatz told The Times-Standard. "They're all facing challenges so we don't have any definitive timeline of new service, but we're continuing to advocate for us to be the next on the list when the resources are available to start a direct northbound route."
The pilot shortage predated the COVID-19 pandemic but became a surplus when air travel came to a halt practically overnight in March 2020. That led to the industry encouraging early retirements.
Demand for travel, however, bounced back quickly and led to the re-emergence of the shortage. "With an aging pilot population and heavy use of early retirements," consulting firm Oliver Wyman projects there will be a shortage of 12,000 pilots by 2023, 13% of total demand.
Airlines have been cutting service across the country as a result, particularly flights to smaller markets like Humboldt County. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have exited 62 markets since the onset of the pandemic, according to data from consulting firm Ailevon Pacific Aviation Consulting.
Airlines have begun investing heavily in training pilots, but Roggatz said it's going to take time to fully address the shortage.
"Likely, at least a year-and-half to three years depending on the situation before we start to see some flexibility and capacity for airlines to start expanding again in a major way," Roggatz said.
Something Humboldt County residents can look forward to much sooner is being able to take a Lyft to the airport. On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors approved a non-exclusive concession agreement with the ride-sharing company that includes paying the county Department of Aviation $2 per trip for an estimated annual revenue of $2,400.
These types of agreements are standard across the industry, and Roggatz said he expected the county would have a similar agreement in place with ride-sharing company Uber in the near future, too.
Sonia Waraich can be reached at 707-441-0504.
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