What do other airports get right that Bellingham doesn’t? Jetways, for starters
Compared to Billings and others, BLI's improvements are 'out-of-sequence, out-of-scale'
Sept. 16, 2024 10:00 p.m.
The Billings, Montana airport has eight jetways. Billings serves a market smaller than Bellingham’s. Bellingham has no jetways and rapidly decreasing airport activity. (Photo courtesy of Wes Frysztacki)
By Wes FrysztackiGuest Writer
Editor’s note: This is part one in a two-part guest commentary by experienced transportation official Wes Frysztacki about possible solutions to Bellingham’s airport woes. See part two next week.
My first exposure to Bellingham’s airport was in 1988. The mayor of Kent and I were briefing elected officials from Whatcom County on the need to support proposed statewide transportation legislation. We flew United Express from SeaTac to Bellingham, landed on the tarmac and walked to an awaiting car. I have no memory of Bellingham having a building for passenger arrivals.
I began to have a greater appreciation of Bellingham’s qualities after working for Western Washington University in 2004. My wife and I bought a home in Bellingham. Our decision included recognizing that Bellingham indeed had a growing airport.
We thought: We can avoid SeaTac. Wow! We can avoid the traffic, the stress. For those of us who fly often for business or pleasure, these factors were life-altering. Even more so today!
Better yet, Bellingham airport (BLI) had a new passenger terminal. By 2013, BLI had two airlines offering five daily flights to Hawaii. Amazing! To us, this was heavenly. Parking capacity was substantially increased and reasonably priced compared to SeaTac. A new hotel was being built next to the airport. Things were looking up.
The height of our elation with Bellingham’s airport came with those long-gone daily flights to Hawaii. We commuted monthly to Honolulu on nonstop flights from Bellingham. We did this for the entire time those daily flights were offered.
The flights were always full. Most of those passengers were from Canada. The parking lots were full. The port expanded parking. Those new lots were full, too! These were by far the most prosperous years of Bellingham’s airport.
It then crashed. Why?
It was not because the airlines had more lucrative places to reassign their aircraft. It cannot be blamed on COVID-19. There are many influencing factors such as the economy, exchange rates and border crossing challenges. These may cause market demand fluctuations, but our ridership loss is more about what we didn’t do.
The demise of BLI’s viability could have been avoided.
Look to Montana for one lesson
My wife and I just flew into and out of the Billings airport. It was an awesome experience. The main bathrooms were spacious with a dozen smaller private rooms rather than stalls. Many enticing displays of area attractions covered the waiting area walls. There was a gift shop. Two bars were open. Even a fireplace. Bellingham has a lot to learn from Billings. Billings has eight gates served with jetways.
Billings airport has more passenger waiting space, displays, restrooms, bars, restaurants and attractions for passengers than Bellingham’s terminal. (Photo courtesy of Wes Frysztacki)
Billings airport has no megalopolis population from which it can draw. Yet, they are expanding as if they had Bellingham’s potential, which includes Seattle and Vancouver in its market catchment area.[1] The Billings airport is owned by the city, with a population of 122,864 (compared to Bellingham’s 97,270). Yet, the two airports had almost identical enplanements eight years ago.
Billings Logan International Airport (BIL) had 423,213 enplaned passengers in calendar year 2016. Bellingham had 415,285 in the same year. [2] Billings’ numbers have grown while ours have dropped. Billing’s most recent annual total for 2023 was 428,888 enplanements. Bellingham had just 311,234, down by 104,051.[3] The drop from our peak in 2013 of 596,142 is much greater.[4] In 2013, our airport was the nation’s 109th most active airport. By 2023, BLI’s ranking had fallen to 167.
Jetways, or lack thereof
Bellingham’s lack of jetways is fatal to any prospects of attracting meaningful airline activity. The Billings airport, operated by the city, has had jetways for decades. One cannot escape the conclusion that there must be some correlation between passenger comfort offered by the airport and the willingness of airlines to serve that airport.
Billings, with a market catchment population far smaller than ours, expanded its terminal to 200,000 square feet. Billings now has eight gates with eight jetways and two baggage carousels serving six airlines to 14 destinations. They have 1,165 parking spaces. Those spaces were full two weeks ago while BLI’s were empty.
Although we have a greater market than Billings, had multiple proven routes to Hawaii by two airlines, a hotel within easy walking distance and more area attractions, we did not make the warranted improvements. BLI built a 100,000 square foot terminal with no jetways. Bellingham has not kept pace with the competition.
Our airport has made some improvements over the past decade, but these seem to be out-of-sequence and out-of-scale. BLI has two huge baggage claim systems (same as Billings), 2,790 parking spaces (twice as many as Billings), but no jetways? All of the airports in our market area serving comparable or greater annual enplanements have jetways.
Surely, there is another set of improvements about to be launched. Flights and passenger activity were increasing 10 years ago. Planes were full. Suddenly, BLI fell behind. Airlines left. It all collapsed. Other airports have recovered from COVID-19. BLI has not.
The Billings model works. It is directly applicable to Bellingham. BLI needs to build jetways and offer other incentives to attract airlines. Even if some airlines take a chance on BLI, it’s doubtful they will stay much longer than one winter without jetways.
[1]Bellingham International Airport Master Plan, Port of Bellingham, October 2019, Figure 4-3, Bellingham International Airport Passenger Catchment Area, page 4-9.
[2] National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) (2019-2023), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), pages A-63 and A-106.
[3] National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) (2023-2027), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), pages A-76 and A-126.
[4] Air Carrier Activity Information System, Federal Aviation Administration, CY 2013-CY 2023.
Civil engineer Wes Frysztacki, a 3.5-million-mile air traveler, is former transportation director for the city and county of Honolulu; former director of transportation for the Puget Sound Council of Governments; and former president and current consultant for Weslin Consulting Services, Inc., which has provided transportation and infrastructure expertise to clients in 35 states. He lives in Bellingham.
Next week: Part 2: BLI has a chance to capture overflow from SeaTac; where is its plan to provide customer-friendly amenities and competitively go after airlines?
What do other airports get right that Bellingham doesn’t? Jetways, for starters
Compared to Billings and others, BLI's improvements are 'out-of-sequence, out-of-scale'
Editor’s note: This is part one in a two-part guest commentary by experienced transportation official Wes Frysztacki about possible solutions to Bellingham’s airport woes. See part two next week.
My first exposure to Bellingham’s airport was in 1988. The mayor of Kent and I were briefing elected officials from Whatcom County on the need to support proposed statewide transportation legislation. We flew United Express from SeaTac to Bellingham, landed on the tarmac and walked to an awaiting car. I have no memory of Bellingham having a building for passenger arrivals.
I began to have a greater appreciation of Bellingham’s qualities after working for Western Washington University in 2004. My wife and I bought a home in Bellingham. Our decision included recognizing that Bellingham indeed had a growing airport.
We thought: We can avoid SeaTac. Wow! We can avoid the traffic, the stress. For those of us who fly often for business or pleasure, these factors were life-altering. Even more so today!
Better yet, Bellingham airport (BLI) had a new passenger terminal. By 2013, BLI had two airlines offering five daily flights to Hawaii. Amazing! To us, this was heavenly. Parking capacity was substantially increased and reasonably priced compared to SeaTac. A new hotel was being built next to the airport. Things were looking up.
The height of our elation with Bellingham’s airport came with those long-gone daily flights to Hawaii. We commuted monthly to Honolulu on nonstop flights from Bellingham. We did this for the entire time those daily flights were offered.
The flights were always full. Most of those passengers were from Canada. The parking lots were full. The port expanded parking. Those new lots were full, too! These were by far the most prosperous years of Bellingham’s airport.
It then crashed. Why?
It was not because the airlines had more lucrative places to reassign their aircraft. It cannot be blamed on COVID-19. There are many influencing factors such as the economy, exchange rates and border crossing challenges. These may cause market demand fluctuations, but our ridership loss is more about what we didn’t do.
The demise of BLI’s viability could have been avoided.
Look to Montana for one lesson
My wife and I just flew into and out of the Billings airport. It was an awesome experience. The main bathrooms were spacious with a dozen smaller private rooms rather than stalls. Many enticing displays of area attractions covered the waiting area walls. There was a gift shop. Two bars were open. Even a fireplace. Bellingham has a lot to learn from Billings. Billings has eight gates served with jetways.
Billings airport has no megalopolis population from which it can draw. Yet, they are expanding as if they had Bellingham’s potential, which includes Seattle and Vancouver in its market catchment area.[1] The Billings airport is owned by the city, with a population of 122,864 (compared to Bellingham’s 97,270). Yet, the two airports had almost identical enplanements eight years ago.
Billings Logan International Airport (BIL) had 423,213 enplaned passengers in calendar year 2016. Bellingham had 415,285 in the same year. [2] Billings’ numbers have grown while ours have dropped. Billing’s most recent annual total for 2023 was 428,888 enplanements. Bellingham had just 311,234, down by 104,051.[3] The drop from our peak in 2013 of 596,142 is much greater.[4] In 2013, our airport was the nation’s 109th most active airport. By 2023, BLI’s ranking had fallen to 167.
Jetways, or lack thereof
Bellingham’s lack of jetways is fatal to any prospects of attracting meaningful airline activity. The Billings airport, operated by the city, has had jetways for decades. One cannot escape the conclusion that there must be some correlation between passenger comfort offered by the airport and the willingness of airlines to serve that airport.
Billings, with a market catchment population far smaller than ours, expanded its terminal to 200,000 square feet. Billings now has eight gates with eight jetways and two baggage carousels serving six airlines to 14 destinations. They have 1,165 parking spaces. Those spaces were full two weeks ago while BLI’s were empty.
Although we have a greater market than Billings, had multiple proven routes to Hawaii by two airlines, a hotel within easy walking distance and more area attractions, we did not make the warranted improvements. BLI built a 100,000 square foot terminal with no jetways. Bellingham has not kept pace with the competition.
Our airport has made some improvements over the past decade, but these seem to be out-of-sequence and out-of-scale. BLI has two huge baggage claim systems (same as Billings), 2,790 parking spaces (twice as many as Billings), but no jetways? All of the airports in our market area serving comparable or greater annual enplanements have jetways.
Surely, there is another set of improvements about to be launched. Flights and passenger activity were increasing 10 years ago. Planes were full. Suddenly, BLI fell behind. Airlines left. It all collapsed. Other airports have recovered from COVID-19. BLI has not.
The Billings model works. It is directly applicable to Bellingham. BLI needs to build jetways and offer other incentives to attract airlines. Even if some airlines take a chance on BLI, it’s doubtful they will stay much longer than one winter without jetways.
[1] Bellingham International Airport Master Plan, Port of Bellingham, October 2019, Figure 4-3, Bellingham International Airport Passenger Catchment Area, page 4-9.
[2] National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) (2019-2023), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), pages A-63 and A-106.
[3] National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) (2023-2027), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), pages A-76 and A-126.
[4] Air Carrier Activity Information System, Federal Aviation Administration, CY 2013-CY 2023.
Civil engineer Wes Frysztacki, a 3.5-million-mile air traveler, is former transportation director for the city and county of Honolulu; former director of transportation for the Puget Sound Council of Governments; and former president and current consultant for Weslin Consulting Services, Inc., which has provided transportation and infrastructure expertise to clients in 35 states. He lives in Bellingham.
Next week: Part 2: BLI has a chance to capture overflow from SeaTac; where is its plan to provide customer-friendly amenities and competitively go after airlines?
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