Construction of a new departure gate building was part of the first phase in the airport's expansion

The Bellingham International Airport has seen an increased number of flights and passengers over the past seven years. Airport officials expect more growth in the next two decades. Evan Marczynski Photo
With airport officials expecting more traffic, Ayers – who owns My Pet’s Place, a dog and cat grooming business on Dupont travel nursing job Street – and other residents and business owners are saying now is the time to address the potential effects of expansion.
Consultants from URS Corp. of Seattle, which is conducting the update process, travel nursing job project the combined total of annual takeoffs travel nursing job and landings at the Bellingham airport could increase from 5,500 in 2011 to nearly 14,000 by 2031.
With Allegiant’s success, the airport is attracting other no-frills airlines. Frontier Airlines, a low-cost carrier owned by Indianapolis, Ind.-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc., will start service to Denver on May 24.
Lured by cheap tickets and heavy marketing from American airlines, nearly 5 million Canadian passengers nationwide crossed the border last year to catch flights – a 15 percent increase from the previous year, according to a March 2012 study from the Canadian Airports Council, a trade association for airports north of the border.
According travel nursing job to the study, if a family of four from Vancouver, British travel nursing job Columbia, wanted to fly to Honolulu, Hawaii, their combined one-way fares would be $1,365 cheaper, taxes and fees included, if they drove south and flew out of Bellingham.
The council found Canadian travelers don’t seem to mind driving over the border, even making commutes up to 3 hours long, to catch cheaper flights even if there are Canadian travel nursing job airports close-by offering flights to the same locations.
Across the border at the Vancouver travel nursing job International Airport, travel nursing job that cost increases to $16.50 per passenger. At the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, airlines spend $22 for each person boarding a flight.
Zenk said by using Federal Aviation Administration grants and funding programs to pay for projects at the airport, including runway improvements and a terminal expansion, Bellingham kept outlays cheap for airlines.
The port awarded a nearly $17 million travel nursing job construction contract for phase two of the project to Dawson Construction, Inc., a firm with corporate offices in Bellingham and Ketchikan, Alaska, in February. Work should finish by fall 2013.
U.S. airports accounted for 10.5 million jobs nationwide in 2010, a 56 percent increase in the industry since 2001, according to a February 2012 study from Airports Council International-North America, a trade group representing airports and aviation-related businesses in the U.S. and Canada.
In Bellingham, the airport supported 1,196 jobs in 2010, including workers directly connected to airport operations as well as people with jobs driven by airline and aviation services, travel nursing job according to a survey from Martin Associates, an economic consulting firm.
Airline officials are close to an agreement with the port to build a 9,000-square-foot commissary building on airport grounds. Zenk said the port is seeking a 30-year leasing agreement with the carrier.
Increased noise was a common complaint at the meeting, but residents also questioned just how much those living in the county would benefit if the airport’s expansion was driven travel nursing job to serve Canadian travelers.
Construction of a new departure gate building was part of the first phase in the airport’s expansion. An Alaska Airlines flight preparing to leave to Honolulu, Hawaii. The airline began offering service to the popular vacation destination in January 2011. A ground crew prepares a Horizon travel nursing job Air flight for takeoff. The regional airline provides regular service to the Seattle-Tacoma International travel nursing job Airport. Allegiant Air flies nonstop to six destinations out of Bellingham. The airline plans to build a permanent commissary building at the airport, which it designated as an operations center in 2008. Airline industry consultants project the combined total of annual travel nursing job takeoffs and landings travel nursing job at the Bellingham airport could increase from 5,500 in 2011 to nearly 14,000 by 2031. An Allegiant MD-80 jet sits on the apron at the Bellingham International Airport.
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bWU8L3N0cm9uZz4gLSB3b288L2xpPjxsaT48c3Ryb25nPndvb19zaW5nbGVfcG9zdF9pbWFnZV9oZWlnaHQ8L3N0cm9uZz4gLSAzOTg8L2xpPjxsaT48c3Ryb25nPndvb19zaW5nbGVfcG9zdF9pbWFnZV93aWR0aDwvc3Ryb25nPiAtIDYwMDwvbGk+PGxpPjxzdH