Flights Again Coming And Going From Paine Field In Everett, Washington

Today marked the return of regularly scheduled commercial passenger service at Paine Field in Everett, Washington.

Service was suspended two months ago after United and Alaska Airlines slashed flight schedules due to the falloff in air travel as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Prior to the pandemic the terminal was operating at capacity with 24 daily departures. That dropped to just five daily departures in mid-May.

The stoppage in service allowed Propeller Airports to condense a plan to upgrade the ramp and tarmac at the passenger terminal and expedite the time needed to complete essential safety work. The maintenance and repair projects were originally scheduled to be completed in a phased approach over a four-month period but were completely finished in two months.

Today as the first flight to Denver by United Airlines took to the skies, Propeller CEO Brett Smith was joined by U.S. Congressman Rick Larsen, Snohomish County executive Dave Somers and Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin to remind the public that Paine Field is one of the safest airports to fly from in the United States and that they fully expect operations to resume to previous levels and be a driving factor in helping the Everett and Snohomish County economy recover.

Congressman Larsen also took time to talk about the introduction of the Healthy Flights Act of 2020, which he said will provide a set of uniform requirements to help keep passengers and airline and airport workers healthy by minimizing transmission of the virus through our air transportation system.

The bill:

Clarifies the FAA’s authority to impose any requirements on passenger and cargo air travel necessary to protect the health and safety of airline workers and passengers during public health emergencies;

Requires that passengers must wear masks on board aircraft and within airports, and also requires issuance of masks and other protective equipment to airline employees and certain FAA employees (including air traffic controllers and aviation safety inspectors), during any public health emergency that is caused by an airborne disease;

Mandates the development of a national aviation preparedness plan to respond to epidemics or pandemics;

Calls for a study on transmission of infectious diseases in airplane cabins;

Creates an FAA Center of Excellence on Infectious Disease Response and Prevention in Aviation to advise the FAA Administrator on infectious diseases and air travel.

Three flights a day are currently set for Paine Field with United offering service to Denver and Alaska Airlines offering a flight to Phoenix and a flight to Las Vegas.

Smith says he’s looking forward to additional flights coming online.