Redmond Airport gets federal grant, seeks Phoenix flights

Armed with a new federal grant, the Redmond Municipal Airport announced Wednesday it is seeking a carrier to add a direct flight to Phoenix.

“We have not had a carrier go directly to Sky Harbor Phoenix before,” said airport spokeswoman Nicole Jurgensen.

There are still several steps to go, and no guarantee that flights will be added. However, Jurgensen said the $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation will be a big help.

“If their loads aren’t quite where they were expecting them to be, it’s kind of a guarantee that we can say we have this much money to reimburse,” Jurgensen said.

Several people at the airport Wednesday told NewsChannel 21 they were happy to hear the news.

“I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” said Joe Ingram, who lives in St. Louis, Missouri but has a home in Bend. “It’s a money-saving (move), the ability to book your flight and have less layover time.”

For Bend resident Tracy Johnson, it’s another perk to keep her family in Central Oregon.

“It’s always nice to have additional flights here,” Johnson said. “It was definitely one of the things we considered when we moved to Bend, Oregon. Since we do travel a lot, we like to have options to major cities, so I think Phoenix will be a great addition.”

But others wrote on NewsChannel 21’s Facebook page that they’d like to see the airport pursue different destinations. The most popular request was Las Vegas, a destination for low-cost Allegiant Air until they cut the flight a few years ago.

Annitta Callison wrote: “Vegas baby! Please bring it back!! Got family there!”

Currently the airport offers direct flights to five location. Service to LAX is expected to begin again this winter. Jurgensen said in January that flight will be upgraded to a bigger plane with first-class service.

She said it’s too soon to say when the flights to Phoenix would begin, or which carrier might provide them.