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SeaPort Airlines Drops Flagship Route

Image of SeaPort Airlines aircraft courtesy of SeaPort Airlines
Image of SeaPort Airlines aircraft courtesy of SeaPort Airlines

Airline passengers who want to travel between the Northwest's two largest cities will have one fewer option soon. Portland-based SeaPort Airlines says it will drop its namesake route between Portland and Seattle's Boeing Field later this month.

The Seattle-Portland route was the airline's first, starting in June of 2008. The company even named itself after the two cities. SeaPort marketed the flights as a quicker alternative for business travelers, since its small planes allowed passengers to skip TSA security screening.

SeaPort President Rob McKinney says the route was doing "okay" but cited heavy competition from United and Alaska Airlines. Despite dropping Seattle from its route map, McKinney says SeaPort has no plans to change its name.

"We are heavily invested in the brand," McKinney says. "And if someone asks us, why'd you name the company that, we'll just say, well there's a funny story behind that."

One wag suggested on the airline's Facebook page that the company change its name to YakPort Airlines. That's because the carrier is starting a new route to Yakima this spring.

But Seattle joins Boise, Salem and Newport as cities that have lost SeaPort service in the past year.

On the Web:

SeaPort Airlines:

http://www.seaportair.com/

Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network

Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.