ORAVI has been heavily
involved for several years in exploring ways to
make air service available to rural
communities of Oregon. First, ORAVI wrote,
submitted, testified and lobbied to gain passage of HB2075
which provides the first state funding source
ever established to promote rural air service. Then we formed a rural air service committee and held several aviation summits and
meetings; addressing the past, present, and
future of rural air service.
We believe that with
new-general aviation aircraft, a system could utilize FAA Part 135
aircraft operators that would provide affordable air service to all public use
airports in Oregon and assist in mitigating the
Urban | Rural divide by connecting citizens of
rural communities with our metro regions.
It is a sobering reality
that under the current economic models, there is
national / international air service currently to/from only 4 major
airports in Oregon (Portland, Eugene, Redmond,
Medford). And, only 2 commuter airports
that serve Portland (Pendleton,
North Bend) The rest of our rural and
frontier communities are unseved.
But what about Newport,
John Day, La Grande, Klamath Falls, Burns, Tillamook, Astoria, Baker City our capital in Salem and
many other of the 97 public use airports in
Oregon?
Traditional road based
travel modes have been “disrupted” such as seen
by Uber and Lyft. Driverless autonomous
cars are next, with the planning under way
nationally and in Oregon. What about air
travel? The future is electric aircraft,
but services are already available today by
companies such as
www.KinectAir.com that have already
implemented "on-demand" air service with
existing GA aircraft using online scheduling
apps.
ORAVI asks: “What is
the next disruptive model for air services to
rural areas?” The attached two papers
propose a NEW MODEL for rural aviation that can
provide a more flexible and sustainable
approach.
We propose that the State
of Oregon promote an innovative approach that
truly serves the more remote areas of the state,
and links rural and urban together for mutual
benefits as never possible before.
The following ideas have been developed by the
ORAVI rural air committee and we encourage you
to review them and make comments as we continue
to expand the pool of expertise needed to reach
workable rural air solutions. Thank you.
Whitepaper - Rural
Air Overview & Options
12/1/2016 Updated
01/01/2019
Strawman - Rural Air Oregon
dynamic scheduling
12/1/2016 Updated
12/10/2016
Email comments to Jake Jacobs
ORAVI Executive Director
jake@oravi.org
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