By Samuel Strait – January 17, 2021 I used to fly regularly out of Crescent City, when there was service to San Francisco. I am sure that this was the case for many a local traveler in spite of the iffy weather that made the flight down a challenge. Since the service first went to Portland, Oregon, and now to Oakland California, I have elected to take a different approach to traveling by air. Flying out of Crescent City is no longer an option. I suspect that many local public officials have also taken a new approach from using the Crescent City Airport to travel to Sacramento for government business since having to deal with Pen Air going to Portland and then Contour Air going to Oakland. The Border Coast Regional Airport Authority for some time has avoided dealing with the critical issue of airlines transforming their fleets to all jet travel. As a result there is an inexplicable lack of understanding that in order for the airport's traffic to increase and thereby grow, two things should have superseded any effort to build a new terminal. The first being a longer runway to accommodate the new fleet of fifty passenger jets that were going into service to replace ageing twin prop airplanes which had previously serviced Crescent City. The second was to continue service to both Sacramento and San Francisco. Once that had been accomplish then the currently under utilized new terminal would have made sense. With the existing service provided by Contour Air of a single flight each day, the maximum enplanements will only reach 10,950, a substantial decline. If Contour Air were to exercise it's options of providing three extra flight per week, the total would reach a bit over 15,000 passengers per year. I doubt that Contour Air has been able to attract 10,000 enplanements in a calendar year let alone 15,000. That will never happen with Oakland being the only destination. What the Authority failed to account for, is that air travel itself is prone to difficulties, particularly when utilizing a medium sized airport, which Oakland most certainly is. While Contour Air recently acquired an agreement with American Airlines which has some what streamlined the process, it will not be able to overcome cost and convenience issues found in a major airport such a SFO. Traveling, business and Sacramento travelers are all affected by using Oakland as an intermediate stop and have begun using Medford or Arcata as an alternative airport. This will continue to happen until air traffic is once again using San Francisco. Contour Air will continue to operate until the lack of growth will force them to abandon Crescent City as Pen Air did before them. At that point, if it hasn't already occurred, how will the BCRAA pay the County back for the matching money paid to construct the new terminal? A better question might be asked, is the BCRAA even paying back the loan from the County? Engaging Contour Air may seem like a step up for air service to and from Crescent City, but it is actually a step backwards. The new terminal Will become an unnecessary burden before too long, and then what will the BCRAA do?