EDITORIAL: Delta Air Lines Service a Cause for Celebration

By The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Wash.

Mar. 9–News that Delta Air Lines plans to begin flights through Bellingham International Airport is great for Whatcom County travelers.

The company announced earlier this week its plans to begin flying two daily flights from Bellingham to Salt Lake City starting June 8.

Salt Lake City is a hub for the national carrier, meaning travelers can connect there to flights to 100 different destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, including New York, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Atlanta.

The port of Bellingham has been seeking another airline to fly from Bellingham for many, many years.

The advantages to local travelers are many. The flights will allow people to bypass Seattle-Tacoma International Airport when making connections to other destinations.

Currently two bigger airlines fly regular flights to and from Bellingham. Horizon Airlines flights go to Sea-Tac, allowing passengers to link there to other flights. And Allegiant Air flies daily trips to and from Las Vegas.

Both of those airlines regularly report all their planes are full or nearly full.

Flying from Bellingham to Seattle to make connections to other flights can be expensive because it adds an additional leg to any flight. Many Whatcom County travelers weigh the additional cost of flying from here with the inconvenience and cost of driving and parking at Sea-Tac.

More competition will help make that choice easier.

Local tourism officials are excited about the prospects as well. Having daily direct flights from Salt Lake City means travelers from all over the country and North America can pencil Bellingham as a final destination for their trips. Delta officials admitted as much when, in a press release, they called Bellingham “a premier vacation destination.” Local travel related businesses should be excited about all the new customers they could start seeing in June.

We expect that Delta will find, as Horizon and Allegiant have, that flying to and from Bellingham is a popular and profitable endeavor. And we expect travelers to enjoy the increase in opportunities as well.

The start of Delta flights in June is something our whole community should celebrate.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Wash.

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