When Allegiant Air announced plans last month to start direct flights Oct. 24 between Redmond and the Phoenix suburb of Mesa, Ariz., Redmond Airport Manager Carrie Novick was happy to cross off one of the top two items most requested by Central Oregon travelers.

The other? Jet service to San Francisco International Airport to carry more people between Redmond and the Bay Area and trim at least 30 minutes off the flight.

Novick and the airport are working toward that goal, but now they have some help: the Oregon Commercial Air Service Coalition.

Formed in late July by Gov. Ted Kulongoski, the coalition works to retain and expand commercial air service at the state’s eight commercial airports, said Daniel Clem, who oversees the coalition as director of the Oregon Department of Aviation.

“Redmond is a very busy and growing and very successful commercial airport, and we’re having discussions with air carriers to enhance its service,” Clem said.

The new coalition is an offshoot of an existing government consortium — the Northwest Regional Air Service Initiative — that promotes commercial air service to 12 airports in Oregon and Washington, Clem said. Due to the rise in fuel costs this summer that caused some carriers to eliminate service to save money, Clem said, the governor created the new coalition to focus on Oregon airports immediately at risk of losing flights.

The coalition — made up of state airport officials, business leaders and governments — announced its first big success last month.

Horizon Air currently flies nonstop from Portland to Klamath Falls and the Oregon Coast town of North Bend but will end the service after Oct. 11. Horizon’s decision to exit North Bend and Klamath Falls is due to the replacement of its 37-seat aircraft with larger, more fuel-efficient 76-seat planes, Clem said. There’s not enough demand in those markets to sustain the larger aircraft, Clem said.

The coalition intervened and arranged for SkyWest Airlines to speak with airport officials in both communities, Clem said. The parties agreed to revenue guarantees — agreements now common in small markets to subsidize an airline if its service isn’t profitable after a period of time — and new service was announced. Beginning Oct. 12, SkyWest — flying as United Express — will offer nonstop flights to Portland from North Bend and Klamath Falls.

The coalition didn’t provide any state money for the revenue guarantee agreements, Clem said.

So how did it help?

Clem said Horizon told the Northwest Regional Air Service Initiative two years ago that it planned to replace its smaller planes with larger ones in 2009. With that knowledge, the consortium studied regional air travel and compiled statistics and reports to justify service to Oregon’s smaller commercial airports.

When fuel costs skyrocketed this year, Clem said, Horizon expedited its plans. But the Northwest Regional Air Service Initiative — and, by extension, the coalition — were ready.

“We sort of act as a clearinghouse,” Clem said. “Carriers make decisions to put routes in based on multiples. They don’t just think about going from North Bend to Portland, they think about going from (San Francisco) to North Bend to Portland to Medford to Klamath Falls and back to (San Francisco). … So any one community can do a good job of attracting service, but it takes a systemic approach to maintain it. The coalition puts those legs together and connects those dots. There’s no big magic bullet here, just a lot of hard work,” Clem said.

In Redmond, Novick is counting on the coalition to help persuade SkyWest to replace its 30-seat turboprop with a 50-seat regional jet for the San Francisco route. Novick said the airport has applied for a $500,000 federal grant that would be used to guarantee the carrier revenue, and she’s optimistic the airport will win it. But she likes the coalition for its proven ability to bring parties to the negotiating table.

“Getting all these people engaged is good for all the airports in Oregon,” Novick said. “… I think the governor doing this is really visionary on his part. Air carrier service is economic development and jobs throughout the whole state, and so I think it’s pretty visionary.”

Oregon’s eight commercial airports, ranked by the number of boardings in 2007, are Portland International Airport, Eugene Airport, Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport, Redmond Airport, Southwest Oregon Regional Airport in North Bend, Klamath Falls Airport, Salem Municipal Airport and Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton.

Redmond, which has seen its passenger counts increase every year since 2002, is currently undergoing a $40 million terminal expansion that will enlarge the terminal by a factor of six. The project is scheduled for completion in fall 2009.