PENDLETON — A 32-year-old airline executive who will take over part of Oregon’s troubled rural air business says he’s out to persuade Eastern Oregonians to give up driving to Portland.

Kent Craford, chief executive officer of SeaPort Airlines, says it’s better to offer passengers more options to fly from Pendleton to Portland rather than fewer flights on larger aircraft.

SeaPort recently outbid Horizon for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s subsidy that compensates airlines flying in small, rural markets. The government will pay SeaPort nearly $1.57 million for the first year of its contract, and $1.6 million for the second year for direct flights between Pendleton and Portland.

The company uses Swiss-built Pilatus PC-12 nine-seat single turboprops. Starting Dec. 2, SeaPort plans to fly three times a day between Portland and Pendleton.

Horizon wanted a $3.2 million subsidy to fly 76-seat planes twice a day.

“Capacity doesn’t grow markets,” Craford said. “Flying one choice at 2:45 in the afternoon — that doesn’t work.”

SeaPort’s planes lack restrooms, there is no flight attendant, and weights are closely watched — customers are limited to two 35-pound bags, and SeaPort won’t fly anyone weighing more than 400 pounds. “All I ask is that you try it once — because it will be the greatest thing you’ll try in commercial air travel,” Craford said in Pendleton recently.

Rural air service has gone through turmoil and shifts in Oregon, hurt by a spike in oil prices.

Craford said the number of people getting on commercial airplanes in Pendleton has dropped 50 percent in eight years. Rather than fly, those people began driving Interstate 84. Growing the market will mean getting those people to fly again, Craford said, which means providing a schedule and options that fit local needs, as well as hammering home the message that SeaPort can get people from Pendleton to Portland in half the time it takes to drive.

SeaPort flies about 20 times a day between Portland and Seattle and also owns Wings of Alaska, a charter service based in Juneau. It employs about 25 people in Seattle and Portland, and another 70 in Alaska.