REDMOND — Flight traffic will be picking up at Redmond Airport.

The Central Oregon Air Service Team, a group made up of local business and tourism leaders as well as Redmond Airport Director Jeff Tripp, have meetings scheduled with several air carriers early next month, including discount airline Allegiant Air, which from 2007 to 2012 offered flights from Redmond to Las Vegas.

Several members of the team will meet with American, Alaska, United and Allegiant in June at the annual JumpStart Air Service Development Conference in Seattle, according to Jon Stark, the Redmond manager for the nonprofit Economic Development for Central Oregon. Stark spoke to the Redmond City Council and Deschutes County Commission at a joint work session Tuesday.

The news of a possible reunion with Allegiant highlighted a marathon work night for city councilors, who held a separate council meeting after the workshop with the county commissioners.

COAST member Trina Froehlich, a consultant from Wisconsin-based aviation firm Mead & Hunt, announced several new flights that were expected to come to the Redmond Airport this calendar year.

On June 4, SkyWest will look to add a third daily round-trip flight to San Francisco, and United expects to reinstate a second daily round-trip flight to Denver. That second Denver flight is scheduled to be a seasonal route, ending Aug. 16.

On June 7, Alaska Airlines will add a fifth Portland round-trip flight from Redmond, Froehlich said, and a fourth round-trip flight to Seattle.

That extra Portland flight will be a summer-only service as of now, ending Aug. 22.

“A lot of communities sit back and just expect air service to come to them,” said Stark, who also serves as a board member on COAST. Stark was pointing out the importance of COAST and its role in attracting airline business to the airport

“That just doesn’t happen,” he added.

Heather Richards, Redmond’s community development director, gave a presentation to both governing bodies about the city’s ongoing Evergreen Elementary project, which is being remodeled into a new city hall. Richards told the county, which might lease space in the new Redmond City Hall, that construction would start in August, and the city hopes to be in the building by October 2016.

County commissioners also received an update on the University of Oregon’s partnership with Redmond through the school’s Sustainable Cities Initiative. Students have already started work on a comprehensive bicycle plan for the city.

More projects will kick off at the start of the 2015-16 school year. Richards told councilors and commissioners that some communities have seen as many as 80,000 student and professor work hours on local projects over the course of the partnership, which runs through the school year.

—Reporter: 541-617-7829,

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