REDMOND — Behind a surge in flights at the Redmond Airport is a little-known group of volunteers that represent the region’s business and tourism interest.

“I always call them the Legion of Superheroes,” Redmond City Manager Keith Witcosky jokes about the Central Oregon Air Service Team, which includes representatives from the cities of Bend and Redmond, the Bend and Redmond chamber of commerces, and nonprofits such as Economic Development for Central Oregon, Central Oregon Visitors Association and Redmond Economic Development Inc.

The airport last week announced the addition of two new flights and the reinstatement of two others for the summer months.

“For a place like Redmond to have the flights it does is an anomaly,” Witcosky says about the 17 daily round-trip flights that will be coming in and out of Roberts Field this summer.

“One of the reasons we’re the only commercial airport east of the Cascades is because of COAST, I guarantee that.”

Similar to how EDCO recruits new businesses to the region, COAST works with the airlines to encourage them to provide flights in and out of Central Oregon. As a smaller airport, the Redmond Airport has to fight every bit for its commercial flights, says Roger Lee, who is a member of COAST as well as the president of EDCO. COAST will be in Seattle later this month for the JumpStart Air Service Development Conference, in which it will meet with representatives from Alaska, Allegiant, American and United airlines.

“There’s four tiers of airports,” Lee explains. “Your large hubs like Dallas, Phoenix, Atlanta. Medium hubs — Portland may even fall in that category — and small hubs like Spokane and Boise. And then you have a whole bunch of nonhubs, the vast majority of airports like us, that have commercial air service.

“The challenge,” Lee adds, “is the airlines are adding more and more (flights) to the first three tiers and less and less to small airports. Our battle is to go against the tide, a trend that has been going on for the last 20 or 30 years, and make a case why airlines should come to a smaller airport like ours.”

Airlines make almost all of their money at larger airports, Witcosky says, making the competition for the few resources they devote to nonhubs fierce.

“The COAST team helps separate Central Oregon from other communities that might be at risk of losing flights by being so active and keeping everything on their radar,” Witcosky says. “And the relationships COAST members have forged, those are very important. … They’re the concierges, the general managers, the first and second impressions the airlines have of us. Those bonds help keep us from being victims in (market) fluctuations and add a layer of protection other cities don’t have.”

According to Lee, airlines appreciate the depth of data COAST is able to bring to the table with some of the region’s leaders in business and tourism serving on its board.

“We’ve been told that makes a much more powerful case,” Lee says. “We’re able to talk to airlines at a much more detailed level about our industries and tourism. That’s information most airport managers (pitching their airports without a COAST-like group) aren’t able to get into.”

For example, COAST member Alana Hughson, the CEO of the Central Oregon Visitors Association, can tap into her vast knowledge of visitor data and give airlines a precise report on who is coming to Central Oregon and from where. Lee has the same resources and numbers he and EDCO use to recruit businesses to the area at his disposal when working with the airlines.

“We can speak to what are the trends in the area, who’s coming and going, and who would use air service to travel to the area,” Lee says.

Maintaining and expanding the area’s commercial air service, the core mission of COAST, is crucial for continued growth, Lee says.

“We did a survey of our tech companies — we have over 100 in Central Oregon now — and asked them what’s the most important thing EDCO can do for you in terms of business advocacy,” Lee says. “They almost all said more air service. Get us better connections to the rest of the world.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7829, beastes@bendbulletin.com