OBSERVEr Photo by Gregory Bacon County Executive PJ Wendel and Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon support doing a market analysis at the Jamestown airport regarding the possibility of commercial air.

Will commercial air service ever return to the Chautauqua County Airport – Jamestown location? It’s possible, but not without a market analysis.

County airports manager Shannon Barnhart serves as the director of the county airports in Dunkirk and Jamestown. She was appointed to the position in February 2022 replacing former director Ron Almeter.

Four months before her appointment, the county legislature rejected paying $72,000 for an Air Service Development Study Project, which would be needed to ever bring commercial air back to the Jamestown airport. The money would have come from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act. Of the 19 legislators, 15 voted against funding the study.

Even though it was turned down, Barnhart admits she would like to see the county do an Essential Air Service study. “Although I totally understand the financial part and the dollars behind it, that study is necessary,” she said.

County Executive PJ Wendel was asked if he supports doing as study regarding commercial air service. He was quick to respond. “One hundred percent,” he replied.

Wendel noted before he became county executive, he spent eight years in the legislature and multiple airport studies had been done. “My goal was basically to take all of those studies and sit down with somebody that has the knowledge – it became Shannon – and say ‘these are the studies done before, what are we missing?’ … Shannon said it’s the market analysis. It’s not another study, it’s an analysis of the market. Does the market in this area support that commercial air travel? That’s the missing piece of the puzzle,” he said.

County Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon, R-Ellery, agrees that a market analysis makes sense. “The dark cloud that continues to hang over the airports is the lack of availability of commercial air service. Our new airport manager with her extensive experience has clearly identified that without an analysis of the use of commercial air service there’s nothing really that the county can do to either pursue that or move forward with it. The opportunity completely hinges upon that analysis,” he said.

Without an analysis, Chagnon believes it’s difficult for legislators to make informed decisions. “If the county doesn’t find a way to complete that analysis, which is not a huge, enormous undertaking – we’re talking something in the neighborhood of $75,000 – that dark cloud is going to continue to hang over the county airports, with some people saying we need it and other people saying we don’t need it,” he said.

Legislator Bob Scudder, R-Fredonia, has been one of the biggest critics of spending money at the county airports. Although he has voted in favor to repairs buildings and buying snow removal equipment, he generally votes against any sort of funds that is used as a match for state and federal grants.

That’s because, as he puts it, it ties the county to the airport business. “When we accept federal funds for a project, such as a runway extension … they put a lifespan on the project, of say 20 years. We are now required to be in the airport business for 20 years because we accepted this funding,” he said.

Even though Scudder has voted dozens of times against accepting federal funds for the airports, he insists he wants them to be strong. “As a legislator, no one wants to see them succeed more than I do or as equal as I do,” he said.

Scudder believes the county should be focusing on spending fewer tax dollars on the airports. “Ultimate success is we run the airports and it doesn’t cost the county taxpayers of Chautauqua County any money. Saying that, that’s probably not going to happen. Not many things in government do work that way, so I would just like to see it cost us less,” he said.

Barnhart suspects that if commercial air service were to return to the Jamestown airport, they would have more revenue, but the costs would increase as well.

With no market analysis study done, Barnhart said it’s too difficult to say what impact commercial air service would have on their budget. “I don’t know if we need air service . … What we need is an air service study that will provide us with those answers. The answer may not be one that we like. The answer that comes back from that air service study might be that Jamestown is not the best place to provide commercial service, but it also might have recommendations for what we need to do in the future,” she said.

Wendel agreed. “If the analysis gets completed and the market in this area doesn’t support that air travel, then we know. That is the question that has not been answered,” he said.