Seattle's swanky new Paine Field will see a temporary suspension of service starting on May 22nd through July 31st. During this time, the airport will conduct ramp maintenance and repairs.
Seattle's Paine Field closed to passengers
The temporary suspension goes into effect next Friday, May 22nd. The airport, despite being a new terminal, needs to upgrade and repair some of its infrastructures to better support aircraft operations and ensure safety.
Initially, the plan was that this repair would be done in a phased approach over four months. However, the downturn in passenger numbers is proving to be an ideal scenario. Paine Field's operating company, Propeller Airports, has elected instead to shut down operations all at once for just over two months. Not only does this halve the amount of time required for the upgrades, but it also reduces any inconveniences for passengers and operators once activity picks up.
Closing down airports for improvements is nothing new. For about two months this year, Stuttgart Airport was closed for runway work. Milan's Linate airport was also closed last summer.
Before the onset of the current crisis, Paine Field saw 24 daily departures. However, that's now down to just five. But once the airport's upgrades are complete, it expects to see a full resumption fo 24 daily departures.
Brett Smith, CEO of Propeller Airports, had the following to say:
"The travel industry has never faced an economic challenge of this magnitude. We are going to use this temporary disruption to the advantage of Paine Field and our airline partners by completing necessary infrastructure improvements faster than we would have been able to while the terminal was open and flight operations were taking place."
Alternate flight options
Paine Field is located in the northern suburbs of Seattle in Everett. The airport is better known for Boeing's operations there with manufacturing facilities for 747s, 767s, 777s, and 787s.
The best alternate option for travelers is the much larger Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac). About 37 miles south of Paine Field, Sea-Tac is a hub for both Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
Paine Field is designed to cater to passengers in the northern suburbs of Seattle. However, the airport is not terribly large. The largest airlines operating at the airport are Alaska and United– both using Embraer 175 regional jets. Of those two, Alaska Airlines has the lion's share of operations. Although, for now, those operations have been scaled back to a minimum.
