LEBANON — The City Council recommended last week that Cape Air continue to serve the Lebanon Airport for the next four years, bucking public feedback in favor of a known partner.
After a lengthy discussion, councilors voted 7-1 last Wednesday, with one member absent, to recommend Cape Air continue providing flight service out of Lebanon, as it has since 2008.
The group recommended the commuter airline over competitors Boutique Air, which would have offered the same flights currently available, and Contour Airlines, which proposed several options with flights to different cities on bigger airplanes.
Ultimately, the U.S. Department of Transportation will decide which airline will serve Lebanon, though the agency will take the city’s recommendation into account.
More than 600 people responded to a city survey about the air contract, and 58% recommended switching to Contour Airlines, according to a news release from the city.
Just 31% recommended sticking with Cape Air.
But at last week’s City Council meeting, a majority of about a dozen people who spoke supported Cape Air.
And despite the survey support for Contour, the City Council ultimately opted to stick with Hyannis, Mass.-based Cape Air.
Councilors said their decision came down to weighing feedback from existing customers versus potential customers, considering whether leisure travel would have the same customer base as business travel, and how Cape Air has become embedded in the Upper Valley community over two decades.
Most people who wrote or spoke in favor of Cape Air said they regularly fly out of Lebanon, Councilor Nicole Ford Burley observed at the meeting, while comments in favor of Contour were “very aspirational.”
“I wonder how much of that will actually manifest if we were to go with one of those proposals,” Ford Burley mused.
Mayor Doug Whittlesey raised a similar concern, noting the Contour offerings cater more to recreational or leisure travel than Cape Air’s offerings and are unlikely to generate the same frequency of fliers.
“Ultimately, the option we go with is whether you think the leisure options that are offered are really going to drive enough traffic to offset the loss of business travel,” Whittlesey said. “Personally, I don’t think they will.”
Whittlesey said while he might appreciate the chance to fly from Lebanon to Washington, D.C. for a connecting flight elsewhere, he would likely only use the option once a year for vacation, while business travelers fly as often as multiple times per week.
With leisure travel, there is also more regional competition at airports in Burlington, Manchester and Hartford, Conn., and there is less pressure on those travelers to use the closest airport.
“Business travel is a lot less competitive,” Whittlesey said. “The convenience and location is ultimately the most critical factor.”
Also in Cape Air’s favor, Whittlesey said, is that the company has served Lebanon for nearly 20 years and many employees live in the community.
Regular Cape Air passengers who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting said they favored the Hyannis, Mass.-based carrier for many reasons, but especially the company’s customer service and the frequency of available flights.
Many travel regularly on the airline to New York City for business and said Cape Air’s shuttle bus from White Plains, N.Y., into midtown Manhattan is far more convenient for getting into the city than flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens would be.
Peter Spencer, of Hanover, said he has averaged about 70 flights per year on businesses out of Lebanon over the past five years and supported continuing with Cape Air.
While amenities offered by Contour, like a 30-seat plane with more space and on-flight services, would be nice compared to the nine-seat flights Cape Air offers, Spencer said it would not make up for losses in flight frequency.
“Destination, frequency and schedule to me are more important than the type of plane,” Spencer told the council.
Cape Air flies into White Plains, N.Y. twice a day, while Contour would offer daily flights to White Plains or JFK.
Spencer and other passengers said having multiple flights per day to each destination is more convenient for business travel and to connect to other flights out of the larger international airports.
For Alice Roberge, of St. Johnsbury Vt., regular flights from Lebanon into New York City “played a significant role in saving my life” by allowing her to access an experimental cancer treatment in the city, she told the City Council.
“Everyone from the attendants who check me in to the pilots are incredibly nice and pleasant to be around,” Roberge said of Cape Air.
Councilor Eric Cole, who cast the sole vote against Cape Air, pointed out that of the dozen or so people who spoke at the meeting, only one was a Lebanon resident.
The resident, Nursultan Kalybek, said he regularly travels around the country and internationally for leisure and rarely sees Cape Air as an affordable option compared to services like Dartmouth Coach. He said the possibility of flying to different cities with Contour would be preferable.
People who wrote in favor of Contour Airlines similarly said that connecting to JFK or Washington, D.C. would allow for easier connection to other cities and that flying to Boston or New York is unnecessary when Dartmouth Coach is a choice. Others said Contour’s planes would be more comfortable and convenient.
