A new Anacortes airline created by combining two existing carriers will take over most of the routes formerly served by now-defunct Harbor Air.
Except Oak Harbor.
Clyde Carlson, the president of the new San Juan Airlines, said the company is definitely interested in adding a stop in Oak Harbor to its regular runs, but ongoing litigation surrounding the ownership of the Oak Harbor Airport prevents that.
Harbor Air, a Gig Harbor-based commuter airline, owned the Monroe Landing Road airport and surrounding land. The company ran into serious financial trouble last year and ended up closing down the airport facilities, though the strip is still being used by private pilots.
The airport was set to go to auction, but then a mysterious limited liability corporation, Air International, purchased the debt on the airport. The state has no information on Air International beyond the name of the company’s attorney, whose number is unlisted. For now, it’s unclear who actually owns the airport at this point, according to Skagit County realtor Pat O’Day.
“Everything was chaotic after Harbor Air went belly up,” he said.
Flying Harbor Air was once popular with people wanting to fly from Whidbey Island to Sea-Tac airport. Carlson said all of San Juan Airlines’ Seattle flights will terminate at Boeing Field, then passengers will be shuttled ten minutes away to Sea-Tac.
O’Day explained that it is nearly impossible for small airlines to fly into large airports anymore because of the heightened airport security in the wake of Sept. 11.
San Juan Airlines, Inc., was formed last weekend when the owners of Seattle-based NW Seaplanes purchased a large share of Anacortes-based West Isle Air. Carlson explained that his son, Shane Carlson, is a 75 percent stockholder in the new company. Steve Franklin, the son of San Juan Island aviation pioneer Roy Franklin, owns the other 25 percent of the company.
NW Seaplanes is still going to exist as a separate company, Carlson said, but San Juan Airlines will take over its Renton to San Juan Islands route.
