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TSA-free commercial flights are about to take off in the Pacific Northwest, with seats starting at $299 for travelers trying to skip the usual airport grind.
The service marks a rare milestone for a smaller airfield that hasn’t seen scheduled commercial departures in decades.
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SeaPort Airlines is launching service from Felts Field in Spokane, Washington, with flights to Seattle beginning March 9.
The first commercial plane out of Felts Field since 1946 will be a Pilatus PC-12, a nine-passenger aircraft with two pilots, cabin pressurization and temperature control.
SeaPort said it is bringing four round trips to Seattle on most days.
The flights will run between Spokane’s Felts Field and Seattle’s Boeing Field, tapping the same airports private aircraft use every day.
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“You can wake up in Spokane, do a full day’s business in Seattle and be back home here for dinner,” CEO Kent Craford said.
“It is going to be the greatest thing that’s happened to bring the two sides of Washington closer together,” he said.
Craford argued bigger airports have turned short trips into a slog, calling SeaTac a travel “bottleneck” as security and airport size stretch out the journey.
He said intrastate flights can start to feel as slow as driving once travelers factor in the time it takes just to reach the gate, the Spokesman Review reported.
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“America is the home of innovation,” he said.
“We’ve got all of the knowledge about the history of the world in the palm of your hand, and yet we have come to be conditioned to accept that one aspect of life will only get worse every year, and that’s transportation.”
SeaPort says its small-aircraft setup avoids TSA screening because the PC-12’s nine-passenger capacity falls below federal thresholds.
Instead, the airline says passenger screening is closer to what riders see on buses, ferries, or trains, just with fewer people.
“And so now, any member of the public can jump on a SeaPort Airlines flight for the cost of what you would pay a major airline within three days before you fly,” Craford said.
One-way tickets to Seattle start at $299, with pricing subject to demand.
Parking is free, and check-in is set at 20 minutes before departure.
Riders can book same-day flights online, SeaPort said.
“It revolutionizes the way that people get between our two great cities,” Chief pilot Ian Fisk said.
“And it gives people a little bit of their precious time back,” he added.
Fisk called the PC-12 his “sports car,” saying, “We can fly up to 28,000 feet, we can get up above a lot of the weather smaller planes can’t.”
“It’s fast – so we can keep up with the big guys, and then we can also go into more unique places as well,” he said.
“It’s quiet, it’s warm. Everybody’s got a window seat and an aisle seat, so that’s pretty sweet.”
“Our pilots know our customers by name,” Fisk added.
Spokane Airport CEO David Haring said about 500 people travel between Spokane and Seattle each day and predicted the streamlined option will appeal to business travelers.
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Joey Gunning of Greater Spokane Incorporated said the new route could ripple into local hiring, from pilots and maintenance to fuel and support work.
Craford said SeaPort is open to expanding beyond Spokane-Seattle, adding, “We’re taking suggestions.”
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