Although the number of people flying between Spokane and South Sound has increased each month since January, the fledgling passenger service is still running in the red.

"We're six months into the service, and we'd hoped by now to break even," said Craig Denney, vice president of the Montana-based carrier. "We cannot absorb the losses forever."

Big Sky executives have made no decision about when they might nix the service if it remains unprofitable, Denney said. Earlier this year Big Sky terminated its service to Idaho Falls citing low passenger counts that didn't generate sufficient revenue.

The company is optimistic that it can beef up the profit margin in South Sound through better marketing, he said. "We haven't given up."

Big Sky's passenger service will be one of the topics that the Port of Olympia and the Tumwater City Council will discuss at a joint meeting tonight.

They will also talk about the airport and the more than 25 acres the port owns at Tumwater Town Center, a sprawling site that the city hopes to turn into a downtown core.

Big Sky leases 15 Metroliners that serve 22 cities in six states. The airline started daily round-trip passenger service between Olympia and Spokane on Nov. 13.

Until Big Sky's entry into South Sound, Olympia Regional Airport had been without commercial passenger service since 1995.

It is important that Big Sky succeed so that other regional routes can be created -- for instance, to Portland, Moses Lake and Yakima, said Nick Handy, port executive director.

The port recruited the carrier, upgraded the airport and promoted the flights, Handy said. But it can only do so much to keep the service afloat.

"The public has to use it," he said.

The airline industry has been plagued with a series of setbacks -- a recession, the Sept. 11 attacks, SARS and the Iraq war, Handy said. And the state has restricted travel for employees to trim costs in the face of an estimated $2.6 billion budget shortfall.

"They've really had a lot of heavy hits," Handy said.

If the carrier pulls out, the city won't suffer a significant blow to its tax-revenue base, Tumwater Mayor Ralph Osgood said.

However, future tourism could be hurt because fewer travelers would stay at the area's hotels and eat at local restaurants, Osgood said.

Passenger service also links Thurston County to other regions across the state, drawing more business travelers who might set up shop here, Osgood said.

"It would be a loss for the county in a much larger sense," he said.

In April, Big Sky booked 1,100 passengers on local flights, about 90 more than the previous month.

That's still 300 fewer tickets than Big Sky would like to sell in a month, Denney said.

The carrier, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mesaba Holdings Inc., is drawing fewer business travelers than it had expected, he said.

Right now, state government, trade groups and businesses are Big Sky's staples in South Sound.

That's reflected in Big Sky booking a total of 20 people for the entire Memorial Day weekend as of Friday. Those segments simply have no meetings or conventions on those days, Denney said.

Big Sky's 19-seat passenger flights on average are half-filled, said Everett Dunklee, Big Sky's local airport station manager.

People who use the service are happy with how few hassles are involved, Dunklee said. They don't have to fight with heavy traffic or pay parking fees.

The trick is getting them to board that first plane, he said. "We're trying to get the word out. People don't know about us yet."

Promoting the service to individual users is challenging because that market is so broad and diverse, Dunklee said.

On June 6, the port will meet with Big Sky and Spokane leaders to devise better strategies for marketing the service.

Handy noted that many people view Spokane as the final destination, rather than a place where they can catch connecting flights through code-shares with other major airlines.

At tonight's meeting, port and Tumwater officials will also talk about how they can work together to develop the port's sizable parcel in Town Center.

The basic intent is to maximize the use of the land, Osgood said. One way is to divert stormwater off-site to reduce the number of retention ponds.

Another is to build a parking garage so that surface parking doesn't eat up too much space, Osgood said.

Handy said the port wants to do its part to help Tumwater develop a core area.

"The idea is to create a downtown, so you'd have this urban feeling you'd have in downtown Olympia," Handy said.

Joint meeting

Port of Olympia officials will meet with the Tumwater City Council at 6 p.m. today to discuss reports on the Olympia Regional Airport and Tumwater Town Center.

The meeting will be at the Comfort Inn's Tumwater Room, 1620 Seventh Ave. N.W., Tumwater.

For more information, call 360-528-8000 or 360-754-5855.

Flight rates

Big Sky offers three round-trip flights between Olympia and Spokane each weekday and one flight Saturday and Sunday.

One-way to Spokane:*

- 21-day advance: $69

- 14-day: $79

- 7-day: $89

- Walk-on: $99

*Excludes fees