Pendleton will not appeal EAS decision

By Terry Murry on Thursday, June 4th, 2026 in Columbia Basin News Columbia Basin Top Stories

PENDLETON – The city of Pendleton will not appeal the U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to award the essential air service (EAS) contract to Boutique Air. That in spite of the fact that the Pendleton City Council recommended awarding the contract to Skywest.

“We support FAA’s right to be able to make that decision,” City Manager Robb Corbett said. “Also there was a lot of support that was shown locally for Boutique and we’re not going to go against that.”

The new contract went into effect Monday. Boutique, which was already providing EAS service to the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport, will continue operating 21 weekly round-trip flights to Portland on its Pilatus PC12 aircraft.

The Essential Air Service Program was enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States which had been served by airlines prior to the deregulation in 1978 maintain a minimal level of commercial service. Federal funding helps fund air operations at those facilities. Eastern Oregon Regional Airport is the only facility in Oregon that is an EAS airport. There are no EAS airports in Washington state or Idaho.

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