SeaPort Airlines (2008) (Portland International) and the municipality of Pendleton have objected to the US Department of Transportation's (DOT) impending decision to terminate the Oregonian town's Essential Air Services (EAS) on the grounds it does not comply with the programme's required criteria.

Last month, the DOT issued a list of thirty towns that, according to its assessments, were no longer eligible for the EAS programme. The DOT requires a community to be more than 210 miles (338 kilometres) from the nearest large or medium hub airport. In addition, an average of ten or more passengers per day must use the service and the rate of subsidy per passenger must not exceed a USD200 cap.

However, SeaPort and Pendleton have disputed the DOT's findings which claimed the town required an annual EAS subsidy of USD213 and that its nearest suitable gateway, Portland International, was only 203 miles (327 kilometres) away.

Together, the airline and the municipality have questioned how the DOT arrived at the conclusion that Pendleton is 7 miles outside the minimum required hub distance.

"...according to DOT’s calculation Pendleton is only seven miles under the mileage threshold. Applying that measurement to Pendleton would have an unfair, indeed, catastrophic, impact on the City of Pendleton if it causes the City to lose EAS eligibility," they argued. "In the context of Pendleton, it makes little sense to start the mileage calculation at the beginning of the hub airport’s property line, rather than where passengers enter the airport at the passenger terminal. After all, the intent behind the provision was to ensure that EAS communities would not be subject to the Subsidy Cap if their passengers would otherwise have to drive at least 210 miles to the nearest large or medium hub airport. Merely driving to the beginning of the airport’s property line does not fulfill that intent; driving to the passenger terminal where the alternative air transportation is available does. Indeed, for a number of years in regard to communities that had lost subsidy eligibility, the Department was directed by law to consult with the relevant Governors about the mileage using the “most commonly used route” standard."

They went on to argue that the Oregon Department of Transportation had calculated the distance from the Portland International Airport terminal to Pendleton’s Federal Aid Urban Boundary to be 211.08 miles (339.7 kilometres) and that that distance should have been the metric used to determine compliance.

"We submit that it would be arbitrary and capricious not to accept the Oregon Department of Transportation’s calculation," they added.

With the deadline for submissions having now passed, the DOT is due to make its determination.

SeaPort operates multiple daily return services between Pendleton and Portland using Cessna (single turboprop) Grand Caravan 208Bs.