A Cape Air flight takes off from Adirondack Regional Airport in March 2022. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

LAKE CLEAR — The federal government will be making a decision soon over which commercial airline Harrietstown will contract with for flights at the town-owned Adirondack Regional Airport. Town officials are excited, as the airport has proposals from four airlines offering a range of planes, destinations and ticket prices.

This is more proposals than they’ve gotten any other time in recent history and the range of options comes with a lot of deliberation over which to recommend to the federal government.

The board and public both get to comment on the proposals to the federal government.

So the town is holding what town Supervisor Jordanna Mallach calls an “airplane show and tell” at the airport later this month.

Before the town board’s meeting on Sept. 25, several of the airlines will fly planes onto the tarmac at SLK for the public and town officials to see, before making their pitches to the board.

Councilwoman Ashley Milne called this a “Touch-a-Truck, but for adults.” The plane viewing will start at 5 p.m. and the board meeting will start at 6 p.m.

Four air carriers have submitted proposals — Cape Air, Boutique Air, SkyWest Airlines and Contour Airlines. Usually the airport only gets one or two proposals, Airport Manager Corey Hurwitch said.

At the meeting, he said Cape Air, Contour and possibly SkyWest will have planes at the airport. He’s working to see if the public will be able to go inside the planes to see the seating areas.

Each airline comes with different ticket prices, different destinations and different plane sizes. Hurwitch said there are “pros and cons” for each one and enough information to put most people to sleep. But he’s excited over the opportunity to dream.

“(Assistant Airport Manager) Ed (Alford) and I have been geeking out big time over this,” Hurwitch said.

Commercial airlines at SLK are subsidized by the federal Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service, so EAS gets the final say on which airlines get contracts there.

The four proposals can be found at tinyurl.com/4n8rshtj and are the top four documents on the page. Each document has a “Comment” button below it. The town is requesting the comment period deadline be extended from Oct. 3 to Oct. 14, to give the board more time to collect residents’ thoughts and submit their comments.

The contracts for EAS airlines generally last two years, Hurwitch said. The latest Cape Air contract was for four years. He said SLK has contracted with Cape Air since 2007 or 2008. It currently offers three commercial flights a day from SLK, with destinations in Boston and New York City.

If people have concerns, questions, hopes or thoughts about Cape Air or a proposed new carrier, now’s the time to speak, they said.

Mallach said the community has become “reliant” on the flight to Boston for professional and medical reasons. Three of the four airlines have a Boston Logan International Airport flight in their proposal.

Hurwtich said the board should keep an open mind, though, because SkyWest, the airline that does not go to Boston, has larger planes and shows significant growth at other airports when they switch from nine-seat planes to 50-seat planes.

He said many people just drive to the Boston airport because it is relatively close and used as a connecting hub.

Hurwitch said around 5,000 people fly out of SLK on Cape Air flights each year. There’s “room for improvement,” he said.

According to 2024 data at the airport, 3,182 people flew Saranac Lake to Boston, 3,189 people flew Boston to Saranac Lake, 1,517 people flew Saranac Lake to John F. Kennedy International Airport and 1,429 people flew JFK to Saranac Lake.

He also said JFK is expensive to fly out of, and pointed out that there are good hospitals in Washington, D.C., too.

“I’ve gone back and forth on which one I think is best several times so far,” Hurwitch said. “I’m not sure that I’m done and set on one.”

Hurwitch said he would not disappointed if they stay with Cape Air. He likes Cape Air and said they’ve been good to the airport and the town.

“Cape Air really is a phenomenal community partner,” Mallach said.

In 2024, Cape Air donated a total of $27,084 worth of tickets to the community of Saranac Lake, according to its proposal.

However, councilmembers said some people tell them they’re scared to fly on the small planes Cape Air has, wish there were on-plane bathrooms and don’t like that they have to get weighed for seat placement.

Both Contour and SkyWest have larger planes with wheelchair accessibility and also offer more luggage — room for bikes, skis or hockey sticks. If the federal government chooses a carrier with larger planes, Hurwitch said he’d work with the Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security Administration and code enforcement to make it possible.

–

Cape Air

–

Cape Air is proposing a two- to four-year contract for 21 flights a week — either all to Boston, or 14 to Boston and seven to JFK.

The planes would have nine seats and an average ticket price of $118 to Boston and $169 to JFK.

–

Boutique

–

Boutique is proposing a two- to four-year contract for 21 weekly round trips — either all to Boston or 14 to Boston and seven to either JFK or Baltimore.

The planes would have eight or nine seats with an average ticket price of $69 — $59 if the all-Boston flight option is chosen.

Boutique also has a hub at Massena International Airport.

–

Contour

–

Contour is proposing a four-year contract for 12 flights a week — either all 12 to Boston, all 12 to Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. or seven to Boston and five to Dulles.

The planes would have 30 seats with an average ticket price of $75 — $80 if the all-Dulles flight option is chosen.

Contour boasts the second-largest EAS network in the country and also has a hub at Plattsburgh International Airport.

–

SkyWest

–

SkyWest is proposing a four-year contract for 12 flights a week — either all to Dulles or all to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.

The planes would have 50 seats. This proposal did not spell out an average ticket price but lists projections of 21,840 passengers and $2.73 million in passenger revenue, which would potentially be an average ticket price of $125.