The interactive portion of the meeting on the tarmac was followed by representatives from the airlines presenting their proposals to the Harrietstown town council.

The federal government makes the ultimate determination, Harrietstown town Supervisor Jordanna Mallach reminded meeting attendees. This is because the federal Department of Transportation Essential Air Service subsidizes flights at SLK. However, both the public and the board can make comments that will be taken into consideration.

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.

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

Members of the community explore planes of various shapes and sizes last week as a part of a presentation by four airlines bidding for a contract at the Adirondack Regional Airport. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

Both Mallach and Hurwitch have expressed satisfaction with the work that Cape Air has done in the past. The airline has been working at SLK for 17 years. If residents want to share their thoughts about Cape Air or the other airline proposals, there is still time.

Locals, seasonal residents and vacationers are all giving their thoughts on which service they’d prefer.

Each proposal offers a range of planes, destinations and ticket prices.

For some, Boston is a “lifeline.” Others felt New York City should be included, since it has many connections. One asked to bring back routes to Pennsylvania.

The preference of destination depended on personal factors — whether someone works in Manhattan, has family in Washington D.C., wants better access to the Midwest through Detroit or goes to medical centers in Boston.

Members of the community explore planes of various shapes and sizes last week as a part of a presentation by four airlines bidding for a contract at the Adirondack Regional Airport. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

Many commenters said they want bigger planes than Cape Air currently offers. The nine-seaters do not have bathrooms and are uncomfortably small for some. Also, bigger planes would be better for people with disabilities, more luggage options and potentially increased tourism.

Also, the Cape Air propeller planes use lead fuel, while larger jets do not. Widespread use of leaded fuel in the 20th century was linked to a wide number of health issues.

For some, the price of a ticket mattered.

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Cape Air

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Cape Air’s proposal is for a two or four year contract that will include 21 flights per week. There are two potential options — either all the flights would go to Boston or 14 would go to Boston and seven would go to JFK. The planes have nine seats and the tickets cost an average of $118 for Boston and $169 for a trip to JFK.

COO Andrew Bonney said the nine-flight option works well for small communities. However, he said there is room for improvement and the company would like to continue working with SLK.

“You’ve helped us get better, we’re delighted to keep flying here; and we’re happy to work with you,” he said.

The company touted the partnerships that they have with at least eight major airlines. This includes Jet Blue and Delta, which are the two biggest airlines in Boston.

In a response to a question about stagnant flights in recent years and the company’s plan for future years and marketing, Bonney acknowledged that there is “room to improve” and that they plan to boost off-season marketing, working with local attractions like the Wild Center to promote special events and collaborating with the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism.

“We’re all about small community marketing,” he said. “If you’ve got things you’d like to see us do, we’re ready, willing and able to do them.”

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Boutique Air

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Eitan Spiegel, vice president of commerce at Boutique Air, said that the company distinguishes itself with the number of flights they are offering and with the lowest fares out of all four proposals. The tickets would cost an average of $69, with the price being as low as $59 if all flights go to Boston.

Boutique’s proposal is for a two- to four-year contract for 21 weekly round trips. The three proposed options would have all trips going to Boston or 14 going to Boston and seven going to either JFK or Baltimore. Spiegel pointed out that Boston and Baltimore tend to have lower fares than some of the other cities that were proposed.

The company also has a hub at Massena International Airport, and they have partnerships with both United Airlines and American Airlines.

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Contour Airlines

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Contour CEO Matt Chaifetz touted his company as the second-largest carrier in the Essential Air Service program. He said essential services, such as medical flights, are central to the company’s mission.

Contour Airlines’ proposal is for a four-year contract for 12 flights per week. The options would be to have all 12 to Boston, all 12 to Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport in or seven to Boston and five to Dulles. The planes have 30 seats and the ticket price would be $75 on average, or $80 if all flights go 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 also has a hub at Plattsburgh International Airport.

The company already has a hub at Dulles, which gives them more options in terms of connectivity. However, Chaifetz said the company is also comfortable operating out of places that are “islands” and not necessarily a hub.

He also recognized the importance of the Boston connection to the community.

“There is a reason we offered Boston, we recognize that a lot of members in the community probably have local ties given the history of connectivity between the communities and we want to honor that,” Chaifetz said.

Contour has existing partnerships with American, United and Alaska airlines.

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SkyWest

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SkyWest Managing Director Cody Thomas described the company as being built around small community air service.

“It’s in our foundation, it’s what we do,” he said.

The SkyWest proposal is 12 flights a week, all of which would go to Dulles or Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. The planes have 50 seats, and the proposal did not include an average ticket price. However, with the company’s projections of 21,840 passengers and $2.73 million in passenger revenue, the average ticket price would be approximately $125.

SkyWest has a relationship with four mainline carriers, including United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines and American Airlines. This enables them to potentially expand their services. They are the only company of the four that is currently not offering a flight to Boston, but Thomas made it clear that they would be willing to explore creative options and move things around if that’s what the community wanted.

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Community comments

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The meeting was fairly well attended, with at least a dozen members of the community standing up to make a public comment. Several people expressed that they have relied on the Cape Air service to both Boston and New York City, for both business and medical trips.

A few members of the community said they want to stick with a service that works for them, even if it isn’t perfect.

“We have two carriers with much more impressive airplanes that I would frankly much rather fly on, they are much faster, they go over the weather, they have bathrooms, but they don’t necessarily go to the places our community needs to go,” Brandon Valentine said.

Some attendees expressed a desire to grow the airport and take advantage of new opportunities. This could include larger planes that allow athletes to fly with their bikes or skis. These residents said that the previous arrangement worked fairly well for the community, but that it could be expanded to work for more people.

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Staff writer Aaron Marbone contributed to this report.