SEATTLE — The city of Yakima has to contribute $500,000 to bring two Alaska Airlines flights back between Yakima and Seattle.
Many of the donations and pledges are coming directly from the community.
As hop fields span Yakima Valley, they account for about 75% of the world's hops.
"We're a real epicenter for it," said Bob Gerst with John I. Haas who said it's been a leader in the industry for the past 109 years.
"Our customers, those brewers, are from across the country and across the world, so they get to Seattle and then they're stuck," said Gerst.
That's why an additional Alaska Airlines flight coming at the end of fall is so imperative.
"The extra flights help remove the barrier of their getting in to make those selections," said Gerst.
Currently, there is one flight that arrives in Yakima at 1 p.m. and leaves around 2 p.m. The new flights will leave Yakima in the early morning and fly back at night. "I think we're going to see a big uptick in the early morning departure that is going to be in high demand," said Yakima Airport Director, Robert Hodgman.
Getting the flights back wasn't free.
"The community was kind of perplexed. Why do we have to pay this money to get this flight back?" said Hodgman.
$500,000 dollars of a minimum revenue guarantee was required by Alaska Airlines.
"That's the current state of the airline industry recovering from the pandemic, there's a lot of costs involved in expanding service," said Hodgman.
Alaska Airlines recently announced it was resuming additional daily flights for Walla Walla, Wenatchee and Yakima. Each city had to come up with $500,000 dollars.
John I. Haas, along with other community businesses contributed to the fund.
“It removes a barrier that we just don’t need to have from a business standpoint. Right now the market is tough enough for everyone,” said Gerst.
“Not having access to flights is a critical barrier,” said Jodi Daly who is the CEO of Comprehensive Healthcare.
Daly said she’s lost out on qualified employees because of Yakima’s transportation desert, “People want to be able to get to places fairly easy.”
Comprehensive Healthcare pledged $25,000 dollars to the fund which is now at $418,000 dollars. The city's contract with Alaska Airlines is one year.
“We’ve kind of been on message with the community, 'Hey we really need you to come, show up and book your seats,'” said Hodgman.
Allowing the community to work on what it does best.
“We hope that there’s enough flight usage,” said Gerst.
The two flights will resume Nov. 17 with additional flights happening in September to help with the hop harvest.