Catch a flight from Tacoma to San Juan Island? Hop aboard

By Lynda V. Mapes, The Seattle Times

The blue water sparkled below. The Olympic Mountains gleamed from one side of the seaplane and the Cascades to the other, as Mount Rainier loomed majestic.

“Look how beautiful this is,” said Bill Sterud, chairman of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, aboard Kenmore Air on an inaugural flight from Tacoma to San Juan Island.

Beginning Thursday, bookings are available for the first time for direct service to San Juan Island from the Puyallup Tribal Air Terminal, the tribe’s seaplane dock at Ruston Way.

This marks the beginning of the second season for the partnership’s flights out of the terminal, and represents the tribe’s growing influence and economic diversity in the region.

Kenmore will fly twice a day to San Juan, starting at US$199 per person one way, a special price through June 17. In its first year, the terminal saw 1,000 people pass through on 100 narrated scenic flight tours of the South Sound.

READ MORE: New flights build on Kenmore Air, Puyallup Tribe partnership. Here’s where they’re going

The flights to San Juan are sure to pump up the action this summer, putting Friday Harbor and Roche Harbor within an easy flight from Tacoma.

The tribe also plans to open a restaurant at the terminal in July, adding to nearby amenities, from the Ruston Way waterfront to the Washington State History Museum, Tacoma Art Museum and Museum of Glass, to private luxury transport to the tribe’s Emerald Queen Casino and special packages for hotel stays and casino play.

And the new route will offer South Sounders an alternative to the Washington State Ferries system, plagued with reliability problems due to shortages of both crews and boats. There were 1,601 missed trips because of cancellations by the ferry system in just the second quarter of fiscal year 2024, according to state data.

READ MORE: ‘It’s a beautiful thing.’ Puyallup Tribe, Kenmore Air’s scenic Tacoma tours take flight

No surprise, then, that the delegation from the tribe was welcomed Tuesday at the dock at Friday Harbor by Amy Nesler of the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau, who presented Sterud with a gift and warm welcome. The flights are expected to be a help to island businesses that have seen a dip of up to 30 per cent in business because of ferry fear — even in August, usually the busiest month, Nesler said.

On the inaugural flight Tuesday, the plane landed smoothly as a seabird at Friday Harbor Marina, just 48 minutes from takeoff. And what a view along the way.

“There is not a prettier flight we do,” said David Gudgel, president of Kenmore Air. He couldn’t resist timing the flight on his phone’s stopwatch — and loved seeing it clock in even faster than expected. The flights will operate to Sept. 16.

Next up for the tribe and Kenmore are flights to Victoria, B.C.,’s Inner Harbour from Friday Harbor, now in the planning stages. That puts the heart of Victoria and its many walkable pleasures within a quick zip of a 30-minute flight from the islands.

Before that can happen, the Puyallup Tribe and Kenmore Air have been working with the Washington congressional delegation to work through some roadblocks involving an inspection fee proposed by the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The tribe and other operators of small planes are seeking to reinstate a small-plane exception, or create a new one for flights of fewer than 16 seats.

The fee comes as a particular sting to the tribe: The U.S. government’s initial treaty with the tribe forbade trade on Vancouver Island, a restriction the tribe had to seek legislation to eventually undo. The tribe will keep working to make the flight to Victoria happen, said Matt Wadhwani, a Puyallup tribal member, CEO of Puyallup Tribal Enterprises and the tribe’s financial officer.

One of the planes servicing the new route will be unmistakable: Kenmore Air stripped it down to the metal, repainted it bright white, then wrapped it with the tribe’s trademark red and black salmon logo. Puyallup Tribe of Indians is emblazoned near the plane’s nose.

Kenmore and the tribe did not share financial details of their partnership.

For the tribe, the seaplane terminal and partnership is just one more way of diversifying its economy, Wadhwani said. “It’s a big win.” Today the tribe has a business portfolio that includes its casino, a marina, golf course, convenience stores, cannabis stores, a candy and snack company, and investment in an energy storage company that aims to revolutionize the power grid.

Sterud was all smiles walking down the dock at Friday Harbor for the seaplane flight back to Tacoma that would wing him over the tribe’s traditional territory and fishing sites, and its main ancestral village site at Point Defiance.

“Who would ever believe it,” Sterud said.

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