The small airline says weekly ticket sales to Newport and Astoria have doubled from around $6,000 in April to $12,000 in August, but officials say the service is still a long way from paying for itself.

SeaPort's coastal flights have generated $213,000 in revenue, while the Port of Astoria and the City of Newport have spent more than $1 million in grant money to prop up the airline.

So far, Newport has consistently attracted more passengers and generated more revenue than Astoria despite fewer flights to Newport.

The port and the city received $4.5 million in state and federal grants last year to jump-start air service to the coast and approved a plan that would stretch the money for two years.

There's a $200,000 cap on monthly subsidies for the first six months. The cap will shrink as the two-year startup period draws on.

SeaPort CEO Kent Craford said business on the coast is exceeding expectations.

"One thing I'm really proud of and that I think speaks well to the potential economic sustainability of the service is we never hit our subsidy cap, and we don't expect to," Craford said. "The amount of revenue as a portion of cost is going up. The subsidy is trending down."

Since mid-March, SeaPort has offered three round-trip flights a day between Portland and Astoria and two round-trip flights between Portland and Newport in nine-passenger Pilatus PC-12 airplanes.

In six months of service, the airline's Newport leg has served about 500 more passengers than the Astoria leg and earned about $30,000 more income.

Astoria flights have cost $100,000 more in subsidies than Newport flights since service started.

Craford said Astoria is still on track. After six months, SeaPort expected Astoria ridership to average two passengers per flight, and it has been meeting that target for the last two months.

Craford said the longer drive between Newport and Portland may be a factor, and a recent decision by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to move its Pacific fleet of research vessels from Seattle to Newport may also affect traffic.

Meanwhile, air freight offers some growth potential, too. Commercial fishermen have made use of the service for ordering engine parts, said John Lansing, SeaPort's regional manager in Warrenton.

Lansing said he sees other opportunities for flying black cod and fresh, live crab to fish markets and hopes to see more sport fishermen fly into town to maximize their fishing time.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)