Flights between North Bend and San Francisco are doing well enough for SkyWest Airlines to operate without a revenue guarantee. And, though Portland flights still need airport district help, airport officials say they no longer fear losing Portland service.

“We are fairly confident we will keep the northbound flights,” said Mike Lehman, board chairman for the Coos County Airport District.

SkyWest and the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport have begun preliminary talks on extending the PDX flights agreement. Airport Executive Director Gary Letellier said he is confident the airport district made the right decision last year to provide subsidies to SkyWest.

“After one year we are pleased,” he said.  “We’ve had to pay some subsidies out in the first winter and that was difficult for us. It’s important to stay the course ... ultimately these will be successful routes.”

There is no question about the southbound route. The San Francisco flights that began last summer have taken less than a year to outgrow the need for a subsidy.

 “At this point they are make or break on their own,” Lehman said.

No subsidy has been needed in the last few months, Letellier said.

The Portland flights haven’t done so well. Back in January, the flights were on average only 33 percent booked, far below SkyWest’s break-even point — the point at which the district wouldn’t have to pay a guarantee. Lehman said part of the problem was the flight schedule, which didn’t allow convenient connections in Portland. Lehman said one of the flight times made it difficult to fly to Seattle from North Bend without spending the night in Portland.

“Most people are using those flights for connections, especially Portland,” he said. “Getting good connections is really important.”

SkyWest and the airport have adjusted the schedules to provide better service, which has helped a bit. Now, with the summer travel season in full swing, flights to Portland are seeing an upturn in bookings.

 Letellier said airport officials hope the summer numbers will rise above the 50 percent break-even point.

“If that is the case, I suspect there will be no subsidy,” Letellier said.

SkyWest and the airport district will review flight numbers again in August as part of contract negotiations. A modest revenue guarantee from the airport district wouldn’t be out of the ordinary when introducing a new airline, Letellier said.

Since SkyWest took over the Portland route in October, the district has doled out about $400,000 in revenue guarantees, out of $713,000 gathered for that purpose from various sources.