Tri-Towns Bureau

SIDNEY — A Connecticut company is trying to determine if there is sufficient business interest in bringing jet service to the Sidney airport, a company official said.

Meetings with area businesses were held in February and March about the possibility of having a seven-passenger jet based at the Thomas Z. Fagan Airport in Sidney, said Jamie Baciuska, manager for aircraft flight service at PrivatAir. The Bridgewater, Conn.,-based company has a satellite facility at Lt. Warren E. Eaton Airport in Norwich.

There is some interest in moving one of the three jets in Norwich to Sidney, Baciuska said.

But the company is still looking for assurances that such a move would result in the three to five charter flights from Sidney each month needed to justify the service, Baciuska said.

If a jet were relocated to the airport, he said, it could connect Sidney with any airport in the United States or Canada. The recent addition of an all-weather operations system at the Sidney airport has made the facility more attractive, he said.

Sidney Mayor Jim Warren said PrivatAir service would be compatible with current charter service, using propeller planes already at the airport.

There are a number of businesses in surrounding communities that could benefit from jet service at Sidney, Warren said.

Besides the boost to the local economy, he said, the jet would also help the airport by boosting fuel sales there.

Warren said he is contacting business and government officials who might be interested in the service.

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Mark Boshnack can be reached at starsidney@stny.rr.com or at (607) 563-1493.