This editorial was published in the Yakima Herald-Republic.

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With the recent restoration of a second daily commercial passenger flight from the Yakima Air Terminal to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, things are — pardon the expression — looking up for travelers this holiday season.

And hopes are high that the Yakima airport will offer even more travel options soon.

Among the possibilities: a direct flight from Yakima to Las Vegas sometime next year, thanks to a $700,000 federal grant meant to help add flights to and from McAllister Field.

But for now, bringing back the early morning Seattle-bound takeoffs, which have been unavailable for the past year, is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. Airport Director Rob Hodgman says Horizon Air is already seeing high demand for the short trips, which depart daily at 5 a.m.

In addition to the new flight, Horizon offers a midday flight to and from Seattle, along with a late-night return trip.

The expanded schedule — which will continue at least for the next year — didn’t come cheap, though.

Local governments had to guarantee Alaska Airlines, Horizon’s parent company, $500,000 in revenue before the airline would resume the early flights. The city of Yakima promised $125,000, the county pledged $100,000 and Union Gap kicked in another $10,000.

A variety of Yakima Valley agencies, businesses and an anonymous private donor covered the rest of the guarantee, which the Yakima City Council formally endorsed in July.

While it might stick in the throat to see a community have to pay a king’s ransom to persuade a private company to operate here, there’s a reason all those entities are willing to pony up.

The simple fact is, Yakima can’t afford not to.

Reliable, convenient and affordable air service is critical to local businesses, including tourism-related endeavors. If visitors can’t get here to begin with — or if local people can’t get anywhere else easily — our economy would be stranded.

No, Yakima might not ever become a secondary transportation hub, no matter how jam-packed and overwhelmed Seattle’s airport gets. But we can’t risk isolating ourselves out of business.

Meantime, it’s good to see those early flights taking off again. Staying accessible is the only way we’re going to get anywhere.

TNS