No news is good news — as long as everyone else is in the dark.

So said Madelin Holtkamp, executive director of the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission, of the waiting game the North Coast is playing with Delta Air Lines.

Holtkamp and her predecessor, Gregg Foster, hoped Delta would announce in January that it plans to extend service twice daily from its Salt Lake City hub to the Arcata-Eureka Airport.

“I call our consultants every day and their feeling is the announcement may be delayed this year because of the higher fuel prices,” she said. “When they list a route, they post a fare. They want to post a fare and they don’t want to change it in two minutes. That’s what I suspect.”

“I can’t walk down the street without someone saying, ‘What do you hear? What do you know?” Foster said. “I can’t say I’ve heard anything.”

Foster said Delta indicated the North Coast should expect something in the next two weeks.

“I’m not necessarily a betting man, but the fact they called us to tell us is a good sign,” he said. “Typically, you don’t go out of your way to tell someone that if you were giving us bad news.”

Holtkamp said an “encouraging” sign was Horizon Air’s announcement to expand its seating capacity by 50 percent on flights from Arcata-Eureka to Los Angeles starting April 6.

“I wonder if they know something I haven’t heard,” she said. “I’m thinking it is a response to competition. Our market is just maturing and they are beginning to see it.”

Holtkmap said the L.A. planes have been full, paving the way for service expansion that gives the North Coast two direct flights with no Redding stop.

“It’s awesome news, great news from Horizon,” Foster said of a trip that will take 50 minutes less. “This is a great standalone market and their confidence, I hope, is shared by Delta.”