WATERTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — The decision by a Montana-based commuter airline to ground its East Coast operations will affect several northern New York communities.

Big Sky Airlines announced Wednesday that it would cease its East Coast operations on Jan. 7 because of disappointing revenues. The Billings, Mont.-based airline had been operating on the East Coast since April as a Delta Connection partner, primarily out of Boston's Logan International Airport.

Big Sky offered 18 weekly flights from Ogdensburg and Massena to Boston, via Watertown using 19-seat airplanes.

Jefferson County Administrator Robert F. Hagemann III said the county, which owns Watertown International Airport, will be active in recruiting another airline. The airport had seen passenger growth since Big Sky began flying the route in April.

Big Sky employed 21 people in Watertown, including seven mechanics at a maintenance facility.

Communication between Big Sky and north country airports, especially of late, had been troublesome, said Wade Davis, executive director of the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority, which runs the airport there.

In Massena, Town Supervisor W. Gary Edwards said without an airline, there might not be a reason to keep the town-owned Massena International Airport open. Town officials have complained that passenger boardings have been down each month since Big Sky took over the route.

Last week, Big Sky announced that flights to Albany, by way of Watertown or Boston, would stop Jan. 7. Flights from Plattsburgh and Saranac Lake airports to Boston also will cease Jan. 7.

Big Sky, which primarily serves 15 cities in the West, provides flights to small Western communities under the federally subsidized