Scottsbluff Airport To Remain Partnered With SkyWest for EAS Services
The Western Nebraska Regional Airport Board of Directors has again selected SkyWest as its Essential Air Service partner, lengthening the carrier’s six-year tenure by a proposed four-year contract. Despite a competitor’s significantly lower bid, concerns about traveler convenience and skepticism about the competitor’s promises led WNRA’s Director Raul Aguallo to recommend to the board that they stick with SkyWest.
Western Nebraska Regional Airport to remain partnered with SkyWest for EAS services
WNRA Director Raul Aguallo discusses his reasoning for recommending that the airport stick with its EAS partner of six years, SkyWest, during a board meeting on Aug. 12.
“Even though this product is more expensive, between our wants and needs for the airline, and proving the reliability of this carrier with us for the last two contracts, I'm very confident that, regardless of the price, the Essential Air Service would accept our recommendation for SkyWest,” Aguallo said Wednesday.
EAS is a government program that provides federal financial support to airlines to run scheduled flights out of small, rural airports that would otherwise lose commercial service due to unprofitable routes.
For rural airports like WNRA, maintaining constant, dependable local access to major hub airports is crucial.
Denver Air Connection offered WNRA a 4-year contract with a bid that beat out Skywest’s offer by $2 million less per year in subsidy. However, Aguallo explained to the board that skepticism about their numbers arose in discussions with regional airports in North Platte and Salida, Colorado.
“They come to the numbers (they have) because Denver Air Connect believes … they can increase the passenger load; they're going to make it up on the backside,” Aguallo said. “Our concern is — and I've seen it in my tenure — is an airline that comes in and bids so low to get the work, and then six months into the project, they realize they can't afford to do it anymore. And now, they're going back to the (Department of Transportation) for more money, and at that point, the DOT can say no.”
Aguallo said Denver Air Connect has promised to fly 20,000 people per year out of WNRA. Currently, SkyWest is flying only 15,000 people per year.
“The numbers just aren't there to support the bid, we believe,” Aguallo said. “You can't pull passengers out of thin air.”
Further, Denver Air Connect would not offer travelers departing from WNRA the same transfer conveniences that SkyWest currently does.
“When you fly out of Scottsbluff on SkyWest, it doesn't matter which carrier you get on (once you reach a hub airport), unless it's one of the low carriers,” Aguallo said. “You can go to any other airline in the concourse, and they're going to transfer your bags from here to your final destination … 98% of the airlines, your bags are going to transfer.”
Denver Air Connect only offers this service for travelers transferring to United, Delta or American Airlines once they reach the hub airport. Otherwise, passengers would have to reclaim their bags, check them again and go back through security before boarding their next flight, according to Aguallo.
Aguallo said that when Kearney’s airport partnered with Denver Air Connect in the past, it “nearly killed that city’s airport,” as people were willing to drive to Grand Island’s airport instead for the convenience of not having to go back through security while transferring.
SkyWest has promised bag-transferring services for the entirety of its proposed four-year contract.
While both carriers offer very similar aircraft, SkyWest’s fleet of hundreds dwarfs Denver Air Connection’s 12, most of which are already committed to other cities, according to Aguallo. As far as anticipated fares out of Scottsbluff, SkyWest currently reports around $90 fares, while Denver Air Connect would offer the same trip for around $120.
Aguallo said that he’s received several letters of support from political figures such as Sen. Pete Ricketts, Congressman Adrian Smith, Sen. Deb Fischer and the mayors of both Scottsbluff and Gering, among others, to support his recommendation to continue service with SkyWest.
In July, WNRA operated 52 flights and 1399 passengers in total: “That is a monster number for us for a month,” Aguallo said. So far, there have been 7,711 boardings in total this year.
Western Nebraska Regional Airport to remain partnered with SkyWest for EAS services
The WNRA Board begins its regular meeting on Aug. 12.
In other updates during the airport board meeting, Aguallo explained a seal coat on the airport’s taxiways is down, with temporary markings in place. Official striping will be completed with “rolling” work and radio coordination to avoid full taxiway closures, beginning at the end of this week. Aguallo is also looking to replace the airport’s existing rotating beacon with a new high‑intensity LED head that would cost around $15,000, pending final pricing.
After a recent three‑hour onboard delay incident that the airport’s team described as a “perfect storm,” Aguallo said that the airport’s policy is now to offer egress after two hours on all diversions. New radios will be distributed to SkyWest, Classic Aircraft Service and diversion staff for more direct communication.
WNRA will also host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Taxiway Delta extension on Thursday at 8 a.m. Shuttle transportation will depart from the terminal to the event location at 7:30 a.m. Aguallo, Fischer and Smith are slated to speak at the ceremony.
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