Stillwater Celebrates Five Years of Commercial Air Service

Aug. 25—Stillwater Regional Airport is marking its fifth year of providing commercial air service through a partnership with American Airlines.

Over the past five years, Envoy, a regional carrier for American Airlines, has flown more than 200,000 passengers from Stillwater Regional Airport, the City of Stillwater announced Monday.

Establishing commercial air service in Stillwater was a dream of former airport director Gary Johnson, who doggedly pursued funding to make facility improvements and sold the community to airlines for almost 15 years before the first American Airlines flight departed SWO for Dallas on August 23, 2016.

Current Airport Director Paul Priegel has continued that drive for improvement, securing federal grants to improve airport facilities and buying equipment to de-ice runways and taxiways to prevent flights from being canceled.

Stillwater City Manager Norman McNickle said it's hard to believe that it's been five years since the service launched. He recalls having conversations on his back porch with Johnson, thinking they weren't going to make it.

But Stillwater's air service has been a success in terms of convenience for residents and provided a boost for economic development efforts and promoting Stillwater.

In 2017, Visit Stillwater CEO Cristy Morrison said Stillwater's air service was making a difference when marketing the city for travel and tourism.

At the same time, Stillwater Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Justin Minges told the News Press he had seen a difference over the first year of operations.

Having the ability to fly directly in and out of Stillwater brought the city to another level when it came to economic development and companies that previously would not consider proposals from Stillwater were now willing to talk, he said.

City Councilor Amy Dzialowski said Stillwater's commercial air service has made the city competitive in the business sector and at the university level.

A lot of local businesses have talked about how important it is for their employees to be able to hop on a plane in Stillwater, she said. Being able to say that is a huge recruiting tool for businesses.

Having direct access instead of driving to another city saves valuable time for a business traveler like Dzialowski.

"Just as a businessperson, as a professional, it's been an amazing tool for me, just in my job, being able to fly so conveniently from Stillwater — that 15 minutes home as opposed to those two hours — that's just time with my family," she said. "And I know my company appreciates that too. That's time I get to be working instead of on the road and traveling."

In its first year of service, 53,000 passengers flew from Stillwater and SWO was named Oklahoma Regional Airport of the Year by the Federal Aviation Administration.

By July 2018, the service had flown 100,000 passengers, a milestone they celebrated with a bag of prizes for the lucky flyer.

Airlines have struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Stillwater's service saw challenges as the overall number of people flying dwindled.

In July 2020, the service was cut to one mid-day flight.

In August 2020, American Airlines announced it would discontinue service at 15 small airports, including Stillwater, but supporters rallied and the airline in September committed to maintaining service at SWO.

"We heard from a lot of people, 'This is not acceptable,'" Dzialowski said. "This is part of our ability to grow as a community and to take that away really seemed like a setback at the time."

The single mid-day flight was later rescheduled to a late-night flight with an early morning turn-around to better accommodate travelers making connections in Dallas, Priegel previously told the News Press.

McNickle sees the potential for further growth.

The convenience of getting through security quickly and having free parking is an advantage he says Stillwater travelers enjoy, he said.

"It's easy in, easy out and it's a good service. It connects you to DFW, which has hundreds of flights a day to different destinations," he said.

Stillwater's second daily flight returned in June and McNickle said the percentage of seats filled has been in the mid-70s.

"In the midst of COVID, I think that's phenomenal," he said. "We've got a great partnership with American Airlines and we're hoping to develop that further and maybe open up other routes if this pandemic ever ends ... We're thrilled with the outcome, thrilled that we still have the service after five years and encourage people to fly Stillwater."

Twitter: @mcharlesNP

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