Cody Wyoming Hotels

Loss of SkyWest flight to Salt Lake seen as major setback

CODY, Wyo. — The loss of a Delta Connection flight offered by SkyWest Airlines to Salt Lake City could have dire consequences for the regional business sector if alternate service isn’t re-established, members of an aviation board said Thursday.

The Cody Yellowstone Air Improvement Resources organization held an emergency meeting Thursday morning to discuss the loss of SkyWest and its Delta Connection route to Salt Lake City.

The organization said United Airlines’ flight to Denver, which is contracted through SkyWest, remains intact, although the airport is currently negotiating with United about maintaining or expanding that service.

SkyWest informed Yellowstone Regional Airport of its decision to discontinue the Salt Lake City flight last week, citing rising fuel costs, aircraft maintenance and loss of profitability as the primary reasons behind the move.

Hank Coe, a member of the air improvement organization and a local legislator, said SkyWest executives had expressed satisfaction with the airline’s performance in the Cody market as recently as January.

“We went along thinking everything was wonderful,” said Coe. “We really got blindsided by this announcement.”

SkyWest and its Delta Connection flight has seen a 9 percent increase in passengers arriving and departing from Yellowstone Regional this year.

Coupled with United Express and its Denver service, the airport was on pace to break the 30,000-passenger mark for the first time, making it one of Wyoming’s four busiest airports.

Despite the uptick in passenger numbers, however, SkyWest said the Delta Connection route was no longer profitable. An airline spokesman said the Salt Lake service will end Sept. 6. SkyWest has no plans to re-establish the flight after that date.

“Cody is basically what they refer to as a leisure market, so your ticket values are less than they are in a business market,” said airport manager Bob Hooper. “They also said they need a 90 percent load factor to break even.”

Hooper said the airline was achieving its 90 percent goal. However, the aircraft used to service Cody — a 30-passenger EMB 120 Brasilia — isn’t suited for high-altitude flights, a problem that often forced SkyWest to bump passengers to achieve weight restrictions.

“I pointed out that we do have 90 percent load factors, but they can’t carry them because they’re always taking people off their airplanes,” Hooper said. “We asked for an extension to the September date, but they said they can’t grant that, because the aircraft has to be returned to its leaseholder.

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