Legislator proposes air service bill

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By Jonathan Gallardo Gillette News-Record Via Wyoming News Exchange

GILLETTE -- A Campbell County legislator is proposing a bill that he believes will save money and keep air service in communities that struggle to fill seats.
Senate File 40, sponsored by state Sen. Michael Von Flatern, R-Gillette, proposes setting up a council that would work on a capacity purchase agreement. The council would send out a request for proposal to airlines, selecting one to enter into a 10-year contract with the state. The airline would provide up to three daily flights to Denver from the communities that join the agreement.
The airline would tell the state how much it wanted per hour for the state to fly its aircraft. The state would be billed periodically, but also would get income from the flights as well as baggage fees.
If the bill comes out to $100,000 and the state only were to collect $98,000 in that period, it would pay $2,000 out of money set aside for the guarantee. But if it collected $102,000, it would take $2,000 and apply it to the next payment period.
Airports in Sheridan, Riverton and Rock Springs operate on a minimum revenue guarantee now. This means that if they’re able to fill half of the seats on a flight, the airline breaks even. If they fall two seats short of reaching 50 percent capacity, they will pay the airline for the two seats. The airline collects any profit from seats filled over the 50 percent threshold.
Gillette’s airport also used to have a guarantee with its Salt Lake City flight, but when the flight was removed and replaced with a third flight to Denver, it no longer had to subsidize the airline for offering it.
The guarantee is split 60-40 between the state and local governments.
This is the time to act, Von Flatern said. The state has $1.2 million for the program and the airports in Sheridan, Riverton and Rock Springs need about $1 million each.
“We have enough money to keep everything rolling until June 30, 2019,” he said.
Von Flatern said if the bill passes, the council will have until then to come to an agreement with an airline. If not, “We’ll have to say to two of (the cities), you no longer have air service.”
The council would be comprised of 15 members, 11 of whom would be voting members. It would include a state senator, a state representative, two people from the aeronautics commission, two people from ENDOW, someone from the Wyoming Association of Municipalities, one from the Wyoming County Commissioners Association, a commercial air service representative from the Wyoming airport operators association and two people from the public.
It also would include the governor, the WYDOT director and the executive director of the office of tourism, all of whom would be non-voting members.
If the bill passes and an airline agrees to contract with the state, the communities can join the agreement on a voluntary basis. Von Flatern said Gillette doesn’t have to join because it isn’t losing money on its flights. Still, it would offer some advantages.
“SkyWest flies up here on their own dollar. If they make a profit, great. If they’re not making money, they cut one of our flights,” he said.
If Gillette joined the agreement, the biggest advantage would be that the airline “would be contracted to show up here for up to three flights a day,” he said. “They can’t steal a flight or change the schedule on us.”
The agreement does not prevent airports from trying to add other flights, Von Flatern said.
Campbell County Commission Chairman Mark Christensen said he and his fellow commissioners support the bill.
“I support it and I support what you do,” Commissioner Micky Shober told Von Flatern last week. “Otherwise, Wyoming’s going to be left in the dust and lose their airports.”
“If we’re not going to reduce the number of communities we have air service in, then this solution is by far the best,” Christensen said.

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