Sweetwater County is home to over 130,000 annual airline passengers. Over 39,000 of those call Green River home. To ensure that reliable commercial air service is available to our community, the city of Green River has partnered with Sweetwater County, the city of Rock Springs, and Wyoming Department of Transportation Aeronautics as part of the State’s Air Service Enhancement Program (ASEP).
Today’s increasingly global economy is placing significant demands on rural transportation systems. This requires more efficient intermodal systems, with the local airport serving as a key transportation link for many businesses. This partnership allows our community to meet these transportation needs and to ensure the economic future and vitality of our region.
As part of the ASEP, the Rock Springs-Sweetwater County Airport works with SkyWest Airlines to provide reliable and affordable air service through a Minimum Revenue Guarantee Agreement with Sweetwater County. This agreement outlines passenger, revenue, and expense forecasts and then calculates how much revenue the airline must make in order for them to serve our community. This agreement is negotiated every spring and the final dollar amount fluctuates annually. WYDOT Aeronautics covers 60 percent of the cost, while the remaining 40 percent is split between the county and two cities (Sweetwater County, 45 percent; Rock Springs 33 percent and Green River, 22percent). The total for the city of Green River for this year’s budget is a maximum revenue guarantee of $139,208.
The intricacies of the agreement breakdown to a basic principle: The more people that use the service, the less it will cost. For every additional passenger that uses the service, it generates revenue through the purchase of the air fare that offsets the expenses and therefore reduces the amount of guarantee that the airline requires. They bill this guarantee on a quarterly basis and it reflects and adjusts the amount based on passenger loads. This past year, Green River didn’t have to use it full allocation because of the increased passenger loads and better fuel pricing.
Of the 39,271 annual airline passengers that Green River sees every year, just under 10,000 use this service. The remainder are travelling to other regional airports. While this was to be expected in the past, the airport has worked diligently to deliver more reliable air service (over 98 percent of flights completed as scheduled) and more affordable air fares. Since November, fares have been lowered significantly to Denver (as low as $99 each way) and beyond. With over 170 worldwide connections available through Denver, the travel possibilities are endless.
Residents can check out airfares at http://www.united.com and they can compare the total cost of their trip including airfares, parking, and driving using the airport’s cost comparison calculator at http://www.rockspringsairport.com. This will show that the airport’s free parking and world class easy to and through access are hard to ignore when you are making your travel plans.
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