Direct flights to Chicago, San Francisco to be discussed

Despite losing out on some federal subsidies for the route, United Airlines plans to keep offering a daily, round-trip flight between Cody and Denver for the time being.

“They’re going to continue that service with one flight a day at this time, and they’re going to continue to evaluate the market,” Yellowstone Regional Airport Manager Bob Hooper said Monday, fresh off a meeting with United brass in Chicago. Hooper noted that United officials never said they planned to stop Cody-Denver flights, “so they just reassured what was there.”

For the past two years, the federal government has been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to subsidize and guarantee daily Cody-Denver flights during the lower-traffic months of October through May. However, those subsidies will end March 1.

That forced United to decide whether it was willing to fly at its own financial risk from March onward.

Park County Commissioner Bucky Hall, who’s the county’s liaison to the airport board, said United has pledged to keep Cody-Denver service “at least through this summer.”

While describing himself as “ecstatic” about the airline’s decision, “I’m not surprised they’re still flying here,” Hall said. “There’s plenty of demand from the public.”

Some 65,478 passengers traveled through Yellowstone Regional Airport last year — the best numbers on record.

United officials said last week that they’re open to continuing summer flights between Cody and Chicago and also willing to add summer flights between Cody and San Francisco, Hooper said. United will be submitting proposals to the Cody Yellowstone Air

Improvement Resources (CYAIR) — a non-profit that supports local air service — for possible financial backing for those flights, Hooper said. It’ll be up to CYAIR to determine whether the proposals are feasible.

The uncertainty over whether United would continue Cody-Denver flights year-round stemmed from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service program.

The federal program provides subsidies to guarantee that participating rural airports, like Cody’s, stay connected to major hubs. Yellowstone Regional Airport began participating in the program in 2011, when SkyWest Airlines announced its intent to stop flying between Cody and Salt Lake City from October to May. Two years ago, SkyWest indicated it would also stop flying the Cody-Denver route on United’s behalf during those same at months. (The airlines generally fly to Cody without subsidies in the busier summer months.)

The Essential Air Service program guarantees at least two flights a day to one major hub throughout the year.

Cody airport officials were actually able to get guaranteed flights to two different hubs in recent years: the Department of Transportation paid United $763,317 a year to provide one daily flight to Denver and paid SkyWest Airlines $617,462 for a daily flight to Salt Lake City.

However, when that contract ran out this year, United didn’t want to keep splitting the Essential Air Service subsidies with SkyWest. That forced airport leaders to choose whether they wanted two guaranteed flights to Denver through United or two to Salt Lake through SkyWest. They and the Department of Transportation picked SkyWest, citing lower cost, better reliability and SkyWest’s commitment to also boost summertime service to Delta Air Lines’ hub in Salt Lake.

“We’re not happy that we had to make the choice, but at least we still have service to two hubs from our town, (which) is pretty blanking cool,” Commissioner Hall said of United’s decision to stay. “It’s fantastic.”