After a down year in 2023, passenger numbers at Yellowstone Regional Airport rebounded in 2024.

A total of 37,033 passengers boarded flights at the Cody facility last year, according to the airport’s figures — an increase of roughly 3,216 passengers or 9.5%.

“We’re going the right direction,” YRA Director Aaron Buck said in a Tuesday interview. “We really would like to get to 40,000 [enplanements], but I think that’s a great first step [in] that direction.”

Thanks to United Airlines offering four daily flights to and from Denver, July was the busiest month at YRA, with 4,611 enplanements; February, with only two daily flights, was the slowest, with 2,279.

The overall number of boardings was down slightly from 2022, but that year represented something of an anomaly, as YRA got extra plane traffic from a temporary closure of the Jackson Hole Airport.

Another piece of good news was that the average flight out of Cody in 2024 was about 82% full, which is “also a really good number, showing strong,” Buck said at the board’s Jan. 8 meeting.

The airport’s consultants also spoke highly of YRA’s numbers at the board’s December meeting, saying data they crunched from the second quarter of 2024 indicated the Cody route was one of the most profitable within the Denver hub.

When fares, passenger numbers and load factors are all considered, “You can see Cody is pretty strong,” Bill Tomcich of Global Flights Aviation Consulting told the board, adding, “profitability is looking good.”

Tomcich said it’s the kind of data airlines consider when they’re evaluating where to fly, and Buck said YRA officials can tout those numbers when talking to airlines about increased service to Cody.

United currently offers year-round service between Cody and Denver. Through its partner SkyWest Airlines, United makes two daily flights in the fall, winter and spring, with more flights added in the summer.

In 2024, United offered three flights a day starting in May and four in the peak of tourist season. Indications so far are that “they expect to have the same, if not greater, number of seats this summer for us,” Buck said.

Airport officials and boosters continue to talk with United and other airlines about additional service and connections — including trying to find a way to reestablish service to Salt Lake City through Delta Air Lines.

The nonprofit Cody Yellowstone Air Improvement Resources (CYAIR) is also engaged in that effort: CYAIR Chair Dusty Spomer said the organization’s two primary goals are to add another carrier and a connection to a second hub, whether that be Houston, Chicago or elsewhere.

Among other benefits, Buck believes that adding another destination could help reduce ticket costs for local residents.

“We’ve got a lot we can add here,” Spomer said of YRA, with “a lot of ground to be gained.”

Buck said an in-progress “leakage study” — which will look at how many people are currently using other airports in the region, or even driving to Cody instead of flying — will help YRA with its strategic planning for the future. 

“I think we have some very big discussions coming up,” Buck said at the December meeting, adding, “we’ve got a great opportunity here.”

(Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the year-over-year increase in enplanements was 9.5%, not 13%.)