County airport sees positive increases

A Green River contractor was awarded a bid to build the new General Aviation Terminal at the Rock Springs-Sweetwater County Airport.

A Pleasant Construction won the bid for the $5.84 million project, construction of which will start Monday. Devon Brubaker, airport manager, said the 75-year-old terminal’s roof started caving in recently, after the bid was opened. He said no local funding outside of what’s spent in furniture, fixtures and equipment will be used in the construction project.

Brubaker said other improvements have recently been made to the airport, including a Federal Aviation Administration-funded instrument approach system installed after the FAA determined the airport’s older system should be removed. Brubaker said the FAA initially wanted to simply shut down the system without a replacement, which would have shut down the airport to landings made during bad weather. Brubaker said the airport fought for a new system and the FAA decided the airport needed the system, opting to pay for the system’s replacement.

The airport also received a new solar array, 85 percent of which is covered by Rocky Mountain Power.

The array is expected to help cut $150,000 in utility costs to the airport over the course of its 30-year expected lifespan. Brubaker hopes this is the first of many solar arrays built at the airport. The solar array amounts to a $16,000 investment for the airport, as well as maintenance costs. Brubaker said the costs of purchasing an inverter for the array would amount to one moth’s of electricity savings from the array.

While jet fuel sales remain low, with Brubaker expecting a 39,000-gallon decrease in sales if another 10,000 gallons are sold by the end of the fiscal year, there are a number of other indicators showing business at the airport and the county’s economy are on the rise. One of those indicators is the amount of air cargo arriving at the airport. Brubaker said air cargo has increased during the last four months, up by 5.74 percent. Passenger departures from the airport have also steadily increased, with numbers being 7.79 percent higher than last year. Brubaker said much of the increase is due to more competitive fares.

Continued air fare sales have driven business at the airport, with the current fare sale projected to last to November. One such fare involves a weekend trip to Denver and provided the person stays overnight Saturday, costs $99 each way.

Other fares, such as trips to larger destinations like Los Angeles and New York that involve multiple flights cost $398 and $412 respectively. Brubaker said the rates are a result of overhauls done to fees and have significantly cut fares out of Sweetwater County.

“Now we’re competitive with Salt Lake City,” Brubaker said.

Increase use of the airport has resulted in less county and city money being paid to the airport’s operating airline, SkyWest. The airport has an operations agreement with SkyWest, ensuring the airline has a 10 percent profit margin. The agreement is funded through a grant offered by the Wyoming Department of Transportation’s Aeronautics Division, as well the Green River, Rock Springs and Sweetwater County governments.

Brubaker said the agreement is needed to ensure an airline operates out of Rock Springs and said SkyWest is a great community partner because the company could take its jets and make a 30-40 percent profit in another market.

“It’s based on usage,” Brubaker said.

The more usage results in lower amounts paid through the agreement. Halfway through the fiscal year, the airport has only paid out 26.32 percent of the funds available for the profit guarantee.