RTA Briefs

How about a partnership with Monarch?
Could the Monarch ski area help fill airline seats coming into Gunnison? Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority chairman Jonathan Houck says the idea is worth exploring. Houck brought the idea up at the March 26 RTA meeting. He said he had a very preliminary conversation with Greg Ralph, marketing vice president for Monarch, and found out the ski area actually has a fly-in customer base. And most of them fly into Colorado Springs or Denver.
“A surprising number of people fly in and ski Monarch and Gunnison is the closest airport to the resort,” he said. “I think we should explore expanding our partnership with Monarch.”
Houck cited figures he’d received from the Gunnison Chamber of Commerce showing that the Gunnison Get-aways promotion used to bring about 11,000 winter room-nights to Gunnison from people skiing in Crested Butte. That number, he said, has dwindled to little more than a thousand.
“This might be a way to get people in Gunnison to understand the importance of air service. More people staying in Gunnison lodging and eating in Gunnison restaurants would certainly help that,” Houck said.
“Monarch and Crested Butte are apples to oranges, but getting some of the Monarch skiers in here might get them to try Crested Butte. Plus, if we get our load factors up on the airplanes, we can perhaps make a dent in our guarantees. Let’s at least get on Monarch’s website.”
Jeff Moffett, CBMR’s director of central reservations and revenue management, said he had investigated the Gunnison lodging program and found there has been a consistent 4,000 or 5,000 room-nights booked every year through the Get-aways promotion for the last five years. “The 11,000 figure has to be an error,” he said.
Board member Leah Williams said the RTA air partner, CBMR, should be consulted before actively pursuing another such partnership.
“Will Monarch come to the table with two or three hundred thousand dollars?” asked Daren Cole, CBMR’s vice president of marketing and sales, in reference to the amounts put up by CBMR and the RTA to pay airline guarantees.
Houck emphasized it was a very preliminary idea. The board generally agreed to pursue the idea and see if some sort of expanded Monarch partnership could be worked out.

And the survey says…
Western State College professor Caroline Mitchell reported to the RTA concerning the ongoing winter surveys being conducted by WSC students. The goal is to survey 1,000 people at the airport.
So far, with 897 surveys conducted, results show that the majority of people traveling through the airport do so with family members. The primary destination is Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte. In fact, she said 70 percent are coming to ski CBMR.
The airport itself and the staff get consistently high marks, said Mitchell, adding that 95 percent of those surveyed said they would use the airport in the future. A complete report on the survey will be compiled at the end of the season.