The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Houston secured; Fewer seats out of Dallas
Next ski season’s winter air service for the valley seems to be predominately set. Houston service will be very similar to last year while Dallas service will be provided by a smaller jet.
The Gunnison County Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) voted unanimously this week to spend $538,452 in taxpayer dollars to fulfill a minimum revenue guarantee and maintain winter airline service between the Gunnison-Crested Butte Airport and Houston.
The vote came after RTA chairman Chris Morgan implored the board to avoid an executive session, and to move forward with a public discussion and decision.
“We’ve looked at the aircraft available and the estimated cost to get people here…what we’re trying to do is bring more people in.” said Morgan. “We have information and options and we can make decisions today, or we can wait and make decisions later, but I don’t see anything changing.”
The board’s decision will result in the securing of a contract with United Airlines to provide 26 flights, or a total of 3,328 passenger seats on a 128-seat A319 Airbus, to the valley for the 2013-2014 winter season. The service is similar to what was available during the 2012-2013 season, in which 20 flights were offered, and the continuation is purposeful.
“Three years ago we determined that we wanted to stay as consistent as we could as we were building our air program,” said RTA board member and Gunnison County Commissioner Paula Swenson during a special meeting of the RTA on May 20. “Now we have cut as much as we can, and hopefully we can sustain this level of service by bringing in the airbus from Houston.”
The RTA had budgeted $550,000 to be used for airline service in the upcoming year. Board member Jonathan Houck expressed concern with spending that much money on 26 flights but fellow board member Bill Nesbitt pointed out that was in the ballpark of past guarantee expenditures.
“This is not an anomaly,” said Nesbitt. “It seems like a lot, but it is within a range of what we have done before.”
Alongside the RTA’s decision to go with United, Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) made the call to sign a contract guaranteeing a minimum revenue of $750,000 with American Airlines for winter air service from Dallas to Gunnison. Daily service on American will also be supplied by an A319 Airbus with 128 seats, and will run from December 18, 2013 through March 30, 2014, accounting for 103 flights and 13,184 inbound seats, according to director of Crested Butte Vacations Jeff Moffett.
This is 5,804 fewer seats than were available in 2012-2013, a difference that is largely attributable to the change in aircraft from a 757 to the A319.
According to Moffett, each passenger on the incoming flights spends approximately $1,300 in the valley during his or her visit. Therefore, a decrease in seats offered by the airlines likely results in a decrease in revenue for the overall community, surmised Nesbitt.
While the RTA will likely sign the contract with United and CBMR has given American the go-ahead, both the resort and the board said they will be working together to best determine how to ultimately pay for the airlines’ service and meet the minimum revenue guarantees, if necessary. In addition, they will continue to discuss how to bring more flights into Gunnison, including flights from Denver.
