RTA looks at local flight promotions, new CB South bus stop

Friends of Flight would provide businesses with flight credits

Gunnison County employers, employees and friends may soon receive monetary credits anywhere from $50 to $1,000 for airline travel as part of a new program being proposed by the Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority (RTA).

The program, tentatively titled Friends of Flight, is part of the long and ongoing effort of the RTA to promote air travel by local residents in the Gunnison Valley. It grew from the local reimbursement idea that was presented at RTA meetings earlier this year, said RTA airline consultant Kent Myers.
“This is about getting the local businesses invested,” said Myers. “We hope the program would provide the incentive for businesses to promote air service in general, both to their employees and to the public.”
The concept behind Friends of Flight is essentially one of marketing and partnership. Businesses with high profile Internet presences would subscribe to the program, and in return the RTA would “in essence buy space on the websites of popular merchants” for the promotion of the RTA and local flights, said Myers. In exchange for their participation and the use of their website, the merchants would receive a credit for an airline ticket.
Business owners would then be free to use the credit for their own travels, offer it to their employees or pass it on to their customers.
“We would have to work with the owners to figure out how to pass this all the way down to the employees who are talking with the public for the maximum benefit,” said RTA board member Carolyn Riggs.
Crested Butte community member and owner of Black Tie Ski Rentals Roman Kolodziej said it would be the RTA’s responsibility to include businesses and promote the program in a mutually beneficial manner. In addition he urged the board to make Friends of Flight part of an already existing RTA initiative.
“I’d encourage you to look at the branding and organization of this program and encourage you to make it part of an already existing program,” he said. “Programs may get diluted when there are so many. This could be an opportunity to offer an additional benefit or aspect of an endeavor that already exists.”
According to the RTA, Friends of Flight could be activated as early as this February, with part of the hurry being the organization’s desire to promote the new summer air service from Houston.
“The sooner we can get any sort of promotion for the summer flight going, the better off we will be and the greater chance we’ll have to pay less for the summer flights and to have the service continue into the future,” said RTA board chairman Chris Morgan.”
RTA executive director Scott Truex added that the RTA hopes to pay for Friends of Flight with dollars from the federal grant supporting the summer air service.
“We don’t know if we can make this work through the grant or not, but we’re going to try to get this matched,” he said.
In other RTA news, Crested Butte South will soon have a new bus stop serving the Gunnison and Crested Butte communities. The stop will be located near the tennis courts in Crested Butte South, and the local property owners association will pay roughly $1,600 for the development of the stop and a bus turnaround at the location.
“If we’re going all the way in to Crested Butte South, we should go the right spot and be where they want us,” said Morgan. “Everyone agrees on the tennis court location.”