RTA board thinks more snow will mean more bookings

“Snow cures all sins…”

by Mark Reaman

After a trip to Chicago earlier this month to meet United Airlines officials, representatives of the Gunnison Valley Transportation Authority (RTA) and the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association (TA) feel more confident about the winter air potential. Local officials were getting a bit worried about the lack of future air bookings but United executives assured them that the issue was industry-wide for ski areas and they cited the “snow hangover” from last season’s lean winter.

“United didn’t share the concern we have for the soft early season booking,” explained TA executive director John Norton. “They said it was soft across the board and cited the ‘snow hangover’ effect. They expect it to pick up significantly soon. We’ll get the DestiMetrics report about future bookings soon and that should give us more information.”

RTA air consultant Kent Myers agreed, saying air reservations started to make up some ground last week after recent snowstorms. “Getting snow substantially helps. People have immediate access to information about snow conditions these days and they take that back and talk about it over the water cooler. Let’s hope it continues,” he said.

Norton said the TA was “vigorously” promoting the ski season in markets that have airline connections through Denver and Dallas.

Myers said in the Chicago meetings it was evident the airlines executives were very open to ideas coming out of the local group. The United reps they met with were skiers and he cited how one of the team members had statistics showing how bookings to ski destinations directly corresponded with snow totals. He said United did express some disappointment in how last season’s overnight flight performed. The seasonal load factor for the overnight flight was just under 64 percent.

“They feel having the afternoon flight that leaves GUC around 5 p.m. could be good for us,” Myers said. “They are optimistic about it. It allows people to ski an extra half day and, given how the flight banks are set up in Denver, they feel it is the best move for Gunnison. It does connect some with other flights leaving Denver but not as much as we’d like to see. The bottom line on that is that the afternoon flight will meet more Texas and Midwest flights in Denver but there is not as much connectivity to the East Coast. The meeting was pleasant but a little disappointing. Snow is a positive and we are bullish on the flights that are properly scheduled.”

“The good news is that United is committed to grow the Denver hub and grow the skiing business,” said Norton. “So that’s good.”

“There is definitely a big push into Denver from United. They are expanding the gates and want to make it a bigger and more international airport. That will help us,” added Myers. “On a positive note, the price of crude oil is down and that has a big impact on costs and our guarantees.”

RTA executive director Scott Truex told the board that as part of the guarantee contracts with the airlines, the price of jet fuel is considered and adjusted. “Low fuel prices impact the contracts and while it doesn’t always sound like a lot it adds up quickly,” he said.

Myers said talks with American Airlines executives in Dallas did not appear to go as smoothly as the meetings with United. “We had a lively discussion,” he reported to the board. “The 39 days where they moved the Dallas flight to earlier in the morning will not help us a lot,” he said. “They explained it was a matter of the number of gates available but they chose us to take the hit since basically GUC would feel the smallest impact on the American Airlines system. Given that, I asked them to take our contract guarantee to zero. They didn’t respond to that so we moved on.”

“We understand it is a gate issue and they are building new gates so we will be back on schedule when that is completed,” said Truex. “It is only 39 days from early January into February.”

“January is already a tough time of year,” said Myers.

“Unless it snows,” said RTA board member Jonathan Houck. “Snow covers all sins.”

“They are working with us the best they can,” said Truex. “They put some extra segments in at their cost when groups are scheduled to come in.”

Myers said early indications are that summer flights in 2019 will mirror those in 2018 that were successful. He predicted that the new School of Computer Science and Engineering at Western Colorado University could also add a new dimension to the Gunnison airport and make it busier.