The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Winter service robust
[ by Mark Reaman ]The airline flight program in and out of the Gunnison-Crested Butte Airport continues to grow. In his report to the Gunnison County Regional Transit Authority (RTA) board of directors on August 8, airline consultant Bill Tomcich reported that record numbers are being tallied at the airport, and the future is moving in a positive direction.
“The numbers are very strong, and everything is trending in a positive direction both for the rest of this summer, the fall and into winter,” he said. “The Texas markets are definitely hot.”
According to his report, total passenger counts on all United flights for both June and July are up 28% over last year. Scheduled public charter JSX is also seeing good use this summer out of Dallas and plans to continue flights through September 22. He said the flights between Gunnison and Denver have a great connection schedule and are filling up and this indicates “the local market is definitely using the air service.”
As for the upcoming winter season, Tomcich said the MRG (Minimum Revenue Guarantee) contracts have been signed between United Airlines and the RTA and regular direct flights from Chicago will be part of the schedule this coming ski season. He said there will be two flights a week between O’Hare and GUC starting in mid-December except in January when that service is suspended after January 4 through the end of the month. It will start up again on February 6 and go through the end of March producing 22 total round-trip operations.
The winter service out of Houston will also start in mid-December and provide daily round-trip service through March. There will be three daily flights between GUC and Denver this winter while American out of Dallas will fly twice a day during the late December holiday period and then once a day starting January 6 through the end of ski season in early April.
“June and July have been extremely strong and that looks to carry over into the fall and into the ski season,” he concluded. “The air program is strong and expanding.”
Tourism and Prosperity Partnership (TAPP) executive director Andrew Sandstrom said while summer visitation numbers are slightly up year-over-year (see story in August 8 Crested Butte News issue), the air program is showing “robust passenger growth indicating that a lot of locals are using air out of Gunnison.”
Sandstrom said compared to some bigger mountain resort towns like Aspen and Vail that are losing international visitors this year, that is not much of a factor for Crested Butte and Gunnison since international tourism has never had a strong foothold in the local market.
