As we all learned on Dec. 30, the Prescott Airport reached the goal of 10,000 passengers enplaned within the calendar year 2018. Reaching this goal is a significant accomplishment that will unlock considerable funding for future airport growth.
A lot of people helped the airport reach this goal: Airport Director Dr. Robin Sobotta, the city, led by Mayor Greg Mengarelli, as well as many residents of our community who have supported the SkyWest airline service in unprecedented numbers. For 2018, there were 10,111 passenger enplanements, so the goal was met, but with not much margin for error.
By reaching this passenger goal, Prescott Airport will now be designated a primary non-hub airport within the funding programs of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Previously, Prescott Airport was designated a non-primary commercial service airport.
This new airport designation raises the airport’s entitlement for capital improvements from $150,000 to $1,000,000, effective in October when next year’s funding starts within the FAA.
Even with this significant increase in funding, there was a more important reason for the airport to reach the 10,000-passenger goal in 2018. As part of the FAA Reauthorization Act last year, there were additional monies available for primary airports if the airport is doing a terminal project. This money went up from $200,000 to $20,000,000. The more shovel-ready the project is, the more likely the FAA will fund the work.
Since the goal was met, Prescott is now a primary airport and is also designing a new terminal. The Prescott terminal is scheduled to be shovel ready after May and the city should know within a couple of weeks just how much money the project may be receiving.
Having 10,000 passengers really did mean millions of dollars of future FAA grant money.
To put it briefly in perspective how successful the new airline service has been, SkyWest bid the Essential Air Service (EAS) contract at a 44 percent load factor. That means the planes would be flying more than half empty on every flight. Since the new air service was inaugurated, the lowest load factor was 70 percent in August. December’s load factor hit 84.4 percent. SkyWest has informed airport staff this service launch was the best they’ve ever had.
This could be considered pretty good for a small-town airport in the middle of the Arizona high desert. But wait, based on flight operations, our small-town airport ranks right between Chicago Midway and Oakland as the 40th busiest airport in the entire country. So, the reality is, Prescott is not a little airport any longer.
All this success makes a good story, right? But like all stories, there are stories behind the stories and one of those is about how numerous citizens in our community stepped up to help the airport achieve the goal of 10,000 passengers.
Around the first of December, I received an email from Daryl Austermiller, who is the president of the Prescott Airport Users Association. This is a group of aviation professionals and enthusiasts who support and love aviation in our community, of which I am a member.
Daryl and his wife, Karen, were planning a trip to Los Angeles on Dec. 11, to have dinner and help support the airport’s drive to 10,000 passengers. Daryl sent this email to his contact list to invite us along. After some consideration, my wife and I decided to join the Austermillers on the flight. My wife had already taken two trips on the new airline for work and personal reasons, I had not. This trip was an opportunity for us to help the airport and for me to experience the new service. And, I was curious about the new service after my wife’s raving good reviews.
My wife and I drove into the airport on Tuesday, walked the few feet from the car to the terminal, breezed through security and waited for our departure. Without making the rest of this story a travelogue, departing from Prescott was just like departing from Sky Harbor – without the two-hour travel, two-hour wait before departure and all the people.
We got on the flight and chatted with our fellow passengers. On this one flight on Dec. 11, there were at least 10 people on that plane doing exactly what we were doing – taking a flight to help our airport. I can’t help but believe this civic behavior was repeated numerous times throughout the latter part of last year to help hit the 10,000-passenger goal.
Well done, Prescott! QCBN
By Lance Leighnor
Lance Leighnor has four decades of experience in general aviation aircraft, and active management of rental aircraft since 2011. Lance is the managing member of Leighnor Aircraft. He can be reached by phone at 928-499-3080, by email at lance@LeighnorAircraft.com or via the Leighnor Aircraft website at LeighnorAircraft.com.
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