Nearly 30% more passengers flew out of Casper/Natrona County International Airport in July than did a year ago, airport officials reported Monday.
Casper Star Tribune, August 14, 2024.
This over withdrawing support for the subsidy payments for the flight to Salt Lake City. Casper complained it had received no notice of this occurring, and is concerned what it will mean.
I heard them flying over downtown and looked up and saw them flying, but didn't notice the Japanese markings. After realizing what they were, I went out the next day and to see if they were still there, and they were.
These are the SNJ's that were altered and remodeled to closely resemble Japanese Navy A6M's (Zeroes) and Nakajima B5N's (Kates) for the 1970s movie Tora! Tora! Tora!. The resemblance to the Japanese aircraft is truly remarkable.
In this instance, these aircraft were on their way to an airshow in Salt Lake City.
In local and semi local news:
1. Last Saturday evening, a Delta Airlines 757 bound from Atlanta to Salt Lake City lost cabin pressure and had to land at the Natrona County International Airport.
2. On June 17the Casper/Natrona County International Airport Board of Directors notified the Fly Casper Alliance (FCA) that it voted to withdraw support for the minimum revenue guarantee which has kept SkyWest flying as the Delta Connection to Salt Lake. This will almost surely end commercial air service from Casper to SLC.
Footnotes
* The reference is to the type of blues associated with the Missippii Delta.
B-24J 42-100023 piloted by 2nd. Lt. Richard Zorn of Connecticut crashed on top of Casper Mountain, south of Casper, Wyoming, at about midnight, killing all on board.
So stated a Casper City Councilman about extending an additional $400,000 to SkyWest Delta to anchor the flight to Salt Lake City from Casper for at least a while.
I'm glad they did. I don't know if it stinks, but losing the flight certainly would.
In an interview with Wyoming News Now, Casper Mayor Bruce Knell came out against providing subsidies to Sky West and went on to suggest that Wyoming had more airports than it needs. He specifically stated, regarding SkyWest
SkyWest is a 1.2-billion-dollar company. They absolutely should not receive any of taxpayers’ money … to help them with their business.
Knell also went on to accuse SkyWest of "feasting" off of the revenues and basically threatening the communities by indicating they may pull out.
And he went on to challenge the Minimum Revenue Guaranty concept, stating, according to Oil City News:
We need to do away with these MRGs statewide. The state needs to quit funding them. We need to do away with the airport in Gillette, in Rock Springs, in Evanston, in Sheridan, in Cody, in Riverton. They all need to go away. We need to have one international airport in Casper, and one airport in Jackson.
Not too surprisingly, the communities which Knell feels should lose an airport reacted. Officials from Sweetwater County wrote a letter in reply which stated.
The Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport is a critical economic driver for Southwest Wyoming, supporting over $36.9 million in annual economic activity including $25.5 million in annual spending and 324 jobs resulting in $11.4 million in annual payroll,” the letter states. “Much like your local airport, our airport provides critical connectivity to the global economy for dozens of commercial and industrial employers in Southwest Wyoming while also providing residents connectivity to healthcare, friends, family and leisure destinations, improving the overall quality of life for our workforce.
While you may be willing to risk your local economy’s vitality, we are not. Our airport and its air service are foundationally critical assets to our community.
Casper's mayor, it should be noted, serves in a different capacity than those of most cities and towns, and accordingly is not elected as mayor, but appointed to that position by other councilmen. This is not to say that it's wholly influential, however.
As for doing away with airports, it's hard to imagine any of these airports going away. The real question is whether they shall continue to have commercial air service. Knell's view seems to be that if they didn't have regional service to Denver and Salt Lake, that would mean that the Casper and Jackson airports would succeed by default, something that's not really clear.
FWIW, at one time or another I've been in planes that landed at every one of these airports, although I've only been on regular commercial flights to Casper. Having said that, I've known people to take commercial flights into Jackson, Cody, Riverton and Rock Springs, and I've never heard any complaints about those flights. Being able to fly regionally, and with much greater access than currently exists, is something that outside business entities often ask about.
Knell's overall point is that he feels that the free market should take care of all of this. The truth of the matter is, however, that only rail transportation isn't subsidized in the U.S. Highway transportation is heavily subsidized by taxes, which fund the roads, various transportation departments, and specialized police forces. Air transportation is subsidized by the creation and maintenance of airports, and the maintaining of the TSA and FAA.
Given that, we might really wish to ask the question of what transportation we wish to subsidize and in what amounts, assuming we wish to subsidize any, and of course we do. Nobody is going to suggest we abolish highway funding, for example. So the real question is what is most efficient, socially productive and serves our long term goals.
Air Tractor at Natrona County International Airport.
Denver International Airport.
Wind farm north of Glenrock/Casper.
Bar Nunn, Wyoming.
