The Farmington City Council unanimously voted to award a contract to SkyWest Airlines to provide commercial air service at the Four Corners Regional Airport in Farmington.
The contract, which Mayor Nate Duckett said is “contingent upon grant funds,” was awarded after a 24-minute meeting Tuesday in which councilors met in a closed session for discussion.
“SkyWest appreciates the opportunity to be a part of the Farmington community, and we look forward to providing reliable, convenient United Express flights to Denver,” said Cody Thomas, managing director of market development at SkyWest Airlines.
“Farmington passengers will enjoy access to United’s global route network, a seamless travel process, and a comfortable flight experience onboard our 50-passenger jets – all with the convenience of flying local,” Thomas said, adding the airline anticipates starting service this summer.
Farmington Chief Procurement Officer Jennifer Rowland stated a request for proposal for air service was opened Dec. 30, and SkyWest Airlines provided the sole response.
The Tri-City Record made an Inspection of Public Records request on Jan. 6 for a copy of SkyWest’s proposal.
“It is in process, and I can confirm we will not be getting that to you today (Jan. 7),” City Clerk Andrea Jones said told the Tri-City Record after the meeting.
“SkyWest’s proposal is to provide daily United Express flights to Denver onboard the 50-seat CRJ200 aircraft,” Thomas said. “Flights would be available for purchase on united.com.”
The proposal “is deemed to be advantageous and in the best interest of the city,” Rowland said during the meeting when councilors returned to open session.
Airport Manager Mike Lewis, City Manager Rob Mayes and Duckett have been in negotiations with SkyWest since 2019, when the St. George, Utah-based airline considered providing air service to Farmington.
However, Lewis said in previous reports that COVID-19 put a pause on earlier plans.
“While we regularly evaluate markets across the country, Farmington approached us some time ago and we have had conversations over a few years,” Thomas said.
He added that several factors went into SkyWest considering Farmington as a place to provide service.
“There are a variety of factors we look at when considering service in a new market, including market demand, operating resources, and United and SkyWest network needs,” Thomas said.
“We are closer than we have ever been,” Mayes said during the meeting, adding that the contract award “is a huge incremental step, not a monumental step.”
This is because the city will continue to work with SkyWest through the application process to secure grant funds from the New Mexico Department of Transportation’s Rural Air Service Enhancement Grant program.
The grant program which was created under New Mexico Statute 64-6-3, provides funds for “new air routes or expanded air routes.”
In order to be eligible for funding, the city needs to have a minimum population of 20,000 people who live within a 50-mile radius of the airport and the aircraft being used “shall have a passenger capacity of not more than one hundred persons,” the statute states.
The city is able to apply for up to $2.75 million per year and must provide a 10% match, according to the statute.
“While we anticipate strong demand for this new service, we can’t stress enough how important it is for people to utilize it,” Thomas said. “We’ve seen over time that once a community enjoys reliable air service, the demand continues to grow.”
“We look forward to working with the community to help make that happen at Four Corners Regional Airport,” he added.
Duckett said the city “will continue to work with SkyWest,” and he is “excited they responded the RFP to bring commercial air service back to our area.”
SkyWest employs 14,427 people and partners “with United, Delta, American and Alaska Airlines, carrying 38.6 million passengers in 2023,” according to the company’s website.
The airline has an operating fleet of 484 aircraft with hubs at Chicago O'Hare International and in Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Seattle, the website states.
The publicly traded company announced a 2024 third-quarter profit of “pretax income of $116 million, net income of $90 million, or $2.16 per diluted share,” according to an Oct. 31 news release in which CEO Chip Childs stated the company continues to grow.
“Our ability to organically grow the number of available captains for the first three quarters of 2024 has opened up incremental growth vectors for us,” Childs said in the release. “We are making significant progress in recapturing underserved markets, increasing fleet utilization and quickly placing new aircraft deliveries into service.”
The airline also in August 2024 was “named one of America’s Best Midsize Companies by Time Magazine and Statista,” according to a news release from the company that also stated it “was named one of America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity and America's Greatest Workplaces for Women by Newsweek.”
