Uintah County and Vernal City officials have a decision ahead of them: offer the Vernal Regional Airport contract to SkyWest or stick with Boutique Air. Local officials were surprised that SkyWest put in a bid and are weighing the many factors involved. “It’s interesting that they want to come back,” shares Uintah County Commissioner Duane Shepherd. “It makes us wonder if there is something coming up in the market that they see.” Shepherd says local officials made it clear to SkyWest that there is not a new terminal building and circumstances haven’t changed much though the new runway and taxi project will be complete by then. SkyWest and Boutique each made a sales pitch to local officials during a special meeting last week and the potential benefits of having SkyWest come are appealing. First is SkyWest has greater potential to reach 10,000 enplanements a year, says Shepherd, which would qualify the airport for an additional million dollar in annual funding from the FAA. Another appealing benefit would be the ability for passengers to book a single flight plan from Vernal to wherever their destination may be and travel connecting flights through Denver with baggage waiting at the destination. Still, there are potential disadvantages to moving to SkyWest, like losing the Salt Lake flights and concerns of reliability after SkyWest’s rocky history in the area. Local officials will continue meeting to consider the topic and the best way to proceed. It’s likely they will make their recommendation to the Federal Department of Transportation by the end of August. If selected, SkyWest would take over the contract next spring.
