Paid for by Forward Fremont County PAC
“Air service. Air service. Air service,” was the answer provided by SageWest CEO, John Whiteside, at a recent meeting when asked what does the local business community need to thrive. He went on to explain how air service was critical to bringing new doctors and nurses into our community to provide quality healthcare. That air service was necessary for hospital staff travel to meetings, conferences, yearly training and more. And that air service was maybe most critical in the recruiting process when a potential new doctor’s spouse needs to be convinced that they would have easy access to their loved ones and various attractions, even while so far away.
And when businesses grow, they are able to create more jobs, benefiting others that may never need to fly.
Jeff McMenamy, CEO of Teton Therapy, echoed those thoughts, speaking to cost savings, speed and efficiency and workforce recruiting air service supports for his business. “When you need air service, its super important. Without good local service, our employees would drive 6 hours to Denver and overnight in a hotel to get to annual training sessions held across the country. It cost the business money for food and lodging, mileage expenses and lost days of work, which would then be duplicated on the return home. Add safety concerns for our employees while on the road in bad weather, and this was not an ideal situation.” Flying from Casper or Jackson were possible options, but with the same or additional challenges.
With two of three locations operating in Fremont County, Teton Therapy looked for solutions. “Sometimes we would fly trainers in, but those additional hours needed to use out-of-county air services would cut short our training time. Our staff is better able to utilize cutting edge therapeutic technologies, and provide better health outcomes for our patients because we are able to connect to the nation using our Riverton air services.”
As experienced by nearly every business today, recruiting staff is hard, and even more so when specialized skills and licenses are required. Workforce development is critical to a smooth operation that provides the kind of care and service that Fremont County residents need and deserve. For Teton Therapy that means reaching out to over 18,000 therapy professionals across the country as well as new graduates, every week via electronic media. When the opportunity comes to consider hiring one of them, good candidates generally need to get in and out to Fremont County for interviews quickly, so they can be back on the job, or back into the classroom, without missing work back in their current locales. McMenamy said, “First we have to sell them on the job, then we have to sell them on the location. Out of state therapists and soon-to-be-new graduates often worry about moving away from family and their comfortable living environment. The happy result for some that chose to relocate, is that their families, thanks to our air service, become visitors to our community, enjoying the outdoor sports and beauty we all appreciate, and they actually see more of their families, not less.” Teton Therapy has been successful bringing professionals in from Texas, New York, Pennsylvania and other locations, who then become good, new local citizens.
A little bit of history:
- Riverton Airport first began commercial air service in 1949. It’s been a wild ride since.
- 1974 saw major improvements in the airport allowing Frontier Airlines (largest local carrier at the time) to land 737s. Without voter funding support, Frontier indicated they would have to fly much smaller airplanes that would’ve significantly curtailed capacity.
- Various commercial airlines flew a number of different routes from Riverton during the heyday of the uranium boom (mining peaked in 1981). In 1984 enplanements (passengers on one-way lift offs) topped 17,600.
- Industrial demand: Uranium mining, that required air services, supported the Fremont County economy through the 1970s and most of ‘80s. Oil and gas picked up the slack with significant growth in new well completions in 2005. However, new well development then declined and took a major hit in 2015 (as did industry jobs), which correlates to the decline in enplanements, bottoming out at 3,500 in 2015.
- 2016 Great Lakes Airlines, that serviced Worland and Riverton, discontinued flights to Worland and later Sheridan, with expectations of leaving Riverton in the near future. With the discontinuation of service, Worland lost TSA support dooming efforts to overcome the economic impact.
- 2014 is also when Riverton’s mayor asked a county-wide group of professionals to convene FAST – the Fremont Air Service Team. This group has been tasked with developing solutions to the various challenges that have faced maintaining Fremont County’s air service. The group continues to provide expertise, volunteer hours and guidance today to support continuing air service.
- 2016 Riverton, working with Sheridan and the State, created a unique charter relationship with Denver Air Connections that maintained service to Denver, albeit not with the same connecting partnerships with national carriers. The program required about $600,000 annually in funding support from local communities with additional support from the State.
- The DAC partnership allowed Fremont County to maintain air service, as well as the required TSA operations. Enplanements were once again growing, to over 7,500 by the end of 2019.
- From 2015 to 2020, the local economies continued to struggle. Earlier funding supporters – Fremont County and Lander, were no longer able to contribute at the same levels. With inflation on the horizon, Riverton was unable to take on the full load. Local advocates petitioned to put the ½ percent economic development initiative on the ballot. The 2020 initiative was passed by voters and air service (along with other economic growth imperatives) was put on a more solid foundation.
- In 2019, with help from the State and Fremont County’s Senator Eli Bebout, a partnership was struck with Skywest, with United Airlines connections, to service four airports in Wyoming, including Riverton. After the first month of partnership(February 2020) enplanements skyrocketed to 1,129, with a year-end projection of over 16,000. That projection was disappointed as enplanements plummeted in April as Covid hit the nation creating chaos in the airline industry. By 2021, many smaller communities across the nation (although significantly larger than Riverton) would lose nationally-connected commercial air service.
- The Good News: Thus far, through September 2024, enplanements are over 14,954 with a year-end projection of over 18,000, improving the economy by empowering businesses and growing jobs.
The stories shared by SageWest and Teton Therapy have become more common as Fremont County’s air service has expanded and become more reliable. Wind River Job Corps flies more than a hundred job training students in and out of this airport annually, typically at high, refundable ticket rates. NOLS makes good use of local air service when providing wilderness experiences to students, leadership training for business executives or health and rescue training to emergency personnel, drawing clients from across the country and around the world. Some of the county’s largest employers, including the casinos and colleges are the strongest advocates for maintaining air service.
That said, continuing air service is dependent on the maintenance of the ½ percent economic growth tax, especially in light of inflation, that is up for renewal on the November ballot. Without renewal, the FAST group thinks they can likely maintain air service on a limited schedule for about a year. Without the service, businesses, employers and jobs will suffer, as will tourism.
“I personally appreciate the values of independence and work ethic found in Wyoming. We find our solutions and help our neighbors. I endorse the ½ percent economic growth fund because it helps my business thrive, but also because it allows us to profit from the tourism economy that is so drawn to this area. It’s a smart investment.” remarked Jeff McMenamy.
Please vote “YES” for the ½ percent economic development initiative on this November’s ballot, and encourage your friends, family and co-workers to do the same.
Sponsored Post paid for by Forward Fremont County PAC
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