The pilot shortage that previously limited the number of commercial flights SkyWest Airlines could provide in Wyoming – including at Central Wyoming Regional Airport – is improving, state lawmakers heard this month.
We’re watching it closely but we’re optimistic, SkyWest’s Market Development Director Daniel Belmont told the Wyoming Legislature’s Air Transportation Liaison Committee during a Sept. 4 meeting in Jackson. “It’s been a pretty hot topic amongst the regional aviation industry here over the last couple of years.”
The issue began in late 2021, he said, when regional airlines like SkyWest “started to see some major spikes in our pilot attrition.”
The increase in pilot attrition was “primarily due to the major airlines seeing (a) lot of travel demand return very quickly” after the COVID-19 pandemic, he explained.
In order to respond to the increased travel demand, Belmont said the major airlines “started to hire (new pilots) very quickly” – and they used regional airlines like SkyWest as their “farming ground for those pilots.”
The situation led to the increase in pilot attrition at SkyWest that required the airline to “reduce the amount of flying that we could do,” he said.
“We saw that go on for nearly a couple of years,” Belmont said. “But I’m happy to be able to let you know that this year has been an excellent year for SkyWest as far as our pilot attrition goes. (It’s) coming down notably.”
SkyWest expects “good pilot attrition numbers” next year too, Belmont said, as we work with major carriers to try to support the amount of hiring that will be going on.
“This helps have a positive impact on air service here in Wyoming,” he said. “That allows us to operate more … flights and carry more passengers than we have been able to the last couple of years with (those) major pilot attrition issues.”
Fremont County
Because of the reduction in pilot attrition, SkyWest was already able to increase the number of daily flights it provides at CWRA in Riverton this year – a move that generated a “very quick response from the market,” SkyWest Network Planning Manager Ted Christensen said.
“What we saw with Riverton is that it was immediate with passengers there ready to (use) that service – which is a good sign for the market,” Christensen said. “There is demand … to keep going. (We’re) very encouraged by the rebound that we saw in demand when we added that extra capacity.”
Enplanements are up at airports throughout the state as well, Wyoming Department of Transportation Air Service Development Program Manager Mariah Johnson said, calling 2023 “a banner year” for commercial air service in Wyoming.
Based on statistics from the first half of 2024, she added, Wyoming airports are likely to “out-perform” their 2023 passenger totals this year.
“We are seeing our regional airline pilot constraints easing, and some of our markets are starting to see the additional capacity come back,” she said, pointing to the increase in daily flights at CWRA as well as the positive response from the local flying public. “It was great to see that.”
Now, Johnson said WYDOT is examining “the need for additional capacity” moving forward – especially as many airlines continue transitioning to larger aircraft.
“We really have got to be looking for what the future looks like and what solutions we can come up with and making sure we’re ready for that shift to continue to happen, because that is what the trend is showing, (is) those larger aircraft coming online,” she said.
In Fremont County, preparing for larger aircraft means expanding the commercial terminal at CWRA, WYDOT Aeronautics Administrator Brian Olsen said, calling Riverton’s “probably the last commercial terminal” in Wyoming “that could use some work to be prepared for larger aircraft, if that were to happen.”
“Their hold room … where people can be secured past (the security checkpoint) maxes out at about 50 people,” he explained. “So if they have a mechanical delay with their morning flight and it starts pushing into the afternoon flight, it just becomes really challenging to have enough people in that secure room.”
The local community has applied for a federal grant to support the terminal expansion, he said, and “we’ll certainly keep our fingers crossed that they get that federal money,” but if the application is unsuccessful, “we’ll probably take it up on the state side.”