Jets bring more revenue to FD airport
Fewer tax dollars needed to fund its operations
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-Messenger file photo
United Express operated by SkyWest flights take off at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport. The first flights began in March 2021.
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-Messenger file photo
The first United Express operated by SkyWest flight arrived at Fort Dodge Regional Airport in March 2021. The company began flights between Fort Dodge and Denver in October 2021.
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-Submitted photo
Bombardier CRJ-200 jets like the one shown here are a regular sight at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport. United Express began flying those jets between Fort Dodge and Chicago O’Hare International Airport in Illinois beginning March 1, 2021, and added flights to Denver, Colorado, in October 2021.
-Messenger file photo
United Express operated by SkyWest flights take off at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport. The first flights began in March 2021.
The new United Express jet service at Fort Dodge Regional Airport has had a financial benefit for the city.
Revenue at the airport is up and that is because of the airline’s presence, according to Rhonda Chambers, the airport’s director of aviation.
Thanks to that revenue, fewer tax dollars will be needed to run the airport, according to information she presented to the City Council Monday.
The proposed airport budget for 2022-2023 is $723,168.
The facility is expected to generate $426,200 in revenue in the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
-Messenger file photo
The first United Express operated by SkyWest flight arrived at Fort Dodge Regional Airport in March 2021. The company began flights between Fort Dodge and Denver in October 2021.
Chambers said the airport gets 6 cents for every gallon of aviation fuel sold there. She said it also collects landing fees and the jets flown by United Express generate bigger fees than the propeller-driven planes operated by Air Choice One, the previous commercial air carrier.
Thanks to that revenue, city taxpayers will chip in $296,968 for the $723,168 budget.
That tax asking is down $9,100 from the current fiscal year’s figures.
United Express, operated by Skywest Airlines Inc., began serving Fort Dodge in March 2021. Initially it connected the city with Chicago O’Hare International Airport in Illinois. Then in October it also began offering flights to Denver International Airport in Colorado.
It uses 50-passenger Bombardier CJR-200 jets.
-Submitted photo
Bombardier CRJ-200 jets like the one shown here are a regular sight at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport. United Express began flying those jets between Fort Dodge and Chicago O’Hare International Airport in Illinois beginning March 1, 2021, and added flights to Denver, Colorado, in October 2021.
Chambers said the flights are now about 45 percent full.
”Every month continues to get better,” she said.
One major project is planned at the airport in the coming year. A taxiway, which is a kind of road that planes travel on between the terminal and the runways, will be rebuilt.
”The pavement there has basically failed,” Chambers said.
She added that the taxiway will be widened from 35 feet to 50 feet.
