United Express, operated by SkyWest Airlines Inc., provides one mid-day flight between Fort Dodge and Denver International Airport in Colorado.

The airline also provides flights to Chicago O’Hare International Airport in Illinois.

United Express began serving Fort Dodge in March 2021 with flights to Chicago. The flights to Denver were added in October 2021.

Rhonda Chambers, the director of aviation at Fort Dodge Regional Airport, said there has been a demand for flights to the western United States for a while.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Randy Aponte, ramp agent for Sky West, closes the doors to the plane before take off on Feb. 4 at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport.

“We’ve heard that for a long time,” she said.

“Providing direct air service to the west is a first for the Fort Dodge Regional Airport and a goal of the Airport Commission to meet the needs of those businesses and leisure travelers who frequently fly west,” she added.

The airline uses 50-passenger Bombardier CJR-200 jets for all flights.

United Express serves Fort Dodge with the aid of a roughly $3 million annual federal Essential Air Service subsidy.

People coming to the airport to travel on one of the flights to Chicago or Denver will notice something large and shiny marking the entrance to the site.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Randy Aponte, ramp agent for Sky West, signals the Sky West point for take off on Feb. 4 at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport.

It is a 24-foot long stainless steel sculpture entitled “Lift.” Installed in late 2021, it is the work of Davenport artist Tom Riefe.

A grant from the Catherine Vincent Deardorf Charitable Foundation paid for the sculpture. That means no tax dollars were used.

One major project is planned at the airport this 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.