Аэропорт Шеридана генерирует более 102 млн долларов, но сталкивается с нехваткой мест

SHERIDAN — Sheridan County Airport generates more than $102 million annually to Wyoming’s $3.5 billion aviation industry, but its rapid growth is creating a capacity problem. “(Sheridan County is) setting record enplanement levels,” said Wyoming Department of Transportation Aeronautics Administrator Shawn Burke during a presentation last Wednesday. “There are some good things on the horizon for you guys.” WYDOT partnered with international architecture, engineering and geospatial firm Woolpert to release a 2026 statewide aviation study with this data. The report evaluated the economic contributions of Wyoming’s airport system and followed two previous studies released in 2013 and 2020. According to the 2026 study, Sheridan County contributed $2,907,830 in tax revenues and $102,342,700 in total economic activity. This number includes total payroll from airport employment and visitor spending. These numbers make Sheridan the fourth-largest airport in the state for economic impact, behind Jackson Hole Airport, Cheyenne Regional Airport and Casper/Natrona County International Airport. Its economic impact has grown by more than $22.8 million, adjusted for inflation, from WYDOT’s 2020 study. It also highlights Sheridan County Airport’s long-term growth. In 2015, Sheridan County Airport lost any commercial flights altogether, and Sheridan formed a Critical Air Service Team to get them back. Now, Burke said the Sheridan airport has the highest passenger load factor of Wyoming’s capacity purchase agreement airports, meaning its flights are filling a larger share of available seats. But this growth has also coincided with higher airline ticket prices for local residents and out-of-state travelers because of supply and demand. Several attendees of Wednesday’s presentation said they worry Sheridan’s prices aren’t competitive enough with other markets, including Gillette, Denver and Billings, Montana, thus deterring potential customers. “Our family is driving to Gillette this weekend to fly out of Gillette to Denver on the same flights we would otherwise (fly) out of Sheridan for $1,200 less,” said Sheridan resident and pilot J.T. Grainger. Prices for flights to and from Sheridan fluctuate for a variety of reasons. Sheridan County Airport is serviced by only one airline, SkyWest — a regional airline flying under United’s fleet. Without competing airlines servicing the same place, prices can be higher than flights out of larger hubs like Denver. Sheridan’s high load factor also means less available seats on each 50-passenger CRJ 200 jet flying to and from Sheridan. This can cause prices to rise. While Burke said he understands the frustration, he also sees this as a net positive. “This might not be the most popular thing to hear, but that’s a good thing that fares are high right now,” Burke said. “The airlines really like that, and it’s showing that you guys are absolutely crushing it for your market.” Burke said Sheridan has a capacity constraint. The airport’s flights are filling up, and it could motivate United and SkyWest to add another flight to Sheridan’s daily lineup. SkyWest has added a third flight to Sheridan’s schedule for short periods of time in the past — including two different instances in the last year. “Those are the conversations that we’re having with United right now,” Burke said. “I think (Sheridan) absolutely deserves a third flight, and I would not be surprised if that happens in the near future. You add 50% more capacity into your market, the fares will come down a little bit too at the same time.” Sheridan’s airport activity fits into the state’s larger aviation industry. It is one of nine commercial service airports in the state and one of 34 total. These airports support Wyoming’s business aviation, healthcare access, emergency response, land management, military operations, tourism, flight training, air cargo and public services. Together, the study reports, these airports generate 13,306 direct jobs for airport operations, business, construction and visitor spending, and $1.9 billion in annual economic impacts directly related to airport activity. To conduct the study, Woolpert relied on new radio antenna technology called automatic dependent surveillance broadcast, or ADS-B. “It can collect data on all aircraft operations for those aircraft that are equipped with this radio technology,” said Mark Cocanougher, project manager with Woolpert. “What that does is help us get better information on general aviation visitors.” The total economic activity, $3.5 billion, is calculated by adding an airport’s economic impacts that extend beyond these immediate dollars, called indirect or secondary impacts. These can include visitor spending on lodging, food and entertainment, or mortgages paid by airport employees. Cocanougher describes this as the ‘holistic economic impact’ attributed to aviation. “We conduct a very methodical survey effort,” Cocanougher said. “We come to the airports. We’re surveying passengers. We’re surveying the businesses (at) the airports. We’re surveying the airport administration themselves. … We are turning over every stone to get these jobs and dollar figures, and build them from the ground up.” Important takeaways from this study also include significant growth from 2020. Adjusted for inflation, the 2020 aviation study reported $2.57 billion in overall economic impact (about $2 billion in 2020 dollars), meaning economic activity has grown by more than $930 million in the last five years. For return on investment, every dollar the state put into its air service in 2020 returned $12. Now, that ROI has grown to $16 for every dollar invested.