By NATE KING
Salina Post
Salina City Commissioners voted at last week's city commission meeting to approve the allocation of funds necessary for an incentive package aimed to facilitate the creation of an overnight SkyWest maintenance base at the Salina Regional Airport.
The proposal was brought to the commission by the Salina Community Economic Development Organization Board of Directors. Mitch Robinson, executive director of the community economic development organization, and Tim Rogers, executive director of the Salina Airport Authority, briefed commissioners with information pertaining to the proposed agreement.
What is an overnight maintenance base?
SkyWest Airlines, the airline that operates out of Salina Regional Airport, 3237 Arnold Ave, currently has flights to and from Denver and Chicago. Rogers said the proposed maintenance base would expand operations at the airport and increase the number of flights to and from Salina.
"An aircraft like the CRJ200, by Federal Aviation Administration regulations, is required to go into an overnight maintenance base every third night," Rogers said. "This base is a tool to use to improve air service and one that is very unique to communities."
Bombadier CRJ200 jets are the same type of regional jets SkyWest uses at the Salina Regional Airport.
Rogers said a new maintenance base would cost SkyWest $20 million. He also said SkyWest has a second less costly option. Allow SkyWest to contract with Salina's 1 Vision Aviation for use of an existing hangar, which would be estimated at $15 million. Aircraft would come to Salina Regional Airport on scheduled passenger flights from United's Denver, Chicago, and Houston hubs.
"In an earnings call last year, SkyWest began to start talking about the need to outsource some of their maintenance to third parties," Rogers said.
SkyWest currently uses 1 Vision for maintenance and Rogers said the facility passed an audit conducted by SkyWest last year.
Rogers noted the need for $900,000 to start up the airline's overnight maintenance base at the Salina Regional Airport. According to information in the commission meeting packet, the $900,000 would be split among the city ($400,000), Saline County ($400,000), and the Salina Airport Authority ($100,000). The City of Salina currently has an economic development fund balance of approximately $898,000.
Benefits of having a maintenance base
Naturally, as more revenue-generating flights make their way to Salina for required maintenance, more passenger-filled planes will leave Salina.
"The schedule that is being discussed is non-stop service for Denver, Chicago, and Houston," Rogers said.
Rogers said that although non-stop flights to Houston are not a definite, having a maintenance base increases the likelihood of that happening. Both county and city commissions approved the financing for the base. Rogers said the airport authority board of directors is set to meet next week to vote on its contribution to the incentive agreement.
According to Rogers, pending approval, the base would be in operation by the end of 2023.