Three months ago, the airline provider at Western Nebraska Regional Airport eliminated its early morning flight and travelers are feeling the impact.
Until recently, SkyWest Airlines, doing business as United Airlines, offered a 6 a.m. flight out of the Scottsbluff airport to Denver. The airline has not offered the early morning flight since Sept. 6.
Western Nebraska Regional Airport Director Raul Aguallo told the Star-Herald that it was possible the flight could return, saying that these decisions were “never permanent” and that flight schedules change frequently.
The Star-Herald attempted to reach officials with SkyWest Airlines for comment. It’s communications department responded Friday with a statement: “Schedules are reviewed on a regular basis and adjustments may be made based on fleet, network and passenger needs.”
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The airline is offering a mid-morning flight that typically departs at 10:30 a.m., with the exception of Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and an evening flight that usually leaves at 6:30 p.m.
The lack of an early morning flight has created a significant disruption to travelers departing from Scottsbluff and traveling to Denver International Airport to catch connecting flights.
Without an early morning departure from Western Nebraska Regional Airport travelers miss most of the morning connections from DIA.
One traveler, Anna Karin-Fogg, who lives in New York and often travels back to Scottsbluff to care for her parents, is one traveler who is struggling with the flight changes. For the past 18 months, she had taken the 6 a.m. departure and was able to arrive back in New York in the late morning or early afternoon. That travel pattern was derailed when Sky West stopped offering the flight.
“I fly very, very frequently, so that’s why this flight thing has been a big problem,” Karin-Fogg said.
Flights to New York are not the only connections that have been impacted by the loss of the early morning flight. Travelers taking the 10:30 a.m. flight miss potential connections to most major cities.
If the 6 a.m. flight was still available, travelers could catch daily 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. connections from Denver and arrive in New York in the early afternoon.
Taking the 10:30 a.m. flight places a travelers arrival in the evening, even as late as 7 p.m. to the city. For travelers leaving for New York, using the 6:30 p.m. flight forces them to book a hotel in Denver as the flight arrives after the last flight to New York departs DIA, meaning they arrive early the following morning.
The same problems are caused with connecting flights to Chicago, Seattle and Las Vegas, though those travelers catching connecting flights will land flight does land in those cities late at night instead of the following morning.
SkyWest and United Airlines have shifted flight schedules due to an ongoing pilot shortage, according to reports
Aguallo told the Star-Herald that he felt that the flight was important to the airport. While he would like to have it back, he said the matter is out of his hands.
“We don’t have all that much say in it, all we can do is ask really nicely and hope for the best,” he said.
Aguallo said plans to travel to St. George, Utah, where SkyWest Airlines is based to discuss what can be done about the situation with company officials.
He said he hopes to discover “what it would take to get that 6 a.m. (flight) back here permanently, so that’s kind of the direction we’re going because it’s important to us.”
The 6 a.m. flight would provide the airport with more opportunities to reach their boarding quotas to remain eligible for federal funding. Aguallo estimated that the flight brought an additional 100 boardings a month.
The airport needs 10,000 boardings annually to qualify for federal funding. As of the Airport Board meeting on Oct. 18, it had 8,306 boardings. Aguallo said airport officials believe they will comfortably reach the quota, but that the lack of the 6 a.m. flight still concerned him.
“It does affect the connecting flights which then prompt people to maybe not fly out of here in the morning and just drive to Denver because they want to get there earlier.”
For the time being, travelers like Karin-Fogg will have to work around the problems with flight schedules until a solution can be found.
“Some people maybe travel once or twice a year, they’re not going to notice this,” Karin-Fogg said. “For the people that do have business or have to come here for a meeting or people like me that are kind of back and forth frequently, it is a huge, huge problem.”
United Airlines had not responded to a request for comment as of publication.
Contact Jack Underwood: jack.underwood@starherald.com, 308-632-9044.