ROCK SPRINGS — Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport Director Devon Brubaker used a chamber luncheon presentation to outline the facility’s economic reach, ongoing paid parking program and expanding services.
The airport spans 1,232 acres and includes roughly 68 lane miles of pavement and 205,000 square feet of facilities, including the commercial terminal, general aviation terminal, hangars and support buildings, according to the presentation. The airport’s top five commercial destinations are Las Vegas, Phoenix, Houston, Portland and Orlando.
Beyond commercial passenger service, Brubaker said the airport supports cargo flights for FedEx and UPS six days a week, air ambulance flights and medical staff transport for area hospitals, and aerial firefighting operations. The airport logged more than 400 air ambulance flights last year, though not all originated from Sweetwater County Memorial Hospital, Brubaker said.
The airport is one of 13 air tanker bases in the region operated for the Bureau of Land Management. That base opened for the season June 15. Aircraft flying out of the base completed 87 missions and responded to 27 fires, dropping more than 51,000 gallons of retardant and nearly 8,000 gallons of water on fires in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Montana.
The airport also supports predator control flights for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, pipeline inspections and wildlife survey flights, Brubaker said. Overall, the airport handles more than 1,000 aircraft operations a month and 52,000 people a year.
The airport operates with a nine-person team that has an average length of service of 15.2 years, according to Brubaker.
The airport is approaching the one-year anniversary of its move into a new terminal. As part of that project, the airport added self-service micro markets featuring several local vendors.
The Parking Problem
The airport began charging for parking Nov. 6, at a rate of $6 per day. Brubaker said the change was intended to reduce reliance on local taxpayers, noting the airport is one of 37 public-use airports in Wyoming that is not self-sustaining.
A parking lot survey found more than 39% of vehicles belonged to travelers who began their trips outside Sweetwater County, meaning local tax dollars were subsidizing non-resident use, Brubaker said.
Brubaker compared the cost to the cheapest Salt Lake City economy parking at $16 per day. Brubaker said that the economy parking in Salt Lake is so far away that travelers are required to take buses and shuttles to reach the airport terminal. Meanwhile, the furthest parking spot at SWRA is shorter than a Josh Allen pass, Brubaker said.
Revenue from parking also funds lot maintenance, lighting, security and paving, he said.
The airport also rolled out an Express Pay app in April that uses license plate recognition to open gates automatically, along with individual, family and enterprise membership options for frequent travelers.
Citing an economic impact study, Brubaker said the airport generates significant annual economic activity for the region, supporting more than 300 local jobs, $1.8 million in sales tax and a total economic impact of more than $59 million.
