ROCK SPRINGS — The Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport’s second highest source of revenue is it’s transient hangar revenue, with aircraft fuel sales being the highest revenue stream.
The hangar first opened in 2018 and is the largest one in Wyoming. While the transient hangar revenue varies depending on the season and weather conditions, Airport Director Devon Brubaker told SweetwaterNOW that the winter months are the busiest for them.
“Since the hangar opened in April 2018, we have seen a steady increase in annual hangar rental income from $80,980 in FY2019 to $423,926.50 in FY2023. This far eclipses the transient hangar revenue that was produced in our old 1930s hangar prior to 2018. Those revenue totals were well below $10,000 per year,” Brubaker said.
The hangar is built to support multiple large cabin aircraft, including Global Express, G650, G700 size aircraft, Brubaker said.
“Just as the revenue fluctuates from month to month and season to season, the number of transient aircraft stored in our hangar fluctuates greatly. There are some days where the hangar is completely empty, while there are other days when there isn’t a square inch of available space. During the winter of 2022-2023, we housed over 300 aircraft in the hangar,” Brubaker said.
He said that the number of aircraft that the hangar can support depend on the size and physical layout of the aircraft.
“We have had as many as 8 corporate jets at the same time in the hangar and as many as 12 total aircraft of various sizes in the hangar. If there were only small aircraft in the hangar, we could fit a couple dozen,” he said.
Why is it that Rock Springs has such a demand to hangar aircraft? Brubaker said it’s largely due to the airport’s proximity to many destination locations.
“RKS is ideally situated in a central location to premier resort communities; all of which have airports with limited apron and hangar space. This creates a niche market where the passengers on these jets are dropped off at their destination of choice, then the aircraft repositions to another airport so it can be stored in a hangar,” he said. “Similarly, when folks are scheduled to be picked up at one of these resort communities early in the morning, aircraft operators will reposition aircraft to RKS so they are closer to the pick-up spot in the morning.”
Not only is the hangar revenue good for the airport, but Brubaker said what the airport is most proud of is the economic impact it creates for the overall community.
“Each one of these aircraft has two or three crew members who stay in our local hotels, eat at our local restaurants, and spend money at our local retail establishments. When combined, the total annual economic impact of general aviation to our community exceeds $14 million. When combined with the economic impact of commercial service on the community, the total economic impact of RKS each year is nearly $37 million,” he said.
Brubaker said that the construction of the hangar and general aviation terminal totaled $5.65 million and was funded by the Federal Aviation Administration, Wyoming Business Council and Wyoming Department of Transportation.
“The estimated economic of the project at the time of grant application has been far eclipsed,” Brubaker said. “The support of these funding partners was critical to the growth our airport has experienced.”
