POCATELLO — The Pocatello City Council is expected to vote Thursday to again approve a subsidy agreement with SkyWest Airlines to maintain commercial flights at the Pocatello Regional Airport.

If approved, the short term solution is expected to preserve commercial flights at the airport for at least 2023. City officials remain hopeful for the long term future of the Pocatello airport and are currently in the process of developing a 20-year master plan to help guide operations moving forward.

“So we’re kind of in a tough spot right now because we’re still working to recover from some of the challenging things airports experienced due to the pandemic,” said Alan Evans, manager of the Pocatello Regional Airport. “I think as we move forward and realize what’s coming our way in this community, air service is going to be very critical and that’s why we’re trying to hang on to this service. SkyWest has a desire to stay here. They know that it can be profitable and it will be profitable. We’ve just got to get through this bump in the road.”

The agenda item in front of the City Council on Thursday calls for the approval of a minimum revenue guarantee to SkyWest of up to $1.01 million for 2023. SkyWest will agree to continue to provide once daily air service between Pocatello and Salt Lake City and the city will agree to pay SkWest up to $346,459 per quarter next year if its costs exceed revenue.

Evans said that although most communities have begun to recover economically from the COVID-19 pandemic, smaller airline services like SkyWest are still having a difficult time finding pilots. Evans said smaller airline companies have increased the wages for pilots by about 80 percent in order to attract qualified pilots to fly the planes.

Some of the issues SkyWest has been dealing with were detailed in a Dec. 2 letter sent to Evans from Jeffrey Hartz, the managing director of air services development for Mead & Hunt. Hartz has served as the consultant to staff at the Pocatello Regional airport for approximately 15 years.

“While the pandemic has for the most part been passed by, the lingering effects especially on pilots will likely continue for the foreseeable future,” the letter states. “The ability for regional airlines to retain or replace pilots has become one of the biggest challenges facing the airline industry since 9/11. While there have been steps taken by all airlines to try to reduce the impact of the pilot shortage, it is unlikely to have any appreciable improvement until mid 2023, or possibly later on, for the regional airline industry.”

The letter also stated. “All of the major carriers continue to hire at record levels (to replace retiring pilots and rebuild numbers to pre-pandemic levels), and those pilots predominantly come from the regional airlines such as Skywest or Mesa. Service for smaller communities has been challenged due to the reduced regional airline flying. While there have been new service announcements, there have been relatively few for smaller communities on the traditional legacy airlines (such as American, Delta and United). This is a trend that will likely continue throughout 2023.”

The Pocatello City Council in May approved an agreement to pay SkyWest up to $800,000 for lost revenue in 2022. To date, the city has paid SkyWest about $720,000 for the first three quarters in 2022 and will likely pay the remaining $80,000 for the final quarter, according to Kristy Heinz, the management assistant at the Pocatello Regional Airport.

The funds for the agreement with SkyWest will come from the city’s general fund and are equal to the amount of the tax ask for Pocatello residents, said Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad. The Pocatello Regional Airport will utilize COVID stimulus money provided to airports across the country as a result of the pandemic for operational costs, Blad added.

While the measure will preserve the commercial daily flight from Pocatello to Salt Lake City for 2023, both Blad and Evans are of the opinion that state lawmakers are going to need to step in and provide some possible resolutions to this issue, which is affecting other regional airports throughout the state. The Twin Falls City Council voted to approve a similar revenue agreement with Skywest earlier this month.

“We have been faced with some tough decisions, but I think we’ve got to do something to preserve our airport,” Blad said. “I think that as we move forward the state is going to have to start looking at what’s important in the air service industry. Our airport is one of the six commercially flown airports in the state and it has the second-largest runway, If the state were to lose an airport like the one we have in Pocatello, that’s an extremely expensive proposition to consider.”

Both Evans and Blad also touted the airport as a huge economic development driver for the region. The airport can not only serve as a benefit for companies that import and export goods, but is also a valuable resource for the management or administrators for large companies who travel frequently.

“If you’re a business and you’re doing a lot of traveling, then the airport definitely has an impact on that business,” Blad said. “When a company is looking at people to hire, it’s a lot easier and more convenient to be able to bring them into your community using the airport than it is to fly them into Salt Lake and then drive for two or two and a half hours. It’s a huge time saver for businesses.”

It appears the short-term future of the Pocatello Regional Airport is now in the hands of the City Council. However, that hasn’t stopped airport staff from working to finalize its 20-year master plan, of which the most recent development included an open house and public forum out at the airport on Tuesday.

Evans said the individual with the firm working with the city to complete the document, T-O Engineers, left to take a position with the Federal Aviation Administration, which resulted in some delays.

The airport master plan is a comprehensive study of the Pocatello Regional Airport that describes short-, medium- and long-term development needs to meet future aviation demand. The plan, last completed for the Pocatello airport in 2012, provides the developmental framework to ensure appropriate planning for future needs.

“I thought it was a pretty good turnout, we probably had 25 people here, which was better than the first turnout that we had,” Evans said about the open house Tuesday. “There were a number of people here who were seeking information or providing comments about the plan. I would say we’re about halfway done with that master plan right now.”

Evans did not have an exact timeline for when the master plan would be completed, but said the local community will have additional chances to review the plan and provide comments in the coming months.

More information about the master plan can be found online at iflypocatello.com/masterplan.