Salina Airport looks to add maintenance base for passenger airline

The prospect of additional passenger flights in and out of Salina Regional Airport is greater than ever after the city and county commissions approved funding to support a maintenance base at the facility this week.

SkyWest Airlines, which currently operates flights in Salina to and from Denver and Chicago, is looking at the airport as a site that would perform overnight maintenance and safety checks.

"(This kind of base) is a tool to use to improve air service and one that is very unique to communities," said Tim Rogers, the executive director of the Salina Airport Authority.

He said having a maintenance base in a community can allow for multiple flights to and from that community at frequencies that exceed what the market justifies.

Why choose Salina as a base?

The base in Salina would be used to maintain Bombardier CRJ200 regional jets operated by SkyWest, which is the same type used by the airline, operating as United Express, for current flights in and out of 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.

According to Rogers, getting a maintenance base is not an easy thing, with competition from other airports common, but Salina is in a unique position, particularly geographically, that has it make sense for SkyWest to bring one here.

"(We) have the proximity to Denver, Chicago and Houston," Rogers said. "We're right in the middle."

Much like Salina being at the intersection of Interstates 70 and 135, Rogers said it is also at the intersection of multiple airways.

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Another unique positive aspect of Salina is the fact that it currently has a third-party maintenance provider, 1 Vision Aviation, already on site at the airport. According to Rogers, SkyWest currently does much of its maintenance in-house, owning and operating 13 of its own maintenance bases throughout the country.

"SkyWest has an option, if they need to expand maintenance...of building a brand new maintenance base from scratch," Rogers said. "That would require, at best, a $20 million hangar to be constructed."

By contrast, using an existing facility like 1 Vision, which already has its own hangar, would be estimated to cost $15 million for SkyWest.

"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 already uses 1 Vision for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, and Rogers said the facility just passed a SkyWest audit a year ago.

What is the benefit of having a maintenance base in Salina?

According to Rogers, because of the frequency of required maintenance on the CRJ200, two to three of the aircraft would be serviced each night and would then be flown out in the morning.

"The aircraft fly in, as a scheduled, revenue producing, flight," Rogers said.

The plane will then undergo maintenance, and then be sent back into service as a scheduled flight the next morning, going back into the SkyWest rotation of flights.

"The schedule that is being discussed, is non-stop (service) for Denver, Chicago and Houston," Rogers said.

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While Denver and Chicago have been the normal for flights in and out of Salina the past few years, the possible addition of Houston is a major benefit, as this hub has been a need for residents and businesses in Salina.

"It makes a lot of sense because of (businesses like) Exline, and their work in the oil fields here and (near Houston)," Rogers said. "Schwan's has another facility in Houston, so I think they'd be using it (too)."

Rogers said adding a Houston flight has been a priority for the airport authority recently, and having a maintenance base on site would work to increase the chance of that.

What's the cost to the community to bring a maintenance base to the airport?

With an estimated $15 million price tag, bringing a maintenance base to Salina is not a cheap endeavor, but it seems that the community is not expected to bear the brunt of these costs.

In total the community will provide $900,000 as incentive to SkyWest to finalize the decision to choose Salina. As for who is providing what, $400,000 would come from both the City of Salina and Saline County with the remaining $100,000 being covered by the Salina Airport Authority.

According to Rogers, this money will cover SkyWest's associated costs with the startup of the maintenance base.

The City and County Commissions both approved the financing and Rogers said the Airport Authority board of directors is meeting next week to discuss and vote on its contribution.

If agreed by all parties, the maintenance base would be underway by the end of 2023.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina Airport looking to add SkyWest overnight maintenance base