By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Jet passenger service is now flying in and out of the Hays Regional Airport.
The inaugural SkyWest flight early Friday afternoon from Denver drew more than 100 community members to watch and applaud the historic event.
The 50-passenger jet touched down in Hays at 1:08 p.m., 15 minutes early, and taxied to the terminal where SkyWest employees were waiting on the tarmac.
Within a 30-minute turnaround, the jet, with 28 passengers and a crew of three aboard, was back in the air headed to Denver.
Two Hays city commissioners, Shaun Musil and Kent Steward, were among those on the plane, along with interim airport manager I.D. Creech. They would return to Hays at 10:08 p.m., the last flight of the day.
“Some of us, though, had to work,” lamented commissioner Eber Phelps, who stayed behind to talk with local supporters:”
“All the communities Hays has talked to who have SkyWest as their carrier are reporting a doubling and even tripling of their airport boardings,” said Phelps.
“We’re quite excited about that because we do rely on Essential Air Service (federal) funding,” he explained. “We’d like to get 10,000 boardings in here annually and I think we’re going to be able to do that with this new carrier.”
That number of boardings would qualify Hays for a $1 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Phelps pointed out the airport has already finished improvements to the main runway and upgrades to the terminal are underway.
“The former carrier used 19-seat turboprop planes. SkyWest is flying 50-passenger jets so the TSA holding area needs to be expanded and we’ll also be adding restrooms there,” said Phelps.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the terminal expansion will be held Tuesday, August 5, at 10 a.m. The project is expected to take about six months.
There are two flights each weekday between Hays and Denver and one flight Saturday and Sunday. Denver International Airport offers more than 800 flights to 165 non-stop destinations.
Flights can be booked online at www.united.com.
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