Feb. 12—CHEYENNE — Cheyenne Regional Airport has been allocated an extra $1 million in funding as part of an additional $2 billion that became available Friday under the Federal Aviation Administration's Airport Coronavirus Response Grant Program.
Funded through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2020, the move came from President Joe Biden's newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, in an effort to uphold those essential services and provide relief to the transportation sector.
"Today's announcement is one of many steps we are taking to protect the health of America's travelers and workers, while keeping our nation's airport operations and related small businesses up and running," Buttigieg said in a news release.
Of the $2 billion total, $1.75 billion is earmarked for commercial service airports that have more than 10,000 annual passengers per year. According to the Wyoming Department of Transportation's 2020 Aviation Economic Impact study, Cheyenne Regional Airport hit that benchmark in 2019 for the first time since 2013.
With that, Cheyenne Regional Airport Manager Nathan Banton said they plan to apply for the entire amount allocated to them, which is more than $1 million.
The assistance "will help offset our increased operations expenses and decreasing revenues resulting from the pandemic and allow us to continue to retain our entire staff," Banton said.
Like airports across the country, Cheyenne Regional Airport has taken a number of hits since the pandemic began. SkyWest pulled its commercial service to Dallas as the pandemic reached Wyoming in March, so the Cheyenne Regional Air Focus Team worked to secure a new minimum revenue guarantee for a connecting flight to and from Denver.
Then, fuel sales saw a significant decrease from 2019, and Hertz rental car company filed for bankruptcy and shuttered its location at the airport, leaving $13,500 in unpaid rent. The airport also will lose out on rent and concessions from the company each month going forward.
To help lessen the blow of the pandemic, Cheyenne Regional Airport was initially awarded $4.7 million in CARES Act funds. Airport Director Tim Barth called that money a "savior," and said they likely would've had to cut positions or shut down operations without it.
Still, that lump sum was meant to support the airport's finances over a four-year period, and Cheyenne Regional Airport had spent one-third of it by January. Grant applications for this new round of funding are due June 30.
Margaret Austin is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's local government reporter. She can be reached at [email protected] or 307-633-3152. Follow her on Twitter at @MargaretMAustin.
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