Rental car pre-bookings at Yellowstone Regional Airport down
CODY — With the start of the summer tourism season just a month away, early signs are that visitation to Yellowstone Regional Airport in May and June could be down significantly compared to previous years, with advance bookings for car rentals down 60% for those months compared to previous years.
“May and June are a train wreck,” said Corey Field, Cody’s rental operations locations manager for Overland West Inc., one of the largest Hertz licensees in North America. He made the comment during the airport board’s April 12 meeting.
“...Who knows what is causing people not to travel,” he said, “but there definitely was in May and June a halt for people coming to Cody for whatever reason ... I wish I could be a little more optimistic, but May and June are not going to be what we’re used to.”
Field said that, as of right now, pre-bookings for July and August are “closer to normal” levels.
“Hopefully, that 60% (decrease) will level out somewhere around 30% (by the end of the season), and we’ll still have a reasonable summer,” he said.
Field noted that pre-bookings of car rentals only account for roughly half of Overland’s business at the airport — with the other half being individuals who travel without pre-booking. So there is still some hope for business to be better than expected in the early summer, he said.
Field said there could potentially be a number of factors playing into the reduced pre-bookings in May and June — including the economy and fuel costs — but suspected a decrease in flights at the airport could be a part of the problem.
Despite the efforts of YRA Director Aaron Buck and his staff, Delta Airlines will not be returning to the airport for seasonal flights this summer. During the April 12 meeting, Buck said he was recently told by Delta staff that the company was years away from returning summer flights to Cody.
“Right now, the status of their industry is they don’t have enough pilots to really beef up their regional market and to service a market seasonally-only,” Buck said. “If we had year-round service, I’m sure we probably could do an MRG (minimum-revenue guarantee agreement) with them. But we’re looking at guaranteeing $200,000 a quarter to do that.
“So right now, they’re saying that, realistically, 2025 is probably the earliest they’ll come back (for seasonal service) due to the current regional pilot shortage.”
Delta ran flights one to two times daily at YRA from early May to early October in 2021 and made up between 18% and 36% of the airport’s total flights that year, according to previous Enterprise reporting. In 2021, Delta Connection accounted for 5,363 enplanements.
A more positive piece of news for visitors to Cody this year is that United Airlines has extended the time frame during which it will offer three flights a day in and out of YRA, Field said. The three flights will begin June 4 and continue through Sept. 27.
“I hope that (having that) extra flight will help bring in people who book at the last minute,” Field said.
Last year, United offered three flights a day beginning in the end of May and continuing through the end of September.
Buck said he continues to pursue other airline options that will allow for continued and expanded service in and out of Cody. Last month, he attended the Routes Americas conference in Chicago, where he had the chance to sit down with officials from multiple airlines. He said those conversations may lead to new service options as early as next year.
“I talked to several different airlines about Cody, and I had some interest,” Buck said. “... I think we have some potential for next year.”
This story was published on April 18, 2023.