The Twin Falls City Council will hear a request on Monday, Oct. 3 to approve an amendment to the agreement between the City of Twin Falls/Twin Falls County and SkyWest Airlines to allow for the inclusion of a second Delta flight between Magic Valley Regional Airport and the Salt Lake City International Airport in the Minimum Revenue Guarantee (MRG).
Of the $400,000 MRG for the current single daily flight in 2022, only $25,000 has been paid to SkyWest for the first quarter of the year. The second and third quarters have been profitable through August reporting. With strong ticket sales and solid financial performance of the single daily flight, SkyWest has expanded the flight schedule to add a second flight for November and December.
This is in contrast to national trends. The airline industry has struggled to recruit and retain pilots. Due to this struggle, airlines have reduced or eliminated routes to small communities across the nation. Our community recently experienced the termination of the SkyWest flight to Denver and the reduction of the SkyWest operated Delta route to Salt Lake City — from three daily roundtrip flights to one.
With the expanded schedule, SkyWest is requesting an amendment to the agreement to allow for inclusion of the second flight in MRG, which would allow both flights to be supported by MRG — if needed.