“We are a small commercial airport with commercial service from United Airlines and Delta Airlines through an EAS agreement with Sky West Airlines to provide that service,” begins Rick Ryan, Deputy Director with Bert Mooney Airport. Situated in an area that is synonymous around the world with the splendor of the Rockies and a landscape that is tailor-made for exploring, Bert Mooney Airport has the logistical advantage of being in the center of it all. In a region that is both a tourist haven and a logistical hub for business travelers, the airport provides the perfect gateway to a thriving destination. Bert Mooney Airport provides two daily flights from its two domestic carriers, United Airlines and Delta Airlines.As such, the airport is a Part 139 airport with a considerable amount of leasable land available for hangar development. “We also have a daily service from Alpine Air that does FedEx and UPS flights,” Ryan adds.“This along with considerable corporate jet traffic coming up with business travelers.Vacation travelers also come down because we have a couple of high-end resorts around Butte that they fly into.” TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION Added to the mix, the airport boasts a flight school through its successful Fixed Base Operator (FBO), Butte Aviation. “The FBO has two small Cessnas that are up with students daily, and they have an avionics facility here at the airport,” Ryan relays. “I know a couple of kids that got their private pilot’s license who are now in training for commercial airlines,” he highlights when describing the advantages of providing pilot training on the airport grounds. Aware, along with his colleagues, of the ongoing workforce shortage that is proving to be a challenge for the aviation industry, Ryan points to other initiatives the airport has undertaken to help encourage a new batch of aviation enthusiasts. 151 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 04 BERT MOONEY AIRPORT
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI5MjAx