Business View Magazine - August 2023

191 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 8 “I worked my way up from a part-time person to cleaning the toilets and maintaining the airfield. We kind of created things as we went and as the airport got busier we kept adding positions and I moved up the airport ranks,” Howland recalls. After another four years of groundwork in all things aviation, Howland was promoted to the position that she holds today- running an ever-growing and dynamic little airport in a region known for its spectacular beauty. “With an airport of this size, you are not just the Airport Director, you end up wearing a lot of hats and you learn to adapt as you go,” Howland summarizes. Operational upgrades on the airport flight path As Howland’s responsibilities have grown, so has the airport she runs. Expanding airport personnel from just one full-time employee to what is now six full-time positions with a need for more to be hired, Canyonlands Regional Airport is certainly taking off to new operational heights. As with any safe and evolving airport, the need for upgrades is always present. When asked about what some of those operational upgrades may entail, Howland was quick to answer. “Canyonlands Regional Airport is a certificated 139 Airport with a great GA side of things,” Howland describes. “We have Skywest Airlines operating under Delta and United with a Delta flight to Salt Lake City and United Flight to Denver which currently operate daily flights and we also have a seasonal schedule.” “We are an essential air service market here at Canyonlands so Skywest flies under the EAS format with the Department of Transportation (DOT).” Things are shifting at the airport, however, Howland reveals when describing its commercial flight operations. Fueled by the ongoing pilot shortage, some airlines, Skywest among them, are shifting to a charter model that requires only one fully certified pilot and one pilot with lesser qualifications. CANYONLANDS REGIONAL AI RPORT