Business View Magazine | February 2020

117 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2020 ST . GEORGE REGIONAL A I RPORT flights to Dallas/Ft. Worth on American. That was our fifth direct destination out of St. George. And on our first month of that, we were at 82-84 percent seat capacity, which is unheard of. The first full month that we reopened the Airport – October – we had the third highest passenger count in the history of the Airport; we broke just shy of 28,000 passengers in the month. And November looked to be almost as good.” Why such good numbers? “I think that people really missed the fact that they could fly out of here for four months,” Stehmeier proffers. “The only choices were for them to go to Vegas, which is a two-hour drive from here, or up to Cedar City, which is about a 45-minute drive from here, but they only have direct flights to Salt Lake City. Skywest did put in an additional flight up there, so that some of the people that were going to be on Delta to Salt Lake from here, would be able to access them there; and those flights were full for the entire four months. So, when we reopened, they came back in droves. And then, the fact that we had a brand new flight to Dallas/Ft. Worth was awesome.” So now, the Airport is back in a pro-growth mode. “In 2021, we will double the size of the terminal ramp. And then, once that’s done, we’ll be able to park more airplanes on there.” And because St. George Regional is “bursting at the seams,” Stehmeier says that as part of its Capital Improvement Plan, it has made terminal expansion a priority over the next few years. “Our goal is to add three more jet bridges, so we’ll have a total of seven gates. Right now, we have four.” There will also be some strategic remodeling inside the Airport’s 35,000-sq.-ft. terminal building. Stehmeier explains: “The fire code says our secure area is legal to hold 253 passengers. Right now, in the morning, we have five airplanes that leave from 6 to 8AM. Each one of those airplanes carries 50 passengers. So, if we have all the airplanes full, which happens on a regular basis, and if one or two of them get delayed, we