Business View Magazine | June 2022

215 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 6 FOUR CORNERS REGIONAL A I RPORT BVM: Mike, how would you describe the status of commercial air service at Four Corners? Lewis: “We’re continuing our quest to regain commercial air service. It’s been incredibly difficult, considering what COVID did to the airline industry. For example, normally the TSA screens between 2 and 2.5 million passengers per day in the U.S. alone. In April of 2020, one day they screened 87,000. It slowly started to climb up from there and here at Four Corners, we had a little bright spot on the horizon and thought we were going to be able to start air service on October 15 of 2020. “That plan was being prepared in May of 2020, when it seemed that COVID was beginning to diminish, and I think the whole country believed that through the summer things would be fine. But in late June and early July, the COVID numbers started to skyrocket again and that’s when everybody realized this was going to be a serious, long-haul situation. We subsequently scrubbed the October date and are now waiting for things to fully recover back to the point where the airlines can consider our market once again.” BVM: What other issues is the industry dealing with? Lewis: “The industry is also facing challenges with the critical shortage of airline pilots. There was a shortage before COVID hit, however, during the pandemic a number of carriers, in order to stop bleeding resources, offered early retirement to a significant portion of those who were qualified to retire from the ranks. In addition to the major carriers having a pilot shortage, there is also a very significant shortage of mechanics. That field is wide open for any young person who wants to pursue a career in aviation maintenance. “So we have to be patient with them getting back on track and resuming fully normal operations. But now, you throw another layer onto it with fuel prices. We’re all feeling the