Press Release
Without a good airport, an area is largely out of the running for good economic development.
That was the message delivered by Jennifer Jensen, who works with Red Tail Air at a recent Business Expansion and Retention general board meeting.
Redtail Air is the FBO (Fixed Base Operations) manager for the Carbon County Airport (as well as the Canyonlands Airport near Moab).
“A good airport is an important part of economic development in an area,” she said. “Many companies that may want to move into an area will not come if the place does not have an airport that serves their needs.”
On top of that, a good airport can also connect an area with industry related to transportation, general services, tourism and even manufacturing.
Redtail has been the FBO at the local airport for many years.
“An FBO is kind of the gas station for an airport,” said Jensen, who pointed out that part of managing a airport the size of the one in Carbon County is that a company must wear many hats. “We treat people right when the fly in here. In fact, many have said that they didn’t even know we were here, but after they see what we do, they tell us we have one of the best FBO operations they have ever seen, including some in large cities such as Denver and Dallas.”
At most smaller airports, the main air service that works out of the field almost automatically become the FBO and not always willingly.
“We took over being the FBO at Canyonlands largely so we could get a better deal on fuel,” she said, explaining that in the long run it has, however, been a good investment.
Because Red Tail works in conjunction with Canyonlands Airport and provides all the services, they have the revenue to run with four full-time people at the Carbon County Airport. Everyone who works there knows how to do everything that needs to be done for customers. She said that some of the planes that come in are quite large. For customers, they provide fuel, shuttle carts, lavatory services, oxygen and they have a nice hanger for people to use, particularly in the winter when ice is a problem for airplanes. The fueling station is a 24-hour station so pilots can actually fuel their own planes.
“Our company continues to invest in the business and is always looking toward purchasing new aircraft and equipment,” she stated. ”We are always interested in growing the FBO and doing more commercial service.”
Small airports often lack many of the amenities of larger air stations. This makes it difficult to attract people to use them and keep people coming back. However, Redtail has done some things to make the local airport much more attractive to those who can fly in.
“The first person they see when they land and come in is me,” said Jensen. “I always try to have a smile on my face. Sometimes, the only people they see when they come to Carbon County are the personnel at the airport. We work hard to make a good impression. We are a gateway to our community.”
But if people come in, gas up and then leave, is that doing anything for the area?
For many who arrive by air, that is not the only thing that happens. People often come in from a long day in the skies and want various services. Some even want to stay overnight so Redtail Air has a vehicle rental service and people come into town and stay overnight and eat in the restaurants. Many find that the area, while being someplace they never even considered before, is a nice place.
“When you are up in the air in an aircraft and the weather is bad, or it is hard to see, all you want is to be on the ground, and safe,” she said. That makes the Carbon County Airport a haven for many a weary flier.
And on those days when the visibility is low, the airport has the equipment for pilots to do instrument landings, something that most small airports do not have. The devices allow a pilot to get within 500 feet of the runway so the landing becomes much easier in that kind of situation.
But more than a stop over, the airport offers more than just a gas station to many people and industries in the area. They provide transportation out of the area as an alternate and fast way to be transported, although at this point, there are no commercially scheduled flights out of town. In years past, there have been various airlines that have tried to have operations in Carbon County but they have never succeeded.
“We do flights for people who need to get to and see things such as business sites or parcels of land in remote places,” said Jensen. “We have done animal survey flights for clients as well. We also will fly people to smaller airports from Denver to California. The best range for the aircraft we have is in about a three-state radius.”
One of the advantages of flying to lesser known airports is the time it saves clients and not having all the hassles of a larger airfield in a metropolitan area, especially if that client is going to a rural area to begin with.
The airport also provides a place for air medical transport, which is very important when one considers that even with the helicopters coming into the area to transport patients, if the weather is bad, those cannot fly when fixed-wing aircraft can.
Another important factor is the air cargo service that is provided to the airport, giving the area the ability to get things flown in that are needed very quickly.
“We are the provider for UPS air cargo from Price to San Juan County,” she said.”We actually have the biggest geographical area to cover for UPS of any air service in the country.”
The airport operates in many capacities in emergencies as well. It acts as a fire base when wildfires are burning in the area. They also act as a backup for the military. A few times over the years, military aircraft have had to land because of mechanical problems or some other situation. The airport is a very busy place although some individuals don’t see it that way.
“People come out and the place looks empty a lot of the time,” said Jensen. “That is because it is our job to get aircraft taken care of quickly and then get them on their way. We do that well.”
One of the biggest parts of Redtail’s business is tourism. Handled by another division of the company, Redtail Air Adventures, much of that comes out of the Canyonlands Airport where people look to fly over Arches and Canyonlands National Parks as well as Monument Valley. There are also a lot of back country flights with planes going into rough hewn airstrips in remote places. Well known in the area are the flights through the years to the Tavaputs Ranch and to shuttle river runners back and forth between Sand Wash and the take out and put in points near Green River or at Hite on the Colorado River.
“We fly between 2,500 and 3,000 people each year for scenic flights,” she stated. “For some, the scenic tours are for those who come and don’t have the time to see it all from the ground but can by air. Some people also charter flights just to see what they want to see. Viewing a place like Arches from the air is a completely different experience than it is on the ground.”
The company also offers flight instruction, although right now much of that is at the Canyonlands Airport. She said they would like to change that in the future and have a certified air instruction program in Carbon County.
Jensen said the future of aviation in the area looks bright with a lot of new things happening. While the airport in Carbon County has been around for nearly 100 years (the first strip was built in 1919 and by the early 1930s, a 2,800 foot airstrip was built where the fairgrounds is now located), the more that air travel, air tourism and cargo services grow, the more the airport will mean to the local area. The present field has been in the same place since 1948 and it was originally run by Buck Davis, the man the field is now named after.
One of the best things about the airport is that it has three runways, which makes it unusual for a small airport.
“Pilots like to land into the wind and take off into the wind,” she said. “Not everyone has the skills to land when the wind is behind them. Having three runways makes it so they almost always have good conditions in which to land or take off.”
With those three runways, the airport is very adaptable. Jensen said they are hoping for commercial air service to locate in Carbon County when the time is right. There is also land at the airport for the development of industries related to aircraft and flying. In addition, they would like to become a regular supplier for military fuel needs (at the present time, they do not have the fuel capacity to do so) and a permanent fire base supplier for large planes.
One of the things that many locals remember well was a large air show that was put on in the 1990s at the airport. People have often asked when that is going to happen again.
“Putting one of those on is a big deal and takes a lot of planning,” she said. “It is a two-year planning process.”
It also takes a lot of money.
However, she didn’t dismiss the fact that it could happen again some day either.