Air Service Carrier Selection

Essential Air Service

Choosing Our Next Flight Partner

How Grand County's Airport Subcommittee evaluated four air carriers—and why the recommendation is SkyWest Airlines

March 15, 2026

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Every four years, the federal government asks a consequential question about small communities like ours: Who should fly here?

The answer shapes more than flight schedules. It determines whether a Moab family can book a single ticket to visit relatives in Philadelphia. Whether a resort manager in Moab can rebook a stranded guest during a Denver snowstorm. Whether the outdoor recreation economy that sustains Grand County can keep growing, or watch visitors drive in from Grand Junction instead.

This year, as a result of the intentional and engaged efforts of Airport Director Steve Gleason and the evaluation work of our independent aviation consultant Luke Schmidt, Canyonlands Regional Airport received four competitive proposals for our next Essential Air Service cycle. The Commission’s Airport Subcommittee has reviewed each one and voted unanimously to recommend SkyWest Airlines.

But the process isn’t over. The Airport Board meets on Monday, March 16, to hear directly from Schmidt and Gleason, review the proposals, and vote on their own recommendation. The full County Commission then votes Tuesday, March 17, on which proposal to send to the U.S. Department of Transportation as Grand County’s recommendation, which makes the final selection.

Here’s what residents should know about what’s being decided, why it matters, and how the subcommittee arrived at its recommendation.

What Is Essential Air Service, and Why Does Moab Have It?

Essential Air Service is a federal program stemming from airline deregulation in 1978. When Congress green-lit airlines to fly wherever the market demanded, lawmakers recognized that small communities would lose service overnight—places too small to be profitable but too important to abandon. EAS guarantees that communities like Moab maintain a basic level of commercial air service, subsidized by the federal government.

Canyonlands Regional Airport has been an EAS/AEAS community for years. The program subsidizes a carrier to operate flights that the open market alone wouldn’t support. Every four years, the Department of Transportation reopens the contract and invites carriers to submit proposals. The local community’s recommendation carries significant weight in DOT’s decision, which is why this process is so important.

The federal government is stepping in to subsidize our air connection to the world. Our job is to choose wisely.

Four Carriers, Four Different Visions

Four airlines submitted proposals, each offering a distinct approach to serving Moab:

SkyWest Airlines is the largest regional airline in America, operating over 2,200 daily flights as Delta Connection and United Express. Their proposal offers dual-hub service to both Salt Lake City and Denver, full codeshare integration with Delta and United, and a per-passenger subsidy of $199.86—the lowest of the four. SkyWest served Moab previously, and during that period, the airport saw record enplanements.

Denver Air Connection proposes Denver-only service under FAA Part 121 standards with interline agreements on American, United, and Delta. They distinguished themselves with strong employee benefits commitments and competitive pricing, requesting a $256.50 per-passenger subsidy.

Contour Airlines is the current carrier serving Canyonlands, offering both Salt Lake City and Denver routes. They are known for low point-to-point fares and flexible scheduling. Their proposal operates under Part 135 standards with a $229.89 per-passenger subsidy.

Advanced Air LLC is the only carrier proposing Phoenix service, paired with Denver. They operate under Part 135 and hold an ARGUS Platinum safety rating with an Alaska Airlines interline agreement. Their per-passenger subsidy of $299.39 is the highest of the four.

Each proposal has genuine strengths. This isn’t a case of one good option and three bad ones. It’s a case of weighing which strengths matter most for Grand County’s future.

The Word You’ll Keep Hearing: Codeshare

If you’ve followed this conversation at all, you’ve probably heard the term codeshare. It came up repeatedly in community surveys. It was the first word mentioned in the subcommittee meeting. And it’s the single feature that most clearly distinguishes SkyWest from the other three proposals.

So what does it actually mean?

When a carrier has a codeshare agreement with a major airline like Delta or United, your regional flight operates under that airline’s brand. You book it on Delta.com. You earn SkyMiles on the flight from Moab. If you’re connecting through Salt Lake City to Chicago, you have one confirmation number, your bags are checked through to O’Hare, show up in the app, and if a snowstorm delays your connection, Delta rebooks you automatically at no charge.

Without codeshare, you’re booking separate tickets. You land in Denver, you may need to claim your bags, go back through security, recheck your luggage, and if something goes wrong, you’ll work with the air service provider, not the airline. For a quick Moab-to-Denver hop, that may not matter. For a family flying to see grandparents in Florida, it could mean the difference between a smooth travel day and a logistical challenge.

An interline agreement—which Denver Air Connection and Advanced Air offer—falls somewhere in between. You can book connecting flights, but the integration is looser: bags may need rechecking, rebooking protection is limited, and frequent-flyer credit may be partial.

Depending on your needs, residents can disagree about how much this matters. If you mostly fly short hops to Denver and value the lowest possible fare, codeshare may not be your top priority. But for the majority of travelers who connect through hubs to reach destinations beyond—and for the tourism industry that depends on visitors being able to book Moab as easily as any other destination—codeshare is foundational.

Canyonlands Field Airport, Moab, Utah

What the Numbers Tell Us

Sometimes the most persuasive argument isn’t an argument at all. It’s just a graph.

In 2021, under SkyWest’s codeshare service, Canyonlands Regional Airport recorded 20,093 enplanements—a record. When service transitioned to a non-codeshare carrier, that number dropped to 10,625 by 2024. That’s a 47 percent decline.

The passengers didn’t disappear. Many of them simply started driving in from Grand Junction. An independent leakage study estimated that between 21,000 and 44,000 passengers per year are “leaking” from our market, choosing to drive almost two hours rather than fly from Moab.

Every one of those passengers represents a choice. And that choice, made thousands of times a year, ripples through our economy in hotel nights not booked, in restaurants not visited, in a tax base that could provide more services and amenities.

The community survey results align with the data. When residents were asked, in surveys and focus groups, what mattered most to them in air service, the top responses were, in order, Salt Lake City service, SkyWest, Denver service, and codeshare. The independent consultant, Luke Schmidt, reached the same conclusion: SkyWest first, Denver Air Connection second, Contour third.

A Note on Safety Standards

Two of the four carriers, SkyWest and Denver Air Connection, operate under FAA Part 121, the same standard that governs Delta, United, and American. Part 121 requires two pilots on every flight, FAA-certified dispatchers monitoring operations in real time, a formal Safety Management System, and mandatory on-time performance reporting to the Department of Transportation.

Contour and Advanced Air operate under Part 135, the commuter standard. Part 135 is FAA-regulated and safe, but with fewer redundancies—it allows for different crew configurations and doesn’t require the same dispatcher oversight.

This doesn’t mean Part 135 carriers are unsafe. It means Part 121 carriers have more layers of protection and more seats. For residents weighing their options, it’s a distinction worth understanding.

The Honest Tradeoffs

Good decision-making requires acknowledging what you’re giving up, not just what you’re gaining. The subcommittee discussed two concerns about SkyWest openly.

Pricing. Codeshare fares can be higher on short segments. A Moab-to-Denver ticket booked through United may cost more than the same route booked directly with an independent carrier. One Commissioner raised this point during the subcommittee meeting, noting that they’d been comparing fares across markets. The tradeoff is real. For simple point-to-point flights, independent carriers can sometimes be cheaper.

SkyWest’s departure. SkyWest previously served Moab and withdrew due to pandemic impacts. That history creates understandable criticism. Several community members raised it. The subcommittee raised it directly.

SkyWest’s leadership responded to this concern directly with Airport Director Steve Gleason, stating they are “looking not just to return to Moab but to establish a permanent home here.” The four-year EAS contract provides a federal framework that didn’t exist in the previous arrangement, adding a layer of structural commitment.

Will that be enough? That’s a fair question. But it’s also worth asking the inverse: what is the cost of not choosing the carrier that best positions us for growth, out of fear that they might leave again?

A Foundational Partner, Not Just a Flight Schedule

One phrase from the subcommittee meeting captures the philosophy behind this recommendation better than any data point.

“We’re looking for a foundational partner, so we’re not restarting every three or four years. We need stability for growth.”

That word—foundational—is doing a lot of work. It means choosing a carrier not just for today’s schedule, but for tomorrow’s growth. A carrier that brings 20,000 passengers brings leverage to negotiate better schedules, to justify additional routes, and to attract the kind of investment that compounds over time.

SkyWest doesn’t just bring flights. They bring Delta’s and United’s global distribution systems, which put Moab in front of every travel agent and booking engine in the world. They bring seamless connectivity that makes CNY as easy to book as any major airport. They bring a track record of generating demand in our market that no other carrier has matched.

This is what the subcommittee weighed. Not just which carrier is cheapest or most familiar, but which carrier gives Canyonlands Regional Airport the strongest foundation for the next four years and beyond.

What Happens Next

Monday, March 16—The Airport Board meets to review all four proposals with consultant Luke Schmidt and Airport Director Steve Gleason. The board will hear the subcommittee’s recommendation, ask questions, and vote on its own recommendation.

Tuesday, March 17—The full Grand County Commission considers the Airport Board’s recommendation alongside the subcommittee’s and their own independent review of the proposals, and votes on which carrier to recommend to the Department of Transportation.

After the Commission vote—Grand County’s recommendation will be submitted to DOT. The federal government then has a 30-day public comment period before making its final selection.

The Airport Board Meeting and County Commission meetings are public, and residents are welcome to attend both. This is your air service. Your needs matter in shaping it. Whatever the outcome, this has been a process focused on choosing the best possible partner for our community’s future air service.