SLV Airport welcomes first United flight

Courier photo by Stephen Jiron Welcoming their first flight as a 139 certified airport the San Luis Valley Regional Airport held a ceremonial ribbon-cutting on Sunday to commemorate the occasion.

STAFF REPORT ALAMOSA — Sunday marked the first flight the SLV Regional Airport received with Essential Air Service (EAS) Provider SkyWest. To commemorate the occasion, the airport held a ribbon-cutting event to welcome their first flight under the expanded Part 139 certification which grants the SLV Regional Airport the ability to serve aircraft with more than 30 seats.

The ribbon-cutting was well attended by airport staff as well as the Alamosa Board of County Commissioners and a representative from United Airlines. Officials didn’t advertise the ribbon cutting to curb attendance from the public in light of the global pandemic and rising incidence rates.

“This is big, there was a lot of work that transpired to get to this point,” said Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners Michael Yohn. Yohn went on to express his gratitude for Airport Manager Will Hickman with all the pressure the airport was under to achieve their 139 certification. Yohn was also thankful for Boutique,

“It was their service that helped get us here, and we want to capitalize on that and go further.”

Commissioner Darius Allen heaped praise on SkyWest,

“I can’t say enough good things about SkyWest/United on how they worked with us told us what we needed, what we had to get done. And we got a lot of things done in a short amount of time.”

Gigi Dennis County Administrator shared many of the same ‘thank you’ as those who spoke before her and also touched on the process that went into the certification.

“As we had to prepare for this moment there was a lot more underlying work that we had not recognized,” said Dennis before Will Hickman and his staff for all the work they put in to get to the finish line.

SkyWest/United through San Luis Valley Regional Airport feeds two flights a day directly into Denver and connects to 149 direct destinations across the globe.


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