By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members heard an update on efforts to restore commercial air service at Del Rio International Airport during their regular meeting on Feb. 24.
Mike Mooney, managing partner of Volaire Aviation Consulting, delivered the update via video link.
Mayor Al Arreola recognized Mooney after City Secretary Mari Acosta read the heading of the agenda item.
Mooney began his presentation by recapping meetings between city representatives and officials from two airline companies.
He told the council that city staff and Volaire representatives met with Contour Airlines on July 16 and 17, 2025.
“The airline was very favorably impressed,” Mooney said. “However, after that, we were unable to reach a risk mitigation agreement with Contour in the following months of August and September.”
He said the option for service from Contour remains, but under terms the city considers too expensive.
“The option is still there, but it’s on their terms, and our collective judgment was that they’re a little too expensive for the level of service that they are offering: one round-trip a day to Dallas without network carrier code,” Mooney said.
Mooney also discussed a meeting between Volaire, city representatives and SkyWest Airlines on Jan. 21 and 22.
He said SkyWest officials were impressed by the community turnout.
“Ted Christensen from SkyWest was very impressed,” Mooney said. “After the meeting, I emailed with him and asked him for his comments on what he saw and what he felt. He said we certainly see the need for air service and can see the community would be supportive.”
Mooney noted that United Airlines is currently requesting additional aircraft from SkyWest to support United’s expansion plans in Chicago.
Mooney also updated the council on ongoing bidding for funds through the federal government’s Essential Air Service (EAS) Program.
EAS provides subsidies to airlines willing to offer commercial air service to smaller communities, giving them connections to larger hub cities served by major carriers such as United and American Airlines.
“Essential Air Service bidding continues. It’s ongoing all the time,” Mooney said. “There’s 110 cities in the lower 48 that are Essential Air Service. It’s very lucrative if you can win one of those contracts.”
He added that SkyWest continues to bid on EAS contracts across the country.
“Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose,” Mooney said.
He also shared a lighter moment from the airline visit.
“Finally, Ted said that the Julio’s chips were a huge hit in the SkyWest headquarters building in St. George, Utah,” Mooney said. “So thanks to everyone on getting Julio’s chips out to St. George, Utah. It made an impression.”
Mooney said Peter Ojeda, the city’s communications and marketing director, has collected letters from community members who spoke with SkyWest representatives during the visit.
Those letters will be included in an updated market briefing document that may be presented to United Airlines in support of SkyWest bringing service to Del Rio.
“So summarizing: SkyWest is in an expansion mode. They feel comfortable about pilot supply,” Mooney said. “The only constraint appears to be the desire of United for SkyWest to allocate aircraft to new routes that United has targeted, and that has to do with Chicago primarily and United’s intentions up there.”
Mooney then described recent agreements SkyWest has made with other communities.
“SkyWest has consummated four pro-rate risk mitigation arrangements in the last year,” he said.
Those include:
• Farmington, New Mexico, with one daily flight to Denver funded through New Mexico state money and a Small Community Air Service Development grant.
• Lafayette, Indiana, where Purdue University is helping fund the service.
• Abilene, Texas, where service will begin in May 2026.
• Natchez, Mississippi, where service is scheduled to begin in July 2026.
Mooney said Natchez is funding its effort with state money tied to economic recovery funds from the Gulf oil spill.
Abilene has committed $8.7 million in local and economic development funding to support one flight to Houston and two flights to Denver.
“It is one of the largest risk mitigation packages I have seen,” Mooney said.
He also noted the new SkyWest service in Abilene may face competition from American Airlines, which already operates flights from the city and maintains a maintenance base there.
“As soon as United announced service to Abilene, American Airlines added a flight to Phoenix,” Mooney said. “They’re obviously going to defend their turf.”
Mooney said SkyWest continues to bid aggressively for EAS contracts.
“A recent number of bids came out for about five cities,” he said. “We were surprised at their bidding. It does not appear to us that they’re going to win these four or five cities that they bid just the last two or three days. I don’t think they’re going to win, and that’s good for Del Rio.”
Looking ahead, Mooney said Volaire will remain in contact with SkyWest as the airline works through its fleet and route planning for the second half of 2026 and into 2027.
“With SkyWest’s support, at the appropriate time, we will request a TEAMS call or even an HQ meeting for Del Rio with United Airlines to enlist their favorable answer to SkyWest allocating an aircraft, a United-branded airplane to Del Rio,” Mooney said.
He added that if a meeting with United is scheduled, the city will likely seek support from high-level elected officials, possibly including a U.S. senator or representatives from the governor’s office.
After the presentation, Mooney asked council members if they had questions.
When none were offered, Arreola joked, “Tell SkyWest that they can get a whole year’s supply of Julio’s if they pull this off for us.”
Mooney laughed and said he would pass the message along.
The city council took no formal action following the presentation.
