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Town adopts marketing options to boost Fly Taos service as grant funding is eyed
Summary
An outside agency outlined digital advertising, PR, influencer fam trips and partner advertising to raise load factors for direct flights to Taos. Airport manager said RAISE/state grant awards will be known in July and encouraged promoting a 20% locals discount that already exists on JSX.
Town and outside marketing partners briefed council on a Flight House advertising and marketing plan to support Fly Taos air service and improve airline load factors.
Agency staff summarized work to date—digital and social display ads targeting feeder markets (Austin, Dallas, Denver, Burbank, Carlsbad), local display outreach, email campaigns that drove clicks to Fly Taos, organic social content and an influencer familiarization trip planned for March. They proposed additional tactics: PR outreach to target markets, group media fams, partnered paid buys on travel sites, influencer and local-partner activations, strategic partnerships with JSX/Contour, social giveaways and a possible local loyalty program to incentivize residents to fly from Taos.
Airport manager Colton Rapstein and staff answered council questions about funding: current RAISE/state grant funds are projected to be awarded in July; staff said earlier cycles required a minimum revenue guarantee when empty seats occur and that the state typically covers a portion of the subsidy (staff noted a 90/10 arrangement in one explanation). Rapstein said JSX offers a 20% discount for locals that could be promoted more widely. Council members asked for more local-targeted outreach and ways to surface promo codes for residents.
Agency said many pilot tactics could be executed under the existing retainer but larger partnership buys or group travel fams would have separate budget implications. Councilors expressed support for local deals and asked staff to work with airlines on possible promotions and to track grant timelines.
