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CY Air asks Park County for $15,000 to help underwrite airline minimum-revenue guarantees
Summary
Cody Yellowstone Air Improvement Resources (CY Air) sought $15,000 from Park County to help back airline minimum-revenue guarantees as the nonprofit works to expand scheduled service; county commissioners discussed partners and conditions but made no commitment at the meeting.
Representatives from Cody Yellowstone Air Improvement Resources (CY Air) asked the Park County Board of Commissioners to consider a $15,000 county contribution to support airline minimum-revenue guarantees (MRGs) that underwrite scheduled commercial service.
Dusty Smer, representing CY Air, said the organization missed an application deadline this year but is seeking county support to help secure and sustain air service. Smer reported early success with a once-weekly United Airlines Chicago flight and said the most recent flight carried 68 of 70 seats. He described the MRG structure as a guarantee that compensates the airline if load factors fall below a contract threshold and said a typical break-even load factor is roughly 80 percent.
CY Air asked for $15,000 from the county, a contribution similar to past requests. Staff and the nonprofit said other funding partners would include the state (a 60/40 matching program for MRGs), Forward Cody (which has provided a letter-of-credit), and the city of Cody. Commissioners asked technical questions about how MRGs are structured and whether the county would be contractually liable; CY Air clarified the nonprofit is the contractual party and the county contribution would be a funding partner rather than the primary MRG obligor.
Commissioners said they understood the regional economic-development rationale but noted county budget pressures and asked staff to consider the item as part of upcoming budget discussions. The board did not take a funding vote at the meeting.
"That flight going out last Saturday morning had 68 out of 70 seats filled," Dusty Smer said. "That's pretty impressive. That's telling us that we're on the right track."
