The Provo Airport can be the main commercial airport for the Utah Valley, a market area of approximately 415,000 people. The airport service area includes Utah County and five smaller counties to the south. The airport recently completed major improvements to its runways and plans to become a full service airport. The airport presently accommodates air charter operations, an air taxi operation, general aviation, aircraft storage, and aviation repair. There is no scheduled commercial passenger or cargo air service at the Provo Airport.

The business environment and air travel demand in the Provo Airport market is affected by growth and health of the national economy, the state economy, and the local economy. The economy of the nation is the strongest it has been in over twenty years. Domestic Air Travel is projected to increase 3% to 4% annually for the next five years. The economy of the State of Utah and the Provo Airport market area is sound and expected to grow at a moderate pace.

The Utah Valley comprises 19% of the economic base of the Wasatch Front. Surveys performed at Salt Lake City International Airport indicate that 14% of the originating passengers from the Wasatch Front are from Utah County. The dividing point between Provo Airport and Salt Lake City International Airport, in terms of distance and driving time, is the "the point of the mountain" at the north edge of Utah County.

The community leaders believe that they need nonstop jet passenger air service to key markets in the west to help continue the development of business in the area.  They also need quality overnight cargo service and contract cargo service to meet the special needs of the high tech companies. Provo Airport will need facilities to handle four to five passenger airlines and one to two cargo airlines operating jet aircraft. Air service at Provo Airport will need to be competitive with low fare passenger air service and cargo service at Salt Lake City International Airport.

To add new service at Provo Airport, the airlines need to view Provo Airport as being more beneficial to their long term goals than other airports. The airlines are seeking more profitability, good facilities, community support, available resources for long term improvements, and limited competition. Incentives such as reduced fees, free rents, and promotional funds will be necessary to attract new air service.

The airline industry has been very volatile during the 1990's. The Major airlines suffered huge losses during the recession years in the early 1990's but have bounced back to record profits since 1995. The National airlines serve unique market niches and continue to perform at profitable levels. The Major airlines have eliminated air service to  most short haul markets and have been replaced by Commuter airlines operating as marketing partners feeding passengers to the major airlines at their hub airports.

The mid size or National type airlines have been successful by serving niche markets. In most cases, they have lower operating cost than the Major airlines. New jet airiness have started a niche operators and are attempting to fill the void created by the Major airlines in the short  haul markets. Some of the new airlines are successful and some are finding a rough road to  profitability. The U.S. Department of Transportation is reviewing ways to help and protect the new airlines and increase service to cities that have been dropped by the Major airlines.

Future Strategy for the Major airlines will continue to center on a reduction of cost by the elimination of short haul routes and the increase of revenue by expansion into international markets. The Commuter airlines will be adding regional jets to their fleets in order to replace the Major airlines in the short haul markets (under 500 miles). National airlines and Start up airlines will continue to fulfill niche opportunities and take advantage of their lower operating cost in competitive situations.

Eight other airports in the west, serving cities approximately the same size as the Provo Airport market, average 28 jet flights and 17 commuter flights per day. The top twenty air markets for Salt Lake City International Airport have historically accounted  for approximately 60 % of the total passengers for the Airport. Fourteen of these top twenty markets for Salt Lake City International Airport are located in the western states. It is expected the same trend will apply to Provo Airport.

The Prove Airport market is a significant part of the total Salt Lake City International Airport market. The Provo Airport market area has 22.0% of the population, 19.8% of the households, 17.9% of retail sales, and 18.4% of the buying income for the entire region. A weighting of these economic indices gives the Provo Airport market area a 19.3% share of the total air travel market.

A survey to determine passenger and air cargo needs of key employers in Utah County was performed by Tri-Star Marketing company in May of 1999.  Leaders of seventeen companies and organizations participated in the interview process. Information gathered in this interview covered air passenger and air cargo needs of the business market.

In regards to commercial airline passenger service, the participants in the survey estimated that their employees account for more than 68,000 annual round trip passenger and visitors to their facilities accounted for an additional 21,000 annual round trip passengers. The  participants stated that reliable air service to the Los Angeles area, Denver, San Diego, Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay area, and the Pacific Northwest would fulfill their needs.

The survey participants said they would use Provo Airport for the majority of their flights if service to key markets were available. The survey respondents would be willing to trade off lower fares are Salt Lake City International Airport for the convenience of nonstop service at Provo Airport. More than 80%$ would be willing to pay between $26.00 to $50.00 per round trip for passenger air service at Provo.

Based on the economics of the Provo Airport market area, the passenger potential to all points in the United Sates is between 440,000 annual passengers and 840,000 annual passengers.  To reach this potential, Provo Airport would need to have service that is competitive with the service at Salt Lake International Airport.

The passenger forecast for Provo Airport indicates that there is a large enough demand to support daily jet flights to Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix, Portland/Seattle, San Jose, and Las Vegas. Utilizing fares comparable to the average fares at Salt Lake City  International Airport, flights to Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix; Portland/Seattle, and Las Vegas are projected to be profitable with standard twin jet aircraft. Service to and from Los Angeles will be very attractive for the international market and service to Denver will be very attractive for customers connecting to the mid west, east, or southeast.

Primary passenger airline candidates to serve the Provo Airport markets include Southwest Airlines or Win Air for Los Angeles; Frontier Airlines or United Airlines for Denver; America West Airlines or Southwest Airlines for Phoenix; Horizon Airlines, Southwest West Airlines, or Win Air for Portland/ Seattle; American West Airlines, Southwest Airlines, or Win Air for Las Vegas; and Southwest Airlines or Win Air for San Jose.

In regards to Air Cargo, one of the Utah County companies interviewed stated that they ship approximately 50,000 pounds of air freight per day. This is equivalent to the daily B-727 flight. The shipments are going to world wide destinations with the East Coast, the Mid West, West Coast, and the Pacific Rim being the most named areas. 

The air cargo forecast for Provo Airport indicates that there is a large enough demand to support a B-727 overnight service by an integrated/consolidated air carrier on a scheduled basis and there is some demand to support contract service.  Primary air cargo airline candidates include Federal Express, UPS, and DHL for the overnight air service. Contract service can be provided by smaller cargo carriers and by the intergrated/consolidated air carriers.

New commercial air service at Provo Airport  will produce new jobs and revenue to the community. Revenue from air service will create visitors expenditures at hotels, restaurants, car rentals, and local shops. Travel agents will derive new income from the new departing passengers. The Airport will get new fees in the form of terminal rents, landing fees, fuel flowage fees, and passenger facility charges. The new airline will purchase fuel, supplies, and crew meals. All of these expenditures will translate into new jobs.

New visitor expenditures accompanying the new passenger air service to and from Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix, Portland/Seattle, San Jose, and Las Vegas is estimated to be $31 million. New travel agent income, attributable to the new service, is estimated to be over $6000,000. It is estimated that fees to the Airport will be approximately $1.8 million. The new airlines will purchase fuel and will have local staff payroll cost of over $3.4 million. The total revenue impact to the community is estimated to be $36.8 million. With a standard multiplier applied, the total impact to the community is over $90 million.

The airport will incur additional expenses for marketing and business development. Marketing action plans for passenger service and for cargo service will need to be developed. Presentations will need to be created to recruit the new passenger and cargo air service. A team of civic leaders will need to be organized to meet with the target passenger and cargo airlines.

It is recommended that Provo Airport move ahead to recruit passenger airlines to serve the six key markets with nonstop jet service. Provo Airport should also move ahead to recruit new air cargo service by an integrated/consolidated carrier on a regularly scheduled basis. 

351 West Center St., Provo UT 84601
(801) 852-6000
Office Hours:  Monday- Thursday  7 AM - 6 PM
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