The Western Nebraska Regional Airport Authority board received the final boarding numbers for 2021.
Assistant Airport Director Cheryl Clause told KNEB News the numbers showed that they easily surpassed the required 10,000 annual boardings required to receive $1 million in funding through the federal Airport Improvement Program.
Clause said last year, SkyWest alone boarded 12,137 and the airport’s total boarding numbers for 2021 were 13,286, which she noted was a marked improvement over what they had for total boardings in 2020.
Clause said while they have a way to get there, they are pushing closer to pre-pandemic boarding numbers, which were soaring after United/Sky West had begun service in 2018. She said they are about 4,000 less than where they were pre-pandemic for just SkyWest boardings alone.
Clause said they have seen a steady monthly increase in the number of boardings throughout 2021 and into this year.
