The past couple of years have been good for the overall air transportation network in the United States, with cities returning after being gone for sometimes over a decade. Gallup and Las Cruces, New Mexico, both have resumed air service with Advanced Air in the past year thanks to local and state funding to support air service to the communities. Las Cruces lost airline service back in 2005, Gallup lost airline service back in 2008, and Salem lost air service back in 2008, but life is breathing back into them again after being out of the system for so long.

According to a local website in Salem, The Salem Reporter, the airport received an $850,000 federal grant to use for minimum revenue guarantees. A revenue guarantee entices airlines to serve these small communities and give them a chance, as the carriers won’t have to worry about filling the planes and making a profit during the first couple of years serving the new market.

This is very common throughout the industry and is how many airlines get a foothold on new routes and destinations. Then, once the revenue guarantee terms end, if the carrier had consistently full planes the airline will hopefully continue to serve this market if it has done well.

New Ultra-Low-Cost Service

The new flights to Salem will be to Burbank, Calif. via ultra-low-cost start-up Avelo Airlines, as well as the airline’s newest base in Las Vegas. The first flight will operate to Las Vegas and will fly on a twice-weekly basis, Thursdays and Sundays, with Burbank flights beginning the next day on Oct. 6, 2023, and operating on Fridays and Mondays.

With airlines beginning to announce flights that start in the fall, it is expected that a couple more of the Small Community Development Grants will be used and airlines will announce flights on underserved routes in the coming months.