REGINA - It’s still early days, but business and tourism leaders are still glowing over the new United Express daily direct flights between Regina and Denver.
The route re-launched May 15 after a decade-long absence from the airport, with once-a-day flights to and from Denver International Airport using CRJ200 aircraft operated by United’s partner, SkyWest Airlines.
At a business roundtable with the airport last Thursday, those attending spoke of what a boost this was to attract visitors to Regina, particularly for major events.
“What we know is we attract a lot of major events to Regina, and this flight helps get more people here,” said Jennifer Johnson, Deputy City Manager of Communications Service Regina and Tourism.
“We're talking business events, conferences, and sporting tournaments as well. And we do do economic generation estimations on all of those, and it's significant. We're talking millions when we host major events, and this just gives us more opportunity to bid on and win those events.”
Having the route to Denver is seen as a prime opportunity for the city of Regina to promote itself in that particular city.
“Between us and the airline itself, there's been marketing into Denver, and that's really neat,” said Johnson. “I've been to Denver a number of times. My sister lives in Denver, and Denver is interested in similar things to what we're interested in here. There's lots of outdoor activities. There's lots of hiking and biking, and we have those opportunities here right in Regina and in surrounding parks in Regina. It's a really nice synergy, and I think similar interests from the market there.”
The tourism sector sees a particular opportunity. Officials point out the new route will be a boon for hunters and anglers interested in the great outdoors of the province, and much of that market happens to be in Colorado.
“One of the biggest things in the U.S. market for us, the biggest thing is our outfitted fishing and hunting market,” said Jonathan Potts, CEO of Tourism Saskatchewan.
“It's a $150 million industry for Saskatchewan. Colorado is one of the top five states. Neighbouring and nearby states like Nebraska and Texas are also in the top ten. So this is a big deal for us to bring more of those clients here to Saskatchewan, spend more money, and help our economy.”
Potts said that the anglers “like to get up north and go fishing. For hunters, though, whether they're bird hunters, deer hunters, Regina's a great hub, as is Saskatoon.”
He said their outfitted angling and hunting clients “are the highest yielding, highest spending market for Saskatchewan in the entire tourism industry. Typically they spend $700 a day when they come to Saskatchewan, and the packages that they purchase are often in the thousands of dollars.”
“There are a lot of similarities in Colorado from an economic and sector standpoint, but I think there's a lot of similarities in values too,” said Chris Lane, CEO of Economic Development Regina.
His organization led a trade mission to Denver soon after the United route was launched, which included Regina business leaders. Lane said they got a glowing reception, from the governor of Colorado right down to the people on the street.
“I've got to say that I have the privilege of talking about and selling Regina all over the place, and I have not yet been to a place where we were so warmly received as we were in Denver on that mission,” said Lane,
“I think there's a long established business connection between Saskatchewan and Colorado. Every year those two jurisdictions do $200 million U.S. annually in business together, and so they're very keen on making sure that the connectivity, both in business and the visitor economy, stay as strong as it is.”
“There's no reason why that can't get to $300 million if you're making it easier to get here,,” said Mike Tate, CEO of the Regina Chamber of Commerce. He pointed to the convenience in cutting down the amount of travel time for potential business travellers looking to invest in the province.
“You look at the opportunity. On the inaugural flight, in fact, there was a gentleman that works for a manufacturing company and he said it cuts his travel time down by six hours. I mean, you think about that impact and the ability to now come to Regina and we're making it easier to do business.”
The route is being supported by a revenue guarantee of $3.5 million from the provincial government. Airport CEO James Bogusz describes this as akin to an insurance policy, in place to “make sure they have enough profitability during that initial period to basically stay going.”
Separate from that, he said Regina Airport Authority, Regins Hotel Association, and Economic Development Regina have also put up cash and marketing dollars. Regina Airport Authority is also doing some additional work to promote the flight.
“I'm sure you've noticed all the billboards in town and radio advertising that we're buying, and being in the media lots talking about this,” said Bogusz.
The other thing the airport does is they “do not charge the airline any terminal or landing fees whatsoever during any time period in which we're taking a tax dollar for any reason.”
“This is intrinsically important to me personally as a CEO and our board as well. It's the right thing to do… When it's profitable, we'll then go back to the airline and have that conversation about charging normal fees. And this is a strategy we use for other new routes as well. Not so much the revenue guarantee, but ensuring there's an incentive program to reduce the risk if it's an unserved route only.”
For Ward 4 councillor Mark Burton, this new United route to Denver is “all about connections, and it's about convenience.”
“It's about convenience for a hunter to come up to Saskatchewan to do some tourism here and to enjoy the sport they want to use in Saskatchewan. It's about convenience for the businessmen in Regina to go to other connections, to other places in North America and to travel there easily, and it's ease for other businessmen to come to Saskatchewan and to conduct business with Saskatchewan here… Over 200 connections out of Denver, which increases the reach of Saskatchewan passengers with one single hop, and that means for a family that's travelling, there's less time spent in airports, less time worrying about lost luggage, less time dealing with all the logistics.”
