April 9, 2025:
People wanting to fly into, or out of, the Pierre Regional Airport on Aug. 1, 2025, or later, can begin booking flights with SkyWest/United Express this week. Any flights between now and July 31, 2025, will still be provided by Denver Air Connection.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision awarding United Express the Essential Air Service contract for Pierre wasn’t made until April 1. To allow SkyWest more time to prepare staffing, flight schedules and other logistics, Pierre City Commissioner Jamie Huizenga says Denver Air will stick around for two extra months.
Huizenga says Denver Air has updated their reservation system so tickets can be purchased for June and July. United Express expects to be able to start taking reservations as soon as Thursday (April 10, 2025) for flights on Aug. 1 and beyond. He says Pierre will continue to have 12 weekly flights to Denver, but the new United Express flights will be timed to better align with connecting flights leaving Denver.
April 7, 2025:
If you’re a fan of the king size snacks and beverages you get from Denver Air Connection when flying out of Pierre or Watertown, you’ll be able to enjoy them for a few extra months.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded SkyWest, flying as United Express, the next Essential Air Service contract for the Pierre Regional Airport. That contract was supposed to begin June 1, 2025.
However, Pierre City Commissioner Jamie Huizenga says the USDOT’s decision wasn’t made until April 1, giving SkyWest only 60 days to get all of the personnel and logistics worked out to be able to provide commercial air service to Pierre and Watertown. The normal transition time for an EAS contract is at least 90 days, but ideally the new airline would have 120 days to prepare.
To help make the change of airlines go as smoothly as possible, Denver Air Connection has agreed to keep providing service in Pierre and Watertown through June and July– an additional 2 months. SkyWest will now take over the two EAS routes August 1, 2025.
Denver Air has updated their reservation system so tickets can be purchased from them for June and July. SkyWest expects to be able to start taking reservations sometime this week for flights on Aug. 1 or later.
The USDOT gave SkyWest/United Express a four-year contract, rather than the typical two year contract. SkyWest will continue to provide 12 weekly flights from Pierre to the Denver International Airport, but what their exact flight schedule will be is still being worked out. From Watertown, Denver Air provides 12 weekly flights, divided between Chicago and Denver.
Pierre’s airport is partially funded through the federal EAS program, which means the USDOT provides a subsidy to the commercial air carrier providing service in order to maintain flight options at small airports around the country. While local officials do get to provide input regarding which company they prefer, the USDOT makes the ultimate decision. As an EAS airport, if Pierre goes over the 10,000 boardings number in one year, it’s eligible to receive $1-million from the USDOT to help support airport operations.
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