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also enhancing the economics of northern New Mexico. New York City, Minneapolis St. Paul, Seattle, Newark, AMERICAN FLYER, COPPER MOUNTAIN , CO
People are taking the flight and experiencing Taos, and also and San Francisco. Blann says Jackson Hole Resort exper-
exploring throughout the region while they’re here. And it’s imented with charter flights three decades ago, helping to FIRST IN
proven to be extremely popular with the locals here, too. prove demand to the legacy carriers, and in that time has
We’re offering a discounted flight going the opposite direc- developed relationships and minimum revenue guarantees DIRECT DRIVE
tion, flying from Taos to Texas against ski traffic for $192 with three legacy carriers: American Airlines, United,
roundtrip, and the community here has been loving it.” and Delta. TECHNOLOGY
Norden says he doesn’t know of any similar contempo- “I realized early on that getting people here was the most
rary services owned by and offered by other NSAA members, important piece of the puzzle,” Blann said. “When we first
but that other resorts, like Jackson Hole, Wyo., have used started JH Air 15 years ago, we were subsidizing 80 per-
charter flights in the past to help establish new markets, cent of those flights. Now we’re only supporting 20 percent 182 SYSTEMS WORLD WIDE
strengthen existing markets, and attract legacy airlines. of the flights. We get those routes established and they’re 3 SYSTEMS IN NORTH AMERICA
Jerry Blann, the former president of Jackson Hole Resort, able to go from there.” Jackson Hole Airport now accounts
applauds Taos’s venture into the chartered flight business. for about 55 percent of all commercial traffic in the state of
“I think it’s a really smart thing for Taos Ski Valley to do to Wyoming, he added.
help further establish those critical markets,” he said. “It’s not Indeed, Big Sky in Montana is seeing the successes of
like Austin and Dallas are close-drive markets for Taos! You expanded air service and competition. For years, the only
need that air service.” national carriers flying into nearby Bozeman were American
THE GONDOLA, WINTER PARK, CO
Blann is a current member of both the Jackson Hole Airlines, United, and Delta—at very high costs—with-
Airport board of directors and the executive committee of out direct competition from smaller carriers like Southwest,
JH AIR, a community nonprofit that annually negotiates Alaska Airlines, and Frontier Airlines. But this past year,
with major airlines for non-stop flights into Jackson from Frontier began offering discounted fares from its Denver
more than a dozen major markets including Dallas, Denver, hub to Bozeman, forcing the other national legacy carriers to
Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, make their flights more affordable. As a result, Big Sky is see-
ing great success with air-travel guests flocking to the resort,
with VRBO, Airbnb, and Big Sky’s own resort lodging com-
Pointman
Pointman USER-FRIENDLY pletely sold out for most weekends.
Now that Taos Air has seen success with its Austin and
Simplicity is built into the design,
Badge operation, and user interface. Dallas routes during the winter season, is Norden thinking
Badge
Printer MOBILE ACCESS OPTION about opening routes to other markets?
Printer
Design and print right from your
smartphone or tablet. “Given our early success, we’ve already committed to
IDEAL FOR: FAST PRINT SPEED next winter, we’re looking at expanding the service, and we’re
-Name Badges 190 cards/hour (full-color, single- considering maybe picking up another city or two,” he said.
sided), and up to 140 cards/hour
-ID Badges “We’re also looking with the town at the potential for Taos
-Access Control Cards (full-color, dual sided).
-Bank Cards COMPACT Air operations in the summer.”
-Gift Cards Lightweight design with the small Houston and San Antonio could be new destinations
-Loyalty Cards footprint allow you to operate the
-Membership Cards Nuvia card printer where you need for Taos Air—think of those 100-degree summer tempera- AMERICAN EAGLE, COPPER MOUNTAIN , CO
it most. tures, and the ability and affordability to get to the cool and
refreshing New Mexico mountains on a quick flight.
Badge Print Software
For other NSAA members considering offering sched-
uled public charter flights as a way to establish new travel
routes with important markets, Norden says he’s willing to
share some of the lessons he’s learned in the last year.
“What’s so interesting about the ski business is every-
A Cawley Do-It body has their own set of circumstances: location, geography,
Yourself System
Version 3.2 scale, lots of different factors . . . and proximity to an airport
with flights from the major ski markets is a big one,” he said.
“What I believe is our greatest learning on this so far is that
the ability to tailor the flight experience specifically to the
1.800.822.9539 www.thecawleyco.com skier/snowboarder family seems to be resonating.”

22 | NSAA JOURNAL | SPRING 2019