Aviation View | Volume 1, Issue 2

125 AVIATION VIEW VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 LARAMI E REGIONAL A I RPORT The runways were paved in 1944 to allow B-24 Bombers in and out. Airline flights started in 1945, in 1959 the terminal building was built, and in 1992 the name was changed to reflect the regional character. Laramie Regional Airport covers some 1,580 acres and has two asphalt runways – 3/21 is 8,502 by 150 feet and 12/30 is 6,300 by 100 feet – and sees around 10,000 operations each year. It is owned by the Joint Powers Board, established by both the City of Laramie and Albany County with five total members, two members from the city, two from the county, and a joint appointment. “We are really starting to focus on the general aviation side of things,” says Amy Terrell, who has recently come on as Airport Director. “Our FBO for the general aviation side of things is Cowboy Aviation and they have a super cool mascot of a cowboy riding on top of an airplane. This is an area that can use a lot of expansion, since we have generally focused on the commuter airline side of things. As we build up the infrastructure there is a lot of room for growth.” “We are considered a part of the EAS, which stands for Essential Air Service,” adds Tim Stamp, Chairman of the Laramie Joint Powers Board. “It is a program brought in by the Department of Transportation after the deregulation in 1978 to ensure that smaller communities continue to be served by at least minimal airline service. Our air service is subsidized by the FAA and provided by Sky West/United Airlines, a commuter airline out of Denver. We have two flights right now: one in the morning that takes off from here and then a return flight at 2:30 in the afternoon that comes in from Denver and then goes right back out again. And then usually at about 8 o’clock a plane comes back and delivers passengers to Laramie. The crew stays for the night and will fly out again the next morning.”