roswell airport may see flight and service expansion

A new air service line, and a possible new facility to accommodate it, may be in the future of the Roswell International Air Center.

The airport has received a $750,000 federal grant designed to expand its services, with a commercial airline flight connecting Roswell to Denver.

The funding is coming through a Small Community Air Service Development grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The service would belong to United Airlines, which has not yet announced when the connecting line will be launched. The grant has a two-year window for use, although that timeline could be extended.

In an interview with the Roswell Daily Record, Scott Stark, director of the Rowell airport, said having the federal funding available “puts us into the next phase of our air service development plan.”

With roots reaching back to World War II, the Roswell airport currently offers flights to Dallas and Phoenix by American Airlines.

An earlier study conducted for the Roswell airport determined that the most logical new flight service would be between Roswell and Denver. That connection, because of the size of the Denver hub, would additionally provide connections to more than thirty other destinations.

The Small Community Air Service Development Program has awarded just under $200 million in grants in the last two decades. Those grants, ranging in size from $20,000 to just over $1.5 million, have gone to airports in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.
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The program has also just awarded $950,000 to the Grand Junction Regional Airport Authority for the possible creation of a new service to San Francisco.

​By Garry Boulard

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