Yellowstone Regional Airport in Cody is on the verge of a record-setting year.

The record 40,288 annual commercial airline boardings at YRA could fall with an average December of commercial enplanements, said airport manager Bob Hooper.

“That would be pretty good considering we were 14.5 percent down (in boardings) in the first five months of 2019,” Hooper said. “We really turned things around.” 

The previous high was set in 2016 and through November, “we’re just 1,621 boardings off that mark,” Hooper said.

December enplanements in the last three years suggest a new record for boardings is within reach. YRA boarded 2,100 in December of 2016, 2,232 in 2017 and 2,166 in 2018.

United Express (Cody to Denver) is the only commercial airline flying a YRA schedule in December, with flights being partially subsidized by the federal Essential Air Service program. YRA started the year behind last year’s boardings because Delta Connection didn’t begin its scheduled service in and out of Cody until late in May.

Hooper already has good news to lay the groundwork for 2020 commercial flight numbers at YRA: Both United Express and Delta Connection will extend service next year, he said.

United Express will start its third flight daily to Denver on May 8, 2020, and a fourth daily flight on June 5.

Delta will extend its Cody flights to Salt Lake City by about a month in the spring and in the fall. Service will begin May 7, 2020, and continue through Nov. 14. This year, Delta ended its fall operations to Salt Lake City in mid-October.