KEARNEY, Neb. — The airline that serves Kearney Regional Airport is optimistic that it can grow increase its usage in 2024.

Denver Air Connection CEO Cliff Honeycutt and Director of Business Development Jon Coleman addressed the Kearney city council last week. The airline is about 14 months into its Essential Air Service contract with the city. It took over in November 2022 after SkyWest Airlines cut its contract short because of a pilot shortage.

The pair told council members that the airline has operated 1,452 flights since it started in Kearney. It has experienced 13 cancellations, two for maintenance and 11 for weather. 399 flights were delayed, good for nearly a 75% on-time rate. 357 of the delays were uncontrollable and involved weather or air traffic control. 42 of the delays were related to maintenance.

In 2023, Denver Air Connection counted 29,300 enplanements for flights to and from Kearney. SkyWest registered nearly 50,000 when it had both Denver and Chicago flights in Kearney and counted about 39,000 enplanements for its Denver flights, which puts DAC at about 75% of the SkyWest enplanement numbers.

“We want to build something that lasts for a long time,” Honeycutt said. “A one-year period, two-year period is barely enough time to have a presence. We want to be able to find a pathway to be able to move this thing forward.”

The city has a two-year agreement with DAC. The bidding process for the city’s contract is expected to start in about four months.

Council members gave mostly positive feedback to the two airline executives. They encouraged them to consider an earlier flight to Denver and to reach out to area businesses about corporate flying plans.

This week, DAC announced a new ticketing and baggage transfer agreement with Delta Air Lines. According to a news release, the agreement allows passengers to book travel coordinated between Denver Air Connection and Delta Air Lines in a single reservation, with a single ticket and one credit card transaction. Similar agreements already exist with United and American.