Improved flight schedules are planned and an added flight to Denver, Colo., could be coming to the Dubuque Regional Airport as Denver Air Connection looks to renew its commitment to air service in the tri-states.
Denver Air Vice President Jon Coleman told a gathering of the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce on Friday that flight schedules will be adjusted in June to allow a morning flight to Chicago on certain days, paired with an evening return flight.
He said his airline is also considering using the Dubuque airport as a connector between Chicago and Denver later this summer, which would add new service to Colorado.
Denver Air launched service in Dubuque in November with daily mid-afternoon flights to and from Chicago O’Hare, with interline connections on United and American airlines. The afternoon time slot around 3 p.m. allows the airline access to a maximum number of connections to both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, but Coleman acknowledged many business travelers would prefer a morning flight out of Dubuque.
Coleman said with free parking and $89 fares to Chicago, his company’s deal with the Dubuque airport was set up to be competitive with driving to catch flights in Madison, Wis., Moline, Ill., or Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as area travelers have been doing.
“There’s zero reason to drive to Cedar Rapids,” Coleman said. “It would seem absurd to me that anyone would not fly out of Dubuque.”
Dubuque Regional Airport landed Denver Air through a $2 million grant that matched federal and local contributions and offered the airline a minimum revenue guarantee. Funds in that grant will run out in June unless ridership increases.
“People have to use the service for it to be sustainable long term,” Coleman said. “I can’t offer $89 fares to O’Hare in perpetuity.”
Coleman said flights would have to get up to 85% full to be sustainable, roughly double the number of tickets sold in December.
O’Hare is a hub for United and American, but Coleman said his company is still negotiating a code-sharing agreement with Delta Airlines, which connects Chicago to its hubs in cities such as Atlanta, Ga., and Seattle, Wash.
Enplanements from Dubuque Regional Airport in 2024 were the lowest they’ve been in more than a decade, coming in at just over 6,300 — a fall from 39,000 in 2017. The current projected capacity, with one Denver Air flight a day, is just under 18,000, still below capacity levels as recent as 2023.
Global Flight Solutions consultant Matt Skinner shared data showing bookings peaked in late November before bottoming out around New Year’s Day. Booking numbers are now on an upward trend and have steadily increased since then.
Skinner said Dubuque is in a tough spot because the small regional jets that Denver Air uses and that American Airlines had used to service Dubuque have been falling out of favor with the major airlines, which are looking to save on costs by focusing on flights where larger jets can be justified.
Denver Air, Skinner said, has the nimbleness to step into the gap between Boeing 737 flights and the small turboprop plans that serve critical access airports and offer regional jet service to Dubuque.
Dubuque Mayor Brad Cavanagh also spoke to the chamber gathering as he continues to help lead the charge for restoring and promoting air service to Dubuque as critical to the local economy.
“If we want our economy to grow, and that is the case, we need flights to our airport,” Cavanagh said.