ALAMOSA — At the regular meeting of the Alamosa County Advisory Board Meeting of the San Luis Valley Regional Airport on July 13, board member Donna Wehe asked Alamosa County Commissioner Vern Heersink for an update on the $1.2 million fine the county-city is facing from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Heersink responded that the matter has been given to attorneys who are in discussions. The FAA has cited both owners of the airport, Alamosa County, and the City of Alamosa in the matter.

As previously reported in the Valley Courier, in June, the FAA proposed the $1.2 civil penalty for "allegedly failing to ensure aircraft rescue and firefighting personnel were available during scheduled air carrier flights." The violations occurred in 2020 and 2021 according to the agency.

The board thanked former board member Kent Buchanan for his service. Wehe said it would be great if the board could find a replacement board member from either Adams State University or Trinidad State College to represent the academic community.

Casey Pamperien gave the board an update on using Homeland Security grants to purchase a backup generator for the airport.

In a general update, Will Hickman, airport manager said a fly-in event was in the works and that he would have details soon. Hickman said the number of enplanements (passenger boardings) for June was 1,143. Hickman said that for 2022 the airport was short of 10,000 enplanements.

According to FAA data, the number of Alamosa enplanements for the current year was 9,929, a decline of 17% from 11,987 last year.

The 10,000 threshold is important, as federal funding is contingent on that number of passengers. The Valley Courier has sought comment on the federal funding issue from Alamosa County Administrator Roni Wisdom and is awaiting a reply.

Although Jon Coleman from Denver Air Connection was on the agenda to give an update on the airline's operations, he was not present. This reporter has contacted Coleman for an interview.

Last year, the airline was awarded a $5.2 million subsidy from the federal Department of Transportation to provide passenger service to Denver under the Essential Air Service program. That subsidy runs through June 30, 2024.

There was a discussion during the meeting about Denver Air Connection changing its policy that online passenger check-in must be completed at least three hours before a flight to one hour. The airline website still has a three-hour policy. If passengers do not meet that requirement, they must check-in at the airport.