“This kind of passenger traffic is not just something you see anywhere else.” Meanwhile, hop-on jet company JSX operates in and out of Reno and is quickly adding destinations in the spring of 2021, for example, service expanded with additional routes to Las Vegas and Oakland. “For a community of our size, I truly believe we have the best air service in America,” Kulpin says. Some of the newer destinations include Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Charlotte, North Carolina and Austin, Texas - and new for December 2021, Palm Springs, California, is being added to the list. As of summer 2021, the airport is offering 25 nonstop destinations (its most ever). Instead of just being a connector airport, RNO has become the final destination. In the wake of the pandemic, as more and more people relocate here from nearby states in search of ideal jobs, less-expensive housing and the region’s unparalleled outdoor recreation opportunities, the convenience of the airport makes Northern Nevada the perfect place to live, work and play. “From May through July (2021), we were 110 percent ahead of the summer months in 2019,” Kulpin says. “And then the pandemic hit, and it was devastating.” After the huge drop in air travel in 2020 - at one point, RNO saw a 96% drop in passengers in a matter of two weeks in April of that year, all coming after 56 consecutive months of passenger growth - it didn’t take long for numbers to skyrocket back up to above pre-COVID times. It was so exciting,” says Brian Kulpin, Reno-Tahoe International Airport Vice President of Marketing & Public Affairs. We served 4.5 million passengers and it was our best year in a decade. The hub for air travel in the region has seen drastic ups and downs in passenger counts over the past three years. The COVID-19 pandemic created massive levels of pent-up demand for travel after a cancelation-filled 2020, and with Northern Nevada’s profile growing in recent years as an ideal western destination for shopping, hotels, casinos and an abundance of outdoor entertainment, no one knows this better than the crew at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. EDITOR’S NOTE This story is adapted from the 2021-2022 edition of the Northern Nevada Guide, a 116-page specialty magazine published in late September by the Northern Nevada Business Weekly.
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