New terminal turbocharges growth at Southwest Wyoming Regional

The original story by James Riter for SweetwaterNOW.

A shiny terminal and a serious tailwind: Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport is on a tear. Since the new building opened earlier this year, passenger traffic is up 32.8% versus the same stretch of 2024 — the latest mile marker in an unbroken, 27-month streak of year-over-year gains. For a regional field, that kind of consistency is rare, and it’s translating straight into stronger finances.

Fuel sales tell the same story. Jet-A volumes are up 35% this year, a new all-time record that even tops the 2019 high by 5.8%. That’s the kind of number you typically see when both commercial schedules and business/general aviation activity are humming. Pair that with a 29.6% jump in total operating revenue and you get an airport that’s not just busier — it’s sturdier.

“Everything is going gangbusters for us right now,” Airport Director Devon Brubaker said, crediting the terminal as a catalyst but noting that the climb began before the ribbon-cutting.

In other words, the new facility didn’t create the trend so much as it accelerated it. New space usually means better flow at check-in and screening, more comfortable gate areas, and fewer bottlenecks on peak days — the unglamorous things that matter when you’re trying to grow without frustrating travelers.

Even so, Brubaker is clear the work isn’t finished. The team is still tuning the building to match how real passengers move through it — shifting furniture to ease choke points, fine-tuning wayfinding, and squashing the inevitable “new building” gremlins that pop up once a space is live.

“There’s always going to be things we learn along the way, whether it’s how passengers are using the building or figuring out ways to make everything more efficient,” he said. “We’re constantly working to improve.”

He also hinted at more upgrades on the horizon, with additional terminal features slated to roll out over the next year. Details are under wraps for now, but the message is clear: the airport sees this moment as a launchpad, not a finish line.

Taken together — a 27-month traffic streak, record fuel sales, and revenue up nearly a third — Southwest Wyoming Regional is showing what a modernized terminal can do for a community airport when demand is there and execution is steady. The building may be new, but the momentum looks durable.