Helicopter Tours Approved by Airport Board

A new tourist attraction that was approved this week will show visitors a different perspective of the Cody-Yellowstone region – from the air.

The Cody Enterprise reports that Cody Helicopter Tours, LLC, will be based out of Yellowstone Regional Airport. The Airport Board approved the business at their meeting yesterday. The company will be managed by Chris Darst and Jerry Kinkade and will operate out of the airport from May to September.

The tours, which will hold three to six passengers, will take off from a gravel pad that will be built on an open field southwest of the Choice Aviation terminal, which is a very visible location to visitors coming into Cody from the south and east.

Cody Helicopter Tours will be the first scenic charter to lift from the airport, and Kinkade noted that the proposed takeoff zone is the best possible location at the airport, free of all telephone hazards.

The newspaper reports that Darst is president of Helicopter Resource Associates, which already runs private helicopter tours for businesses within the Big Horn Basin and throughout the west. 

A termination clause is built into the lease that allows the airport to cease the helicopter operations at any time.