Bighorn Airways Inc.

Bighorn Airways Inc., headquartered in Sheridan, Wyoming, operates as a for-profit small business providing fixed-wing aircraft services for federal wildland firefighting, smokejumper transport, and emergency aviation operations. The company competes predominantly as a prime contractor under Total Small Business set-asides on delivery orders and holds multiple single-award indefinite-delivery contracts with land management and special operations agencies.

Bighorn Airways delivers exclusive-use and call-when-needed smokejumper flight services, paracargo and equipment delivery, aerial firefighting support, and reconnaissance missions using a specialized fleet of turboprops including CASA 212, Dornier 228, and DHC-8 aircraft. Work is performed from its Sheridan base and subordinate operational locations at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, and western fire camps. Representative recent work includes a $5.3 million delivery order from the Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region (April 2026) for exclusive-use smokejumper flight services at Boise, Idaho; a $9.988 million delivery order from the National Interagency Fire Center (January 2025) under the Total Small Business set-aside for fixed-wing aircraft services in Missoula, Montana; and a $4.93 million order from NIFC (January 2025) for wildland firefighting aircraft services in Winthrop, Washington. The company also holds a $827,219 definitive contract with Naval Sea Systems Command (February 2022) for air transportation supporting the Undersea Warfighting Development Center's Arctic Submarine Laboratory ice exercise.

Customer concentration is dominated by wildland firefighting and land management agencies. The top five customers by award count account for 70% of all awards: the Department of the Interior Departmental Offices (130 awards), the National Interagency Fire Center (126 awards, $838 million combined potential value), and the BLM Idaho Region (59 awards, $233.9 million). By dollar value, however, the portfolio shows stark concentration in military and transportation vehicles: the Department of Defense Transportation Command anchors $5.7 billion in combined potential value across two awards, and U.S. Special Operations Command carries $1.3 billion across two awards, reflecting large ceiling IDIQs. The National Interagency Fire Center's $838 million in combined potential value across 126 awards and the Air Force Air Mobility Command's $589.6 million across three awards follow. This divergence signals that while Bighorn flies routine fire-suppression and smokejumper missions for interior agencies on moderate-dollar task orders, it also holds massive-ceiling military transportation and special operations contracts that dwarf the day-to-day wildfire work in pure potential value.

Bighorn Airways positions on five named parent vehicles. The National Smokejumper Aircraft Services-MATOC (NIFC, single award, $700 million ceiling, Total Small Business set-aside, through December 31, 2034) is the largest and most active, with delivery orders throughout 2025 for regional wildland firefighting operations. The company also holds three single-award BLM indefinite-delivery contracts: one for $32 million (awarded January 6, 2026, through February 28, 2031) for exclusive-use smokejumper services at Boise, Idaho; one for $25.99 million (awarded March 1, 2026, through February 28, 2031) for fixed-wing smokejumper fire support in Alaska; and an earlier $10.84 million vehicle (awarded April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2027) for Fort Wainwright and Boise operations. A $1.3 billion multiple-award IDIQ with U.S. Special Operations Command (awarded February 12, 2025, through August 24, 2029) for military freefall and static line support reflects diversification beyond wildland firefighting into special operations training support, though only a $500 delivery order has been placed against it to date.

Activity is variable year to year, with 55 awards in 2024 followed by a decline to 26 in 2025 and 19 in 2026 (through September). Six awards carrying combined potential value of $39.3 million reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and face recompete. Service Contract Inventory data shows SCI-reported invoiced revenue of $71.6 million across FY2022–FY2025, with a spike to $32.5 million in FY2025 offset by declining FTE engagement: 15.8 FTEs in FY2022 fell to 1.3 FTEs in FY2025, signaling that recent work involves higher-value per-person aviation services rather than labor-intensive ground support. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable prime contracts median around $627.97 per hour, with senior labor pricing reaching into the $5,138.99 per hour range, consistent with specialized aircraft operations and remote-area aviation expertise. Bighorn Airways performs all work directly with no recorded subcontractor footprint across the prime contract base. The company competes entirely as a prime contractor (100% of awards) and does not appear in any subcontractor role in the source data.