New Flights Boost Boise Travel

By Volkert, Lora

Passenger volume at the Boise Airport grew 10 percent in the third quarter, compared to a year ago, with 436,341 passengers embarking on plane trips from Boise, according to statistics compiled by airport officials.

The growth in part reflects new flights that airlines have added, said Larissa Stouffer, the airport’s marketing coordinator. In August, Big Sky Airlines added a second flight from Boise to Missoula, Mont., and a flight from Boise to Bozeman, Mont.; it started service between Boise and Jackson Hole, Wyo., Oct. 1. Delta Air Lines added a seasonal Atlanta flight in June and extended it to a year-round flight in September.

The extension of direct flights to its Atlanta hub is a good indicator that Delta sees Boise as a strong market, Stouffer said, especially considering that to offer the direct flight, Delta bypassed another hub nearby, Salt Lake City – to which it tends to divert many of its flights out of Boise.

That’s a big sign of passenger demand in Boise, said Stouffer. The airline is reacting to the supply and demand of the aviation industry.

Big Sky, which came to Boise in 2002, was the first airline to offer flights from Boise to Wyoming and Montana, Stouffer said. Those short flights have helped round out service to Boise and increase passenger volume.

And even United Air Lines, which has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy since late 2002, and is expected to emerge from it in early 2006, increased its seat availability into and out of Boise during the past few years, providing larger planes and additional flights, Stouffer said.

Because of that, she said she thinks Delta and Northwest Airlines could continue to operate at the same level or increase traffic even though they recently filed for bankruptcy.

In the July to September quarter, 434,178 passengers disembarked in Boise.

One-way trips and travelers who leave one month and come back the next account for the discrepancy in the numbers of people flying in and out of Boise.

So far this year, 1,175,432 passengers departed from Boise, an increase of 10 percent from the first three quarters of last year.

Last year, a total of 1,444,260 passengers embarked on flights from the Boise Airport. Boise Airport officials have said this year is on track to surpass the 1,510,157 passengers in the year 2000. Airport traffic dived to a low of 1,354,734 in 2003, the second full year after terrorists highjacked airplanes on Sept. 11, 2001.

(Copyright 2005 Dolan Media Newswires)