[boi2socal]

Originally Posted by ATLonthebrain

To isangpogi's points:

I very much agree with you. The problem is that BOI had it so good for so long and people got used to it, even if they weren't utilizing the overabundance of service which was in place in the early-to-mid 2000's. Now there are many complaining about a lack of service, but that's because they are comparing it to a time when there was as close to zero unemployment as we'll ever see, population growth was booming, and the price of fuel was low. Then is NOT now. All of those things contributed to airlines being freely willing to operate more capacity in the market than was truly warranted. BOI is still served fairly well, though there are some areas for improvement, to be certain. And, there are several opportunities being pursued. Airlines flying 55-60% full today are probably not going to be in business for long. That's what Southwest was seeing on average to the cities it cut from BOI in Jan.

US Airways is flying a 3rd trip to PHX on select days through August. That is a big thing for our market to have 3 A319's on US Airways. And, as you pointed out, Delta will have 4x daily service to MSP, the first time there has been that level of frequency (at least I believe so). Even though Delta is down in seats to SLC, it is flying a B757 on its early morning trip all summer, which is the largest plane BOI sees on a scheduled basis. Alaska (Horizon) will have 8x daily service to SEA all summer and 5x daily to PDX, more flights to each city than it had last summer. Unfortunately, neither Southwest nor United are capitalizing on Frontier's decision not to serve BOI this year. Big missed opportunity, in my opinion.

To boi2socal's points:

I think you will be wrong. And, you'll be happy to be, in this case. There's much happening which will potentially have a major positive impact on air service here by 2013. The recession hit Boise HARD, worse than many metro areas our size, and we're slower to recover. That combined with skyrocketing fuel costs is what has led airlines to trim the fat from smaller markets like ours, especially when a lot of seats were going unfilled.

Spring Break is a couple of weeks long, at best. It doesn't really have a major impact on passenger traffic outside of the month of March, at least not @ BOI. The airport is down in passengers mainly because airlines are down in seats. There has to be a sustained and real economic recovery happening here before you'll see a large change in seat capacity and flights. Airlines operating today must have strong confidence in a small market before committing to it. There will be some improvements in the near term, but they will come when and as the airlines are ready. So much happens behind-the-scenes that the average resident or traveler has no concept or knowledge of. And, I can say there is work consistently happening to turn the tide @ BOI.

To be clear, I wasn't picking on BOI. Most airports Boise's size have seen similar declines and losses. So I'm not sure what will make Boise a priority over all those others unless subsidies are involved. And as I noted earlier, Boise does not have a good track record with new airlines and routes within the last ten years. Again, I can only think of Sacramento surviving. You seem to have inside info, so I'll take your word for it. I worked for Alaska, and back in Boise's good days the rumors were Boise would get Mexico flights and Alaska would take over the ticket counter. Fast forward...