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  #161  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2012, 3:27 PM
Cottonwood Cottonwood is offline
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....news of that Chinese bus company who is to open their headquarters here????
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  #162  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2012, 4:06 PM
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ny idea of how long till the great news surfaces??

Can I make guesses? Maybe Spirit beginning service to Las Vegas, although I've yet to hear anyone enjoying their flights on Spirit, only "enduring" them. Possibly Horizon service to Reno or Salt Lake? Southwest has been in the habit recently of announcing new service but I kind of doubt they would restart a route so soon after ending them, and I don't see any new routes that make much sense. Or maybe Alaska/Horizon is turning Boise into a Q400 hub. Flights will come in and go out every few minutes to and from exotic destinations like Idaho Falls, Spokane, Montana, and Tri-Cities. Is someone going to start flying to Hawaii? Not sure though if the Boise market could support very regular Hawaii service.

Or.... United has determined that fog delays and labor costs at SFO are unsustainable. They are moving their entire operation to Boise, with service to Asia, Europe, Central and South America in addition to flights all over the US and Canada...
Or that 747s will start flying to and from the Boise Airport. (A lil dream of mine)
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  #163  
Old Posted Apr 5, 2012, 12:57 AM
BoiseAirport BoiseAirport is offline
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LOL, oh jeeze, what have I done??

Haha, okay, well it's not THAT great news, it's not new air service, but it's interesting, and wonder what it means for the future. I reckon we'll know more within a few months. I'm sorry if I teased.
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  #164  
Old Posted Apr 5, 2012, 3:51 AM
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Originally Posted by isangpogi View Post
Or.... United has determined that fog delays and labor costs at SFO are unsustainable. They are moving their entire operation to Boise, with service to Asia, Europe, Central and South America in addition to flights all over the US and Canada...

You can't SAY things like that! It's so tempting for me to daydream about all these what-ifs!
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  #165  
Old Posted Apr 5, 2012, 4:00 AM
ATLonthebrain ATLonthebrain is offline
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Could it be the crew base AS/QX will place in BOI starting in Aug? It was officially announced today, along with other bases in Spokane & Medford. I've known about the potential for this for a couple of months, but it was just recently decided. It is good news, but doesn't necessarily mean new flights will result with this move. Let's be optimistic, though! Would be nice..

Last edited by ATLonthebrain; Apr 5, 2012 at 4:16 AM.
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  #166  
Old Posted Apr 5, 2012, 4:49 AM
boi2socal boi2socal is offline
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Originally Posted by ATLonthebrain View Post
Could it be the crew base AS/QX will place in BOI starting in Aug? It was officially announced today, along with other bases in Spokane & Medford. I've known about the potential for this for a couple of months, but it was just recently decided. It is good news, but doesn't necessarily mean new flights will result with this move. Let's be optimistic, though! Would be nice..
I get Boise and Spokane, but not really Medford. I'm guessing a lot of their crew must live there. According to the press release, 300 of 900 will be spread across the the three new bases, Boise gets 96.
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  #167  
Old Posted Apr 5, 2012, 5:48 AM
BoiseAirport BoiseAirport is offline
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Originally Posted by ATLonthebrain View Post
Could it be the crew base AS/QX will place in BOI starting in Aug? It was officially announced today, along with other bases in Spokane & Medford. I've known about the potential for this for a couple of months, but it was just recently decided. It is good news, but doesn't necessarily mean new flights will result with this move. Let's be optimistic, though! Would be nice..
Yes that's what I was referring to, I actually wasn't expecting the announcement to be today, but that's nice it was.

http://www.npr.org/local/stories/KBSX/149952895

Horizon Air To Base Flight Crews In Boise, Medford and Spokane

Indeed it doesn't automatically mean more flights, but it's still good news that some of the jobs we lost are coming back.
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  #168  
Old Posted Apr 13, 2012, 7:24 PM
Cottonwood Cottonwood is offline
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http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/0...on-on-new.html

ITD to start construction on new Boise River bridge next month
12:07pm on Apr 13, 2012; Modified: 12:08pm on Apr 13, 2012


The Idaho Transportation Department will start construction next month on the first phase of connecting State Street/Idaho 44 and Chinden Boulevard/U.S. 20/26 via a high-speed four-lane expressway with a new bridge over the Boise River.

Construction of the first phase, a $19.4 million bridge across the Boise River, will take about two years to complete.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/0...#storylink=cpy
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  #169  
Old Posted Apr 13, 2012, 7:37 PM
JustakidfromBoise JustakidfromBoise is offline
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A map would be helpful to show exactly how everything is going to be connected.
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  #170  
Old Posted Apr 13, 2012, 8:10 PM
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44 is pretty clear on the north side, and I bet a million dollars it's going to meet up with Chinden right about where that new-ish stretch of Five Mile goes up the hill to McMillan. I'm certainly no expert, though. If they preserve the lake stuff, this is actually going to be a nice, scenic route. People rarely see this lake-filled spot right in the middle of the metro. Suddenly it going to be driven through every day.
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  #171  
Old Posted Apr 13, 2012, 10:07 PM
City Of Trees City Of Trees is offline
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Originally Posted by kidboise View Post
44 is pretty clear on the north side, and I bet a million dollars it's going to meet up with Chinden right about where that new-ish stretch of Five Mile goes up the hill to McMillan. I'm certainly no expert, though. If they preserve the lake stuff, this is actually going to be a nice, scenic route. People rarely see this lake-filled spot right in the middle of the metro. Suddenly it going to be driven through every day.
No, it's the Highway 16 extension just east of Star. This is the first part of eventually extending Highway 16 all the way to I-84. They better hold their word on saying that this is going to be an expressway. The last thing we need is another Eagle Road disaster.
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  #172  
Old Posted May 3, 2012, 2:47 AM
BoiseAirport BoiseAirport is offline
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An update on the long-awaited parking garage expansion at the Boise Airport.

Renderings can be seen here:
http://www.iflyboise.com/media/24390...esentation.pdf

-4 phases
-Red phase (1,118 spaces) complete by November 2013
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BOISETOPIA is hibernating
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  #173  
Old Posted May 3, 2012, 4:47 AM
isangpogi isangpogi is offline
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Originally Posted by BoiseAirport View Post
An update on the long-awaited parking garage expansion at the Boise Airport.

Renderings can be seen here:
http://www.iflyboise.com/media/24390...esentation.pdf

-4 phases
-Red phase (1,118 spaces) complete by November 2013
Great info! I wonder if that economy lot off Orchard will ever be used again with lower passenger counts and expanded on-site parking... Certainly was disappointing to see the huge drop off in actvity at BOI in the slides before the garage presentation. Do you go to these meetings BA? Are they open to the public?
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  #174  
Old Posted May 3, 2012, 5:10 AM
Boizean Boizean is offline
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Originally Posted by JustakidfromBoise View Post
A map would be helpful to show exactly how everything is going to be connected.
Would this help?

http://itd.idaho.gov/Projects/garvee...lternative.pdf
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  #175  
Old Posted May 3, 2012, 8:11 AM
boi2socal boi2socal is offline
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Originally Posted by isangpogi View Post
Great info! I wonder if that economy lot off Orchard will ever be used again with lower passenger counts and expanded on-site parking... Certainly was disappointing to see the huge drop off in actvity at BOI in the slides before the garage presentation. Do you go to these meetings BA? Are they open to the public?
I really doubt Boise will get any more service anytime soon. I have to say I'm surprised. I figured with the alleged economic recovery in Boise people would be traveling more. But this may be the result of the limited service and/or increasing fares. Boise use to be relatively affordable to fly in and out of. Those days seem to be over.
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  #176  
Old Posted May 4, 2012, 12:47 AM
isangpogi isangpogi is offline
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Originally Posted by boi2socal View Post
I really doubt Boise will get any more service anytime soon. I have to say I'm surprised. I figured with the alleged economic recovery in Boise people would be traveling more. But this may be the result of the limited service and/or increasing fares. Boise use to be relatively affordable to fly in and out of. Those days seem to be over.
Respectfully, I disagree... I think Boise is well-poised for additional service at this point from a stable airline. Both Frontier's and American's pullouts had more to do with problems at the corporate level than they had to do with Boise ridership. Certainly, if either route had been immensely profitable, the airline would have kept it going regardless. But maintaining a ground and gate presence for only a couple flights per day is a losing battle. American and Frontier would have needed to commit to higher flight frequency to make efficient use of their presence at BOI. Because of the financial state of both airlines, they couldn't afford the gamble and cut their losses by pulling out.

Boise is still served very well, with fairly frequent nonstops to regional hubs like San Fransisco (5 Daily), Salt Lake (5), Denver (7), Seattle (7), etc. Boise gets two dailies to LA, Chicago and Minneapolis (increasing to 4 for the summer!). We are also lucky for a market our size to have a few non-hub routes like Sacramento, San Jose and Lewiston. Just as it's always been, one can travel from Boise to anywhere in the country and many international destinations with one stopover. For a market the size of Boise, we have decent service.

I suspect that as things continue to show signs of recovery, airlines will begin to reinvest in Boise. Spirit Airlines has been rapidly expanding from their Las Vegas and DFW bases. As much as I'd hate to pay to carry on a bag, they would be a good fit for the very cost-conscious Boise market.
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  #177  
Old Posted May 4, 2012, 7:26 AM
boi2socal boi2socal is offline
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Originally Posted by isangpogi View Post
Respectfully, I disagree... I think Boise is well-poised for additional service at this point from a stable airline. Both Frontier's and American's pullouts had more to do with problems at the corporate level than they had to do with Boise ridership. Certainly, if either route had been immensely profitable, the airline would have kept it going regardless. But maintaining a ground and gate presence for only a couple flights per day is a losing battle. American and Frontier would have needed to commit to higher flight frequency to make efficient use of their presence at BOI. Because of the financial state of both airlines, they couldn't afford the gamble and cut their losses by pulling out.

Boise is still served very well, with fairly frequent nonstops to regional hubs like San Fransisco (5 Daily), Salt Lake (5), Denver (7), Seattle (7), etc. Boise gets two dailies to LA, Chicago and Minneapolis (increasing to 4 for the summer!). We are also lucky for a market our size to have a few non-hub routes like Sacramento, San Jose and Lewiston. Just as it's always been, one can travel from Boise to anywhere in the country and many international destinations with one stopover. For a market the size of Boise, we have decent service.

I suspect that as things continue to show signs of recovery, airlines will begin to reinvest in Boise. Spirit Airlines has been rapidly expanding from their Las Vegas and DFW bases. As much as I'd hate to pay to carry on a bag, they would be a good fit for the very cost-conscious Boise market.
No arguement Boise has decent service now. But right now the recovery isn't happening. A six percent year to year decrease is quite large, especially during spring break months. I'm not trying to be a negative nancy or spar with you, but with the exception of Sacramento, I don't believe any new route or airline has stuck around in the last decade, even in the best of times. Southwest already flies to Las Vegas twice daily while offering connections and continuations. America West tried this route as well a couple times when they had a large Vegas hub. I think you'd see Allegiant to Hawaii before Spirit to Vegas.

I can't think of another airline that would serve Boise right now. In part, because airlines are disappearing and/or consolidating. Maybe a few additions by airlines currently serving. Perhaps United to Houston, Delta or Alaska to LAX (fingers crossed, I won't fly United!). I hope I'm wrong!
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  #178  
Old Posted May 4, 2012, 5:47 PM
ATLonthebrain ATLonthebrain is offline
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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.
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  #179  
Old Posted May 4, 2012, 10:33 PM
boi2socal boi2socal is offline
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Originally Posted by ATLonthebrain View Post
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...
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  #180  
Old Posted May 5, 2012, 2:10 AM
isangpogi isangpogi is offline
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Originally Posted by boi2socal View Post
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...
I certainly didn't take your points to be picking on BOI. I love the opportunity to learn and see things from perspectives other than my own. I'm glad this forum is here, what other place is there for us to exchange predictions on the future of Boise Airport?

I did a little looking into how BOI compares to other airports. I looked at cities with metro populations close to the same size as Boise. To begin with:

Boise
Metro Population 627,664, ranked 85th (2011)
Passenger Enplanements in 2010: 1,406,750
Served by Alaska, Delta, Southwest, United, US Airways
Furthest Destination: United to Chicago, 1450 miles

Des Moines, IA
Metro Population 580,255, ranked 88th (2011)
Passenger Enplanements in 2010: 898,840
Served by AirTran, Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, United, US Airways
Furthest Destination: Allegiant to Los Angeles, 1400 miles

Colorado Springs, CO
Metro Population 660,319, ranked 81st (2011)
Passenger Enplanements in 2010: 877,367
Served by Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier (as Focus City), United
Furthest Destination: United to Washington-Dulles, 1500 miles

For a city the size of Boise, we are served remarkably well. What's easy to notice is that Boise has much higher levels of traffic than the comparables. As I browsed the information on the aiports, I found most cities Boise's size are served primarily by regional airlines like Delta Connection, United Express and so on.

The cities with enplanement rates most similar to Boise's are Tulsa, OK and Birmingham, AL (1.3 and 1.4 mil respectively). Tulsa has a metro population of 946,962 and Birmingham is 1,132,264.

My point is that we're in a great position to attract more air service. I agree with Boi2SoCal in that I doubt we will land a new airline. What I am banking on is that BOI will at least attract new destinations by airlines already serving Boise. Alaska just make the decision to base crew members here, so that's a sign that at very least they will maintain the status quo. Options for expansion would be Alaska by SkyWest service to LAX on a regional jet and mainline 737 service to SEA.

If anyone's interested, here's where I found the data: http://www.faa.gov/airports/planning...ats/passenger/
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