Quote:
Originally Posted by BOIguy
Yes, BOI has more nonstop markets, but GEG has 10% more passenger traffic. Southwest didn't reduce GEG service nearly as much as it did BOI's, either. GEG hasn't seen any airlines biting on its grant award for LAX service, and probably won't. It was so specific that I doubt any airline will be seriously interested in flying a 100-seat or larger plane on the route. The smarter option would have been to propose something like a CRJ-700. The grant funds are only used if a proposal is activated. Some of the awards are questionable, but many are solid opportunities that wouldn't be possible without the grant supporting the proposal. In this environment, BOI having grant funds to use in efforts to improve service to the South/Southeast will help the cause tremendously. I hope it happens! And, as for BOI-NYC traffic, think it's about 60-65 people per day on average.
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I find that strange that GEG has more passengers than BOI, and a larger market when combining CdA and Spokane, but can't get a carrier to fly to Los Angeles. Also Spokane only has seasonal United Express service to Chicago while Boise flies two a day mainline. By far though, Seattle is the top destination with 15+ flights daily.
Air accessibility is all about being able to get to your destination quickly on a convenient schedule. I think Boise is very well connected for a city our size. Going east one can connect through MSP, ORD, SLC or DEN. Where we do struggle is with some short hops. Flying to Reno is now a pain, so is Idaho Falls, Montana and the Tri-Cities. We have nonstop access to large international gateways like LAX, SFO, SEA and ORD. We're really just missing that southeast link that the airport is going after aggressively, which would really open up Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. After that it just becomes a slow process of getting those short nonstops back and continuing to solidify traffic on the routes we have.