New direct flights will take passengers from Boise to Austin, Chicago, Everett
Want to fly east? How about south?
Alaska Airlines said Wednesday that it would add direct service to Austin, Texas, as well as new nonstop service to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Both flights begin June 17.
The airline will also begin service to Paine Field in Everett, Washington starting Sept. 8, airline officials announced.
“Being able to get to Chicago, Austin and Everett without having to jump planes is always great for our residents and the economy,” Mayor Lauren McLean said during a news conference announcing the flights.
The flights to Chicago will begin at $129, according to Alaska’s site, and the flights to Austin appear to start as low as $146. Flights to Everett will start at $73.
The new routes are in addition to more service to existing markets, including Sacramento, where Alaska will have direct service twice daily.
Brett Catlin, vice president of network and alliances for Alaska, said the airline also plans to expand service to Los Angles, San Francisco and San Jose. Alaska Airlines is Boise’s largest carrier.
With Wednesday’s announcement, the Boise Airport has 25 direct routes either now running or scheduled. to start The airport has added several new routes in recent months, including direct flights to New York City through JFK, Palm Springs and Orange County, California.
Most flights from Boise take passengers to the West Coast, but the airport is increasingly offering direct flights to more eastern locations. Starting with new JetBlue service this July, New York City will be the farthest east a person can travel directly from Boise. Nashville and Atlanta are also newly accessible.
The routes to Austin and to Everett will qualify for financial incentives through the airport’s recently renewed program designed to attract new airlines and new routes to the city. Service to Everett had been announced previously and was initially supposed to begin last June but was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Boise Airport is hoping to attract several additional routes through the incentives program, including to Honolulu, Anchorage, Boston and Orlando.
Passenger traffic is down at the Boise Airport year-over-year as a result of people opting not to fly during the pandemic. Last January, before the pandemic was a concern in the United States, airport officials said they anticipated that 2020 passenger numbers would surpass the 4.1 million people who flew through BOI in 2019.
Instead, fewer than 2 million passengers came through. In 2021, officials expect passenger numbers to be higher, but Airport Director Rebecca Hupp told the Boise City Council last week that the airport isn’t projected to hit 2019 passenger numbers again until 2023.
“We have fared better than our peers,” Hupp said Wednesday. “We’ve seen growth at about 50%, which is about 10% above the national average.”
In January, the most recent month for which data is available, just over 157,000 passengers traveled through the airport, down 50% from more 316,000 in January 2020.
Data from the Transportation Security Administration shows that the number of people going through TSA checkpoints nationwide was down about 62% year-over-year in January.
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 10:41 AM.
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