New flights arriving at Boise Airport, including longest route to East Coast for just $99
New flights to popular vacation spots are inbound at the Boise Airport just as another destination in the Western U.S. falls off the local route map.
This month, Alaska Airlines launches winter seasonal service to and from Bozeman, Montana, as the Idaho Statesman previously reported. The new nonstop flight will run five times per week and starts Dec. 19. It is scheduled to operate until April 21, according to the airline’s online booking calendar.
Alaska, the airport’s primary air carrier, on the same day also will begin flying year-round between Boise and Orange County, California, near Disneyland. That flight will run daily and compete head to head with Allegiant Air, which already offers the same route up to four times per week.
Next month, Alaska will start flying three times per week from Boise to Orlando, Florida, for the winter. Orlando — home to Disney World and Universal Studios Florida — ranks in the Treasure Valley’s top-20 air travel markets and has long been a nonstop route airport officials have tried to attract.
“We’re thrilled to offer convenient connection for guests across our network with this expansion — whether checking destinations off their bucket lists or setting off to their favorite winter getaways,” Kirsten Amrine, Alaska’s vice president of network planning and revenue management, said in a July news release that announced the new routes.
Other high-priority flights sought by the local air hub include: Anchorage, Alaska; Boston; Charlotte, North Carolina; Honolulu; New York City; and Washington, D.C. The airport offers financial incentives to airlines that introduce the nonstop routes.
Alaska Airlines recently completed its purchase of Hawaiian Airlines, which could help land a direct flight between Boise and Honolulu.
Orlando now longest flight out of Boise
When the Orlando trip begins in January, it will become the Boise Airport’s longest route. The first Orlando-bound flight takes off Jan. 8 and the airline will offer the route until March 23. One-way flights start at $99 and are available at alaskaair.com.
Southwest Airlines, on the other hand, has ended its once-weekly seasonal flight between Boise and Southern California’s Long Beach Airport after about a year of service. The airline flew its last time along the route at the end of October, airport officials told the Statesman.
Meanwhile, American Airlines is scheduled to restore its daily nonstop flight from Boise to its hub at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on June 5. United Airlines also offers the same route in and out of Boise, and Southwest flies to Chicago’s Midway International Airport.
“Complementing existing (Boise) service to Dallas/Fort Worth and Phoenix, this new service will offer customers convenient connections to more than 100 cities, offering shorter travel times and greater schedule flexibility when traveling with American to the Midwest, Northeast, and abroad to Europe,” Jordan Pack, the airline’s director of domestic network planning, told the Statesman by email.
American’s flight from Boise to O’Hare first launched in July 2017, according to prior Statesman reporting, but it was shelved in October 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic as commercial air carriers suffered dramatic financial setbacks with the drop-off in travel. The flight’s return is yet another sign of the airline industry’s renewed health, as well as Boise’s continued growth for air travel.
Off its second straight record-setting year for travelers, the Boise Airport is poised to break its annual passenger total again. The airport is on pace to approach 5 million passengers this year.
More than 4.1 million passengers have flown in and out of the Boise Airport through October, which is the most recent data available. If trends continue through the busy end-of-year holiday season, the airport will beat its record by more than 200,000 passengers.
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 10:15 AM.
