Alaska Airlines restores two Boise flights to warm cities, adding to busy holiday travel
Alaska Airlines is set to restore a pair of nonstop flights through Boise starting in November, including bringing back its route in and out of the Texas capital.
Round-trip flights between Austin and the Boise Airport will operate for about a week in November, on both ends of Thanksgiving, and then for three weeks in mid-December and extending into early January surrounding Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s.
Alaska, which offers direct flights to 17 of the airport’s 26 nonstop destinations, will pause a daily trip currently offered to and from Austin starting Saturday, and again suspend the Austin route starting Jan. 9. The Seattle-based air carrier will then begin offering the nonstop trip once more on April 18, according to Alaska’s booking website, and operate every day through at least Aug. 21, which is the end of the current booking calendar available online.
Alaska is transitioning the nonstop Austin flight into a seasonal route, an airline spokesperson told the Idaho Statesman.
“We’ll evaluate the route on a seasonal basis if more capacity (seats) is warranted,” Ray Lane, the Alaska Airlines spokesperson, said by email.
Alaska previously cited unanticipated crew shortages to the Statesman as reason for the temporary halt of its Austin flight. The holiday season flights will continue to be operated by Horizon Air, which Alaska owns and, like Alaska, is based in Seattle. But when the nonstop Austin route returns as a daily flight in April, SkyWest Airlines, an Alaska partner headquartered in St. George, Utah, is scheduled to take over operations, though Lane said that is not yet final.
“(It) could remain Horizon or become SkyWest,” he said. “For our guests, it’s the same travel experience on the same aircraft.”
Alaska also is scheduled to relaunch its winter seasonal flight between Boise and Palm Springs, California, on Nov. 25. The route is scheduled to operate three times a week through May 17, according to the airline’s online booking schedule.
“The Boise Airport is always happy to see seasonal routes return and frequency added,” Shawna Samuelson, an airport spokesperson, told the Statesman by email. “We are thrilled to see our airline partners provide the community with more choice and flexibility.”
New low-cost carrier eyes expansion
Avelo Airlines also is increasing its number of weekly nonstop flights from two to three between Boise and its home base at Hollywood Burbank Airport in Los Angeles County. The low-cost air carrier started service in Boise in May and continues to average better than 75% full flights aboard its 189-seat planes, according to Avelo officials.
“Naturally there is more demand for travel around the holiday season and around spring break,” Courtney Goff, an Avelo spokesperson, told the Statesman by email. “We know a lot of Idahoans have either relocated, have family and friends still in Southern California or just want a warm holiday so we’ve adjusted our schedule accordingly.”
In adding the third weekly flight to and from Burbank, Avelo will shift its flights from Mondays and Fridays to Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
To compete with Avelo, Alaska the same week also began a nonstop flight between Burbank and Boise, aboard 76-seat planes. The route has no expected end date, based on Alaska’s booking website. Alaska currently flies on each of the days Avelo won’t once it transitions to the new schedule — Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
“We’re happy with the route’s summer performance,” Lane said, citing Alaska’s ticket sales for the Burbank flight over the past four months.
Combined, the two airlines provide daily service between Boise and Burbank, helping Treasure Valley residents avoid the congestion at Los Angeles International Airport, which consistently ranks among the three busiest airports in the U.S. and in the top five in the world.
Last month in Boise, Avelo celebrated its one-millionth passenger since the airline launched operations in April 2021. The passenger was aboard an inbound flight from Burbank to Boise on Aug. 12.
The initial success of Avelo’s first four months in Boise could lead the airline to expand to more cities soon, Goff said.
“As we continue to acquire more aircraft, we’ll have more and more options, and as we continue to see customers utilize our service, we look at how we can grow in those markets,” she said. “There are many options both West Coast and perhaps some mid-America. Our newest West Coast city, Palm Springs, is intriguing but so is (California) wine country in Santa Rosa/Sonoma.”
Last month, the airport marked its busiest August on record — good for six months running of all-time highs in passenger counts. Nearly 2.9 million passengers have now passed through the Boise Airport this year, according to airport data, putting it on pace to break the annual record of 4.1 million passengers set in 2019. The airport is about 177,000 passengers ahead compared with this same time in 2019.
“We are tracking 7% above where we were at this point in 2019,” Samuelson said. “The Boise Airport has more than recovered from the dip in passenger counts and seats available caused by the COVID-19 pandemic — and the airport was recently listed as the 10th-fastest growing airport in the nation.”
With the year-end holidays just around the corner, the airport is already prepping for a couple of its busiest travel months. Work is underway to expand the security checkpoint to help travelers pass through more quickly and onto their gates.
Boise Airport officials still recommend that passengers plan plenty of time around their departure times during the upcoming fall and winter travel season.
“If you are planning to travel over the holidays, we ask that you arrive two hours early and make a plan for parking by checking our website for a live look at parking capacity available,” Samuelson said.
This story was originally published September 26, 2022 at 2:14 PM.
