Future of United flights remains uncertain

The future of Lewiston’s direct Denver flights hangs in the balance with no money designated to subsidize the service.

Airport officials made a presentation to the Nez Perce County Commission on Monday about United Airlines’ request for a yearlong $4.9 million minimum revenue guarantee for the flights that would start on Oct. 1.

“I’m going to be blunt,” Commissioner Doug Zenner said. “You’re not getting a damn dime out of me, period.”

Nez Perce County and the city of Lewiston own the airport. Neither entity included any funding in their budgets for this fiscal year that started Oct. 1.

The county is facing unmet infrastructure needs, and will be spending about $2.8 million annually for about 25 years on its new courthouse, Zenner said.

Zenner and Commissioner Don Beck were at Monday’s meeting. The third commissioner, Doug Havens, had an excused absence.

The presentation to the commission followed a similar one airport officials gave at a Lewiston City Council meeting Oct. 24.

A deadline for United Airlines to have direction about what the community would do passed weeks ago on Oct. 15, said Michael Isaacs, director of the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport.

“United is becoming very impatient,” Isaacs said. “They’re looking for (something). Whether it’s a partial or a full subsidy, that’s for your consideration.”

A consultant who is a liaison between the airport and airlines updated airport officials and some of Nez Perce County’s elected officials on the situation Friday, Isaacs said.

One possibility could involve the city and county splitting a quarter of the subsidy and then seeking additional money from the state of Idaho or possibly the federal government, said Joe Gish, a member of the airport authority board.

The area the airport serves has a population of about 220,000 people who reside in north central Idaho and southeastern Washington, said Gish, a Republican who is running against Democrat Pete Gertonson for Zenner’s commission seat. Zenner didn’t seek reelection this year.

“Personally I think it’s unfair that the county and city foot the bill when we have far more people than the 40,000 people in Nez Perce County using the airport,” Gish said.

The nonstop Denver flights debuted in Lewiston in 2021. They were first backed by $4 million more than three years from Nez Perce County, which used federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars. United has billed the city of Lewiston just more than $4 million for a yearlong revenue guarantee that ended Sept. 30.

The municipality approved the subsidy after United stated it lost $5.5 million on the Lewiston flights in 2023.

“We’re still struggling with making it profitable for the airline,” Isaacs said. “They have indicated they lost money every month even though their planes are close to 90% full.”

The support the county and city have provided have been a good investment, according to airport officials, providing benefits such as lowering airfares on all of Lewiston’s commercial passenger flights and supporting the major employers.

When United entered the market, Lewiston had direct service to just one destination, Salt Lake City on Delta, after losing direct flights to Seattle and Boise on Horizon Air in 2018.

After the Denver flights started, Delta introduced nonstop Lewiston-Seattle flights in 2023. Neither Delta route is subsidized.

United upgraded its Denver-Lewiston flights from 50-seat CRJ-200 jets to 70-to-76 seat E-175 jets at the end of September. Delta also uses E-175 jets on its Lewiston routes.

In 2021, prices on Lewiston’s one-way flights were typically 33% higher than the national average, the airport previously reported.

As of the first part of this year they were generally 12% lower than the national average, which is estimated to save travelers $6 million annually, according to the airport.

Lewiston is the smallest airport in the nation that has service to three hubs through two major airlines, Isaacs said.

“That says that the board is working really hard to get us where we are today and it wouldn’t have been here without your support,” Isaacs said.

Airport Board Chairperson Gary Peters said he hates that it takes a minimum revenue guarantee to accomplish what the airport is trying to do and he doesn’t know how long one will be needed.

But, Peters said, it’s the reality of the present environment.

“I feel like if we don’t do this, we’re giving up right when we’re on the cusp of … us getting over the hump and kind of getting back to where we were,” he said.

The circumstances, Peters acknowledged, are putting commissioners in a place where they are going to take “a lot of flak” from taxpayers.

“They just don’t understand what this turns into,” he said. “It’s a massive investment, but this is our highway to the rest of the world.”

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.