Consultant endorses Pullman-to-Boise flights

Flights between Pullman and Boise were singled out Monday as having the most potential for profit by a firm hired by the Idaho Legislature’s interim Intrastate Air Services Committee.

Commercial passenger flights between Idaho Falls and Boise also could make money, said Jeffrey Hartz, a consultant with the firm Mead & Hunt, during a committee meeting.

Lewiston-Boise and Pocatello-Boise routes were “marginally negative and could support service if fares end up higher than forecasted or with permanent subsidies,” according to Mead & Hunt’s report.

What happens next is not clear. Monday was the committee’s last meeting and it issued no formal recommendations.

Committee co-Chairperson Sen. Dan Johnson, R-Lewiston, said he would be emailing committee members ideas in coming days.

The report from Mead & Hunt, a firm that has helped the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport in its efforts to get nonstop Denver flights, suggests initiating discussions with airlines that might add commercial passenger flights and carefully monitoring any service that’s introduced.

It also recommends identifying subsidies and potential ways to pay for the incentives that could include marketing, fee waivers, direct subsidies and revenue guarantees. Federal money might be available for at least some of those items, Hartz said.

“Most new service will require some level of incentives (partly because) competition has increased due to fewer airlines and hubs,” according to the report.

Members of the committee from north central Idaho asked Hartz about how his firm had examined data from the Pullman airport and the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport, which is about a 40-minute drive from Pullman.

Committee co-Chairperson Rep. Caroline Troy, R-Genesee asked if Mead & Hunt had compared the weather in Pullman and Lewiston, noting that there’s about a 2,000-foot elevation difference between the two facilities.

Mead & Hunt looked at that and discussed it with personnel at the Pullman airport as well as Alaska Airlines, the parent company of Horizon Air, which has direct Pullman-Seattle flights, Hartz said.

“One of the things we understand is (the Pullman airport has) has some changes with their instrument approach procedures, which has enabled them to have lower minimums,” he said.

Snowstorms will still shut down Pullman quicker than Lewiston, but in the last year, Hartz said, Pullman has improved operational reliability to be much more in line with the Lewiston numbers.

Another committee member, Gary Peters, the chairman of the Lewiston airport authority board, said after the meeting that he was pleased the study found a need for air service between north central Idaho and southeastern Washington.

That Horizon suspended its Boise-to-Lewiston flights after it ended its Pullman-to-Boise flights indicates that the majority of the passengers were from the Lewiston area, he said.

“If the state of Idaho ends up being the funding mechanism for these flights to take place along with some contributions from the business community, I think the taxpayers and the business owners should have some input as to which airport (they’re) operated from,” Peters said. “(But) in the end, we just want service to the region.”

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