New flights at Boise Airport start soon to vacation hot spot, Idaho neighbor state
Starting in January, Treasure Valley travelers can hop aboard the region’s new longest flight to the East Coast and escape the snow.
Alaska Airlines on Wednesday announced three new nonstop routes in and out of Boise, including winter seasonal flights to Orlando, Florida, and Bozeman, Montana. Boise’s primary air carrier also will begin daily flights to and from Orange County, California, in December.
Boise Airport Director Rebecca Hupp cheered Alaska’s new offerings, which also come with more daily flights back and forth to other Western cities where the Seattle-based airline already travels from Boise. Those include Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Portland and Spokane, she said.
“Our community has demonstrated strong demand for a nonstop flight to Orlando, and we are delighted that Alaska is launching this seasonal route to meet that need,” Hupp said in a statement to the Idaho Statesman. “Additionally, the timing for the new seasonal nonstop flight to Bozeman is ideal, perfect for planning your winter getaway. … These welcome additions are significant as we work to meet the needs of our traveling public and the Treasure Valley’s growing population.”
The new flight to Orlando — home to Disney World, Universal Studios Florida and golf courses galore — is scheduled to start Jan. 7, 2025. It will operate three times per week until the last week of March.
The flight to Bozeman, just north of Yellowstone National Park, begins Dec. 19 and is set to run until mid-March 2025. The route will take air travelers between Boise and Bozeman five times per week.
Lastly, the new daily flight to Southern California’s Santa Ana Airport in Orange County, just south of Disneyland in Anaheim, also starts Dec. 19 and will operate year-round. Alaska will compete on the route with Allegiant Air, which already flies between Boise and Orange County.
Tickets for all three new flights were set to go on sale Wednesday evening at alaskaair.com.
“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 news release.
The Boise Airport maintains a list of priority destinations it hopes to add and Orlando was among them. The others include New York City; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, North Carolina; Honolulu; and Anchorage, Alaska.
To attract the routes, the Boise Airport provides up to $125,000 to airlines for at least twice-weekly, year-round nonstop service to one of its desired locations. Airlines still qualify for half that amount when they offer either seasonal service to one of the priority destinations, or year-round flights to another market that hasn’t served Boise in at least the past year.
Airlines that meet the requirements will receive the funds in credits toward fees typically paid to the airport to use the terminal and runway. They can also apply for marketing and promotional services through the airport to help sell tickets.
Alaska adds to dominance in Boise
The new flight options mean Boise will begin to offer air travelers nonstop flights to 28 different destinations across its nine commercial air carriers. Other recent additions include Sun Country Airlines providing twice-weekly flights between Boise and Minneapolis-St. Paul for the summer and Avelo Airlines launching service in May to and from Sonoma County, California.
The additional nonstop routes also bring Alaska up to 16 different destinations at the Boise Airport. Southwest Airlines comes in second at the local air hub with 11 different nonstop routes.
Until the new Orlando route begins, Delta Air Lines continues to offer the only other East Coast flight through Boise. The air carrier makes the trip to Atlanta — what will become the second-longest flight in and out of Boise — back and forth from its home base at least once daily and twice on some days each week.
Alaska’s new flights come at a time when air travel through Boise has never been more popular.
Through May this year, nearly 1.9 million passengers have passed through the Boise Airport. That total is about a 2% uptick compared to that time last year, which went on to produce the annual record at more than 4.7 million passengers.
