City Government
Up And Down With BOI
October 18, 2013 
First we get news the Boise airport is ranked #7 in a poll of some sort by a travel magazine. On time departures seemed to be the reason for the national ranking. GOOD NEWS!
Then, the same day we hear the airport is turned down for a $700,000 grant from the Feds to get flights direct to the east coast. The lack of flights to the east was important enough to prompt combined pledges of $100,000 in public funds from The city of Boise, Idaho Division of Tourism Development and the Greater Boise Auditorium District. BAD NEWS!
The Daily Paper quoted a Boise Chamber of Commerce spokesperson saying, “A non-stop route to the East Coast is important for our business travelers based here in Boise, but it’s also important for businesses considering a move to Boise. Ease of accessible flights in or out of Boise is a priority for companies looking to relocate.” HUH?
Apparently the lack of flights meant nothing to the #7 ranking in Travel & Leisure magazine, but are so critical we need $700,000 in Federal cash and $100K from Idaho taxpayers to subsidize the airlines.
As former Idaho Senator Steve Syms likes to say, “Pretty hard to suck and blow at the same time.”
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Oct 18, 2013, 8:10 pm
With some folks, money is supposed to solve all problems, even when it’s doubtful money from the broke Federal government. Maybe city council could do some detective work before deciding which report to believe.
Oct 18, 2013, 8:57 pm
Dave, you just don’t understand that Boise is the gateway to Sun Valley. We need direct flights for those who just can’t afford a Learjet, Citation, or other personal aircraft.
Some people won’t be happy until there are more than a million residents in this valley. Won’t that be nice? We can all sit in our air conditioned vehicles and wait endlessly to get from point A to B.
Oct 19, 2013, 1:27 am
Why just the east coast, non-stop flights to major cities on the west coast cities would satisfy a lot of the travel needs of Boise travelers, business and pleasure alike.
Oct 19, 2013, 9:56 am
The Cranky Flier has some interesting comments on Boise’s grant application.
Oct 19, 2013, 11:36 am
Hi Grumpy, the deal with east coast cities is the distance and time v. west coast cities. You can reach most west cost cities in about 1.5 hrs. at the most, whereas, the east coast cities can be as much as a 4-5 hr. flight. Used to fly from Chicago to Boise and it was a 3 hr and 5 minute flight if all went according to schedule.
Oct 19, 2013, 2:42 pm
$700,000 would pay for about one weeks worth of 737/757/A320 trips to the east coast. And that’s with no overhead included at the BOI station. But do worry. O’bamiss is giving free money to nations all over the world so they can live as well as you do. Just shut up and pay your taxes fool.
Oct 19, 2013, 2:53 pm
The Boise Airport is in deep dodo. They are over-built by about 3X. They are suffering from too much pavement. Since current usage is below the level of 10 years ago and not likely to advance any time soon, they should close one of the two runways and lease it for other uses. Ideas: Drag strip. Automotive testing. Aircraft testing. Other types of product testing requiring long flat remote surfaces. Long-term aircraft storage.
PS: It’s a good thing they are yet again expanding the car parking areas… ya never know when 10,000 extra cars might show up.
Oct 19, 2013, 6:47 pm
Thanks Flyhead, had not thought it terms of total time, only of convenience. Makes more sense now.