UI gives lift to nonstop flights to Boise

The Idaho State Board of Education on Thursday approved a University of Idaho proposal seeking to establish direct flights five days a week between Boise and the Palouse as soon as August.

Under the agreement, Alaska Airlines will offer regular, daily flights to Boise five days a week and the UI will guarantee payments of as much as $500,000 a year for three years if the flights do not make at least a 10 percent profit.

UI President Scott Green stressed the UI’s responsibility in this agreement would max out at $500,000 a year.

Green said the route is much needed as university officials must regularly travel to the state’s capital to meet with governor’s staff, legislative officials and the State Board of Education. Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport has gone without a direct flight to Boise for more than 10 years. Alaska withdrew Boise flights from Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport about three years ago.

Perhaps more important, from a budgetary perspective, Green said the Treasure Valley is the UI’s largest market for recruiting new students.

“Of course, we hope that it is as profitable as we expect and that we wouldn’t have any draws, but even if we did, we believe that it’s revenue-positive,” Green said. “Once flights were canceled, we’ve seen losses in the student body of about 200 students a year, so we believe a good portion of that is in the Treasure Valley and we believe that we can make up a big part of that by restoring our service to Boise.”

UI Vice President for Finance and Administration Brian Foisy said the airline calculates cost on a per-flight basis, so the UI would not be on the hook to cover canceled flights.

Green said it is his understanding that the Pullman-Moscow Airport and the Boise Airport are currently considering waiving some landing fees, which could help in keeping profits from dipping below 10 percent. He said nearby Washington State University has been in discussions with Alaska Airlines as well and has indicated they may be willing to help shoulder some of the financial risk, which he said would further improve the UI’s position.“I think there’s a high probability we will have some out-of-pocket (cost) — I don’t think it’d be up to the $500,000 — I can’t tell you what it would be,” Green said, noting it will likely depend on how long startup takes and how popular the route is initially. “I do think it’s going to cost us something. On the other hand, if we can recover some of those 200 students a year, that’s obviously a heck of a lot of money.”

On the board’s approval, Green said the UI would be ready to announce a finalized agreement with the airline as early as next week, with an aim of having flights begin in early August. He said time is of the essence as Alaska Airlines is preparing for the fall season and moving equipment around “as we speak.” Green said the airline itself already operates out of Pullman and is “as excited as we are” about resuming service to Boise.

In their special meeting Thursday, board members largely applauded the move as beneficial to the surrounding communities as well as neighboring higher education institutions like WSU and Lewis Clark State College in Lewiston.

“We are incredibly optimistic and grateful that this might come to pass, and I do suspect that (LCSC) can benefit from it — we just aren’t in a position to contribute to it at this time. ” said LCSC President Cynthia Pemberton. “But we’re very grateful to our sister just 30 miles away for launching this initiative.”

Jackson can be reached at sjackson@dnews.com.