{"id":5732,"date":"2012-03-16T15:22:25","date_gmt":"2012-03-16T21:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=5732"},"modified":"2012-08-07T10:02:48","modified_gmt":"2012-08-07T16:02:48","slug":"as-airlines-drop-flights-boise-business-leaders-target-air-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/03\/16\/as-airlines-drop-flights-boise-business-leaders-target-air-service\/","title":{"rendered":"As Airlines Drop Flights, Boise Business Leaders Target Air Service"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Bill Connors believes the local business community can be an asset in retaining -- and even attracting -- important flights.<\/p><\/div>\n

StateImpact is considering the potential economic effects<\/a> of the shrinking number of flights in and out of\u00a0Boise.\u00a0 As we mentioned in a post<\/a> yesterday,\u00a0there will be 20 percent fewer seats leaving Boise this summer than last.\u00a0 The Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce is targeting the issue through a new travel committee.\u00a0 Early this week, I spoke to Bill Connors, the chamber’s president and CEO.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>How much of an issue is air service and flight availability when you\u2019re looking at business recruitment and retention?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>It\u2019s an issue, and it\u2019s particularly an issue for Boise because we\u2019re one of the remotest metro regions in the nation.\u00a0 Obviously the ability to conduct commerce through your airport is an important part of economic development.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>What kind of conversations do you have with people, when they\u2019re considering coming here or expanding operations?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>It\u2019s always a consideration for a business coming into any community.\u00a0 <\/del><\/strong>They look at the air service, because they want to be connected to their customers and potential customers.\u00a0 It\u2019s also a quality-of-life issue for a lot of their employees.<\/p>\n

Boise is very fortunate to have five major airlines serving here.\u00a0 And I would argue that even with connections, you can still get through our airport and to your destination quicker, just because it\u2019s so easy to get through our airport and get home.\u00a0 Timing-wise it\u2019s a very efficient airport.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>Direct flights are what a lot of business travelers look for, is that right?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>Absolutely.\u00a0 I think if you look at some of the companies that have come here and looked at us, but maybe didn\u2019t opt for us, and opted for Denver, say — well, we\u2019re never going to be able to compete with Denver in terms of non-stop flights.\u00a0 But again, I think we can stress the advantages of our little airport in terms of efficiency and ease.<\/p>\n

I think there are some strategic routes that are important for us.\u00a0 For example, it\u2019s come to my attention from some local folks here that having that service between Boise and San Jose is very important, to be connected to the Silicon Valley.\u00a0 If we\u2019re going to be a tech player, we need to have that service.\u00a0 Those strategic routes are important.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>Travel on the San Jose route has fallen by more than 40 percent since 2007.\u00a0 When you look at that number, what does it tell you?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>Well, we\u2019re no different than a lot of things that are going on around this country.\u00a0 We\u2019ve suffered from the recession just like everybody else has.\u00a0 L<\/em>oss of air service, particularly in second-tier cities like ours, is not uncommon.\u00a0 In fact, I think we\u2019ve probably fared a little better than some of our counterparts.\u00a0 All of that said, I think we, as a business community, have to be more aggressive in retaining our current non-stops, and going after strategic, important non-stops in the future.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>How do you do that?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span><\/del><\/del> Our airport is fairly aggressive in trying to court new business.\u00a0 They have a business development person, and for an airport our size, that\u2019s nice to have.\u00a0 We also have some incentives, in terms of landing fees and marketing dollars, to support strategic routes for Boise.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>There’s a new travel committee involved with the Boise Metro Chamber, and the primary issue they\u2019re considering is air travel.\u00a0 It\u2019s an area you\u2019ve pinpointed as one of concern.<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>Yes, and I like to think the chamber is getting active in this because the business community has said, \u201cThis is important to us.\u201d\u00a0 When you get the business community rallied together around this particular issue, I think it will help, in terms of encouraging airlines to take a look at Boise.<\/p>\n

Fuel prices have affected airlines’ profitability, and it really does separate the wheat from the chaff for the airlines.\u00a0 Cities need to be more aggressive in recruiting service, because, quite frankly, it\u2019s just tough to come by right now.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This interview has been edited and shortened.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

StateImpact is considering the potential economic effects of the shrinking number of flights in and out of\u00a0Boise.\u00a0 As we mentioned in a post yesterday,\u00a0there will be 20 percent fewer seats leaving Boise this summer than last.\u00a0 The Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce is targeting the issue through a new travel committee.\u00a0 Early this week, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":5733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[68,176,46],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5732"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5732"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9707,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5732\/revisions\/9707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}