BY DANA DUGAN
People used to say Sun Valley would be great if it was only easier to get to. Well now it is simpler to fly here. In fact, in just three years, there has been the passage of the 1 percent local option tax (LOT) to secure more air service, a new terminal built, three new nonstop cities served, Horizon Air’s new instrument approach ability, plus expanded seasonal service.
The LOT funds are administered by the Sun Valley Air Service Board, which has contract agreements with two nonprofit organizations––Fly Sun Valley Alliance, for management of air service development programs/airline contracts, and Visit Sun Valley, for management of the air service marketing programs.
“We’ve made great progress but our competition has not sat still,” said Carol Waller, executive director of Fly Sun Valley Alliance. “Jackson has 12 nonstop cities. They pay attention to air service because they know it works. We can enjoy it but there’s more to be done.”
The ability for regional jets, rather than the old prop planes, to now serve Hailey, along with implementation of the LOT to support new and expanded air service, are the key reasons that the number of nonstop flight cities serving Hailey has increased.
Six years ago, the FAA told the Friedman Memorial Airport Authority that no regional jets would ever be able to fly there, Waller said.
Despite that dire pronouncement, the FAA, working with a congressional mandate, funded the recent $34 million improvement that included technical alterations that paved the way for the use of regional jets.
United started flying from San Francisco in December 2013. Then, in January of 2014, Delta followed suit, changing their 30-passenger prop for a 70-seater that takes half the time.
Through the upcoming winter season, nonstop flights will include Alaska Air to Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland; Delta Air (as SkyWest) to Salt Lake City (the only year-round destination); and United Airlines to San Francisco and Denver.
Scheduling the flights takes a series of negotiations via email and through airline consultant Ron McNeil, of Mead & Hunt in St. Louis, Waller said.
McNeil has been the airline consultant for Fly Sun Valley Alliance for the past eight years. He is a former airline executive with 38 years of experience in airline marketing, operations, planning and revenue management. They meet once or twice a year with the airlines’ management teams to set the schedule. Together, FSVA and Sun Valley Resort determine what would be the optimal potential strategic schedule for the upcoming season.
“We plan two to three years out,” Waller said. “How do we expand our service in the smartest way possible? We have, to some degree, expanded the seasons; into the fall and earlier into the holiday season, and later into spring.”
Also helping put bodies in the seats––or load, which is the percentage of seats that are filled––is the new developments with Horizon Air’s service. Its proprietary required navigation performance instrument approach procedure was recently approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for use flying into Friedman Memorial Airport. A first for Friedman, it will help in reducing weather-related diversions by 95 percent, down from an average of 40 to 50 per year to one to two estimated diversions per year.
The instances could be as low as only one to two diversions “under really extreme circumstance,” Waller said. “It’ll be huge. The minute the announcement was made, people were calling trying to switch their reservations from flying into Boise to here.”
A considerable portion of the LOT funds are also invested into promoting Sun Valley in key air service markets by Visit Sun Valley to bring more visitors to the area that benefit the local businesses and workforce.
Recent airport surveys showed that increased flight options and convenience are key factors in visitors’ travel choices.
“It’s been a very effective public/private effort to support and develop air service,” Waller said. “We wouldn’t be seeing the opening of either the Limelight Hotel or the Auberge in Ketchum if we didn’t have the air service. It helps with job creation and the economy and is critical to our continued future success. The LOT is a key tool in this effort.”