IDAHO FALLS - For many years a Horizon Airplane left the Idaho Falls airport at 6am. Now it leaves at 10:50am. But what's the big deal, it's just a time change, right?
"Half your day is shot right there. I know of a lot of people who now have to drive. Because they have to have early morning meetings," said John Hill, who owns a car lot.
I asked Hill, "How has this affected your business?"
"In order for me to conduct my business, I'm in the car business, at the auction. I have to fly over a day early, which I have another motel, food, everything else," answered Hill.
And that's why many business leaders in the area suspect that the company is just trying to leave town..
"They've switched things around so much in Idaho Falls, it makes you wonder if they are possibly trying to eliminate this location," said Hill.
This particular flight had only 23 passengers enplaned, which is only a third of it's capacity.
Taking action for you I spoke with Horizon media relations manager Jen Boyer on the phone.
I asked Boyer, "What would you say to someone who feels alienated to make that 6am flight anymore in the morning?"
"We try our hardest. But there's just no way to please everybody. We are taking into account the majority of what we are hearing from our customers," answered Jen Boyer.
The flight change occurred on June 23rd, and horizon did lose 400 passengers between July and August.
"Seems like the timeframe isn't effective, don't you think?" I asked.
"I'm not at liberty to give out the numbers of those boarding our aircraft," answered Boyer.
I interrupted, "I already have those, so don't worry about that."
I later asked her the bottom line question, "Would you like to go on record that Horizon Air has no intention of pulling out of Idaho Falls?"
"We don't make any across the board claims for any city. We don't know what the economic conditions are doing. Currently we are not looking at pull out, we have no plans to currently," said Boyer.
More than flight times are changing at the Idaho Falls airport including checked bag fees and the merging of Northwest and Delta last Spring.
"The carriers here in Idaho Falls... SkyWest, is a contract carrier for Delta, as was Pinnacle. They've redone their contracts with the major carriers," said Airport Director Len Nelson.
Contracts that don't pay nearly as well.
"We've seen the capacity reductions that are pretty much nationwide, a lot of aircraft fleet that was flying has been retired," said Nelson.
And that means a seat reduction.
"By about somewhere between 11-15 percent," said Nelson.
So when the economy rebounds, there may not be enough seats to go around. But the airline industry would prefer that scenario over an inability to fill seats all together.
"One thing I can guarantee about the airline industry is that it will always change. Almost every year you'll see some kind of change in the airline industry. It's never static," said Nelson.
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Horizon Q400 - Crosswinds.... Heavy Snows (KEUG)by genysys204,165 views
They were right, Horizon is pulling out!
stillmybleedingheart 1 year ago