Boise Airport will become a medium hub after growth. What does that mean for passengers?
After years of above average growth of passenger traffic, the Boise Airport will be reclassified from a small hub to a medium hub later this year.
As a medium hub airport, Boise will have additional federal regulatory requirements regarding passenger services and airline competition plans, according to a news release from the Boise Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration classifies medium hubs as airports that handle between .25% and 1% of annual commercial air traffic.
Rebecca Hupp, director of the Boise Airport, said in a news release that Boise has anticipated the reclassification, as the airport has neared the medium hub mark for quite some time.
“The strong rebound in our passenger traffic throughout the pandemic helped push the airport over the threshold,” Hupp said.
In response to the upgrade, the Boise Airport will build a relief area for service animals and a nursing room past the security gate, as both are requirements to be a medium hub. Both areas are expected to be finished by August.
The change comes after the Boise Airport experienced substantial growth in passengers before the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2014 to 2019, Boise’s passenger traffic grew 49% — a rate much higher than the national average.
The Boise Airport was rated as the 61st busiest airport in the country for 2020. The FAA’s preliminary numbers indicate 992,342 passengers used the airport that year.
Boise has added numerous flights in the past year. The airport announced it would start offering flights to Moscow-Pullman for the first time in a decade, which was made possible through a partnership between the University of Idaho and Alaska Airlines.
The same airline began daily direct flights from Boise to Austin, Texas, and Chicago O’Hare, while seasonal daily flights to Phoenix are set to begin in November and run through April 2022.
Southwest Airlines also added some seasonal and year-round flights this year from Boise to places like Dallas Love Field, Chicago-Midway, San Jose, San Diego, Las Vegas and Orange County, California.
JetBlue announced in February a direct red-eye flight will go from Boise to New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport four times a week. The flights will begin in early July.
