Momentum builds on the Palouse

Jun. 12—The Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport is poised to become the dominant commercial passenger flight hub in the region.

The airport has three daily round-trip Seattle flights and is getting closer to expanding service to Boise and Denver.

"When we pursue a service opportunity, we're trying to pursue something that our region doesn't already have," said Tony Bean, the Pullman airport's executive director.

"Everything boils down to (this): Are we increasing somebody's quality of life?" he said.

The efforts at the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport to build on its Skywest Salt Lake City flights are at an earlier stage.

"We now have a wonderful relationship with our current carrier ... and with the help of (an air service consultant), we are producing the kind of high-level data and having conversations with different carriers that (are) going to lead to additional air service," said Lewiston airport authority board Chairman Gary Peters in an email.

The momentum at the Pullman airport accelerated last month when the Idaho State Board of Education gave the green light to a proposal from the University of Idaho to support flights between the Palouse and Boise as early as August.

Alaska Airlines is expected to make a decision on the deal any day that would provide the carrier as much as $500,000 a year from UI for three years if it starts flying between Pullman and Boise and the flights don't make at least a 10 percent profit.

If Alaska Airlines accepts the offer, it will restore a way of reaching Idaho's capital that north central Idaho and southeastern Washington residents once used.

Alaska Airlines' subsidiary, Horizon Air, flew between Lewiston and Boise until it withdrew from Lewiston in 2018, also ending Seattle-Lewiston service. Horizon Air had Boise-Pullman flights until about 10 years ago.

Reviving the Pullman-Boise flights gained traction when it was identified as the route that had the most potential for profit in January by Mead & Hunt, a firm hired by the Idaho Legislature's interim Intrastate Air Services Committee.

Mead & Hunt has assisted the Pullman airport in its ongoing campaign to secure Denver flights through United Airlines.

The airport has a $780,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation Small Community Air Service Development program that would help provide a two-year revenue guarantee with terms that will be negotiated later, Bean said.

A number of community partners have promised support, with the largest pledge being about $250,000 coming from a Pullman lodging tax fund, he said.

The airport also would waive landing fees for two years, saving the airline $75,000, Bean said.

One of the obstacles in finalizing an agreement involves a scarcity of gates in Denver that will be remedied when more are completed in 2022, he said.

"We want to start on a positive footing with it," Bean said. "We need to have the infrastructure in place on both sides."

Lewiston is seeking almost $1 million from the same source for Seattle service and received a letter of support from SkyWest in that process, Peters said.

"I'm confident we are going (to) experience many successes in the very near future," Peters said.

One option that isn't on the table is a return of flights by Alaska Airlines' Horizon to Lewiston.

"We have no plans right now to resume service at Lewiston," Alaska Airlines said in an email to the Tribune this week.

While the Pullman airport has been talking with airlines, it has been doing a massive infrastructure upgrade.

The airport is completing the final parts of a reconstruction and realignment of its runway that cost more than $150 million.

Crews are finishing a taxiway, an underground enclosed culvert system for Airport Creek and earthwork that will be done in October, Bean said.

The transportation facility has a goal of receiving about $45 million in federal money for a new 50,000-square-foot terminal with four gates that is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $55 million and debut in 2023, he said.

"It is super fluid," Bean said.

It would replace the airport's 8,000-square-foot terminal with two gates and have features such as a restaurant and outdoor deck where passengers who clear security could watch aircraft land.

Lewiston is working on improvements too, bolstering what already is in place.

"We have some of the best weather in the entire Northwest, along with two beautiful runways with an award-winning control tower, keeping all of our traffic and passengers ... safe," Peters said.

"Our variety of approaches and friendly terrain make (Lewiston) one of the safest and one of the best on-time performing airports in the entire country," he said.

In July, it completed a $7 million reconstruction of its secondary runway and it's redoing almost all of its taxiways in the fall.

It is doubling the size of its waiting room behind security by connecting the present space on the ground level with the upper story in a project that will be done in July.

Food and beverages will be available from the Shooting Star Cafe, an airport vendor in the renovated area.

"This gives us the ability to efficiently screen and load multiple flights at once," Peters said.

The work the airports are doing to help passengers reach more destinations and strengthen infrastructure is complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic that devastated airlines.

Passenger volume is growing, but it still isn't equal to what it was before COVID-19 hit.

Lewiston had 2,638 outbound passengers in May, and SkyWest went to three daily round-trip flights this month, Peters said.

Last year, the Lewiston airport had 238 outbound passengers in May, compared with 3,239 May outbound passengers in 2019, he said.

The Lewiston airport dedicated marketing money to encourage travel during the pandemic and be ready for a strong come back, Peters said.

"We are seeing the results of those efforts now as (Lewiston) is recovering faster than airports across the country and flights are consistently full," he said.

A total of 30,811 inbound and outbound passengers traveled through the Pullman airport between Jan. 1 and May 31 this year, compared with 37,502 for the same time last year and 61,142 for that period in 2019, Bean said.

Before COVID-19 hit, Horizon Air had five round-trip Seattle flights a day, compared with the three it has now, he said.

What's promising is the percentage of full seats on aircraft, which was at 71 percent last month, about the same level it was in May 2019, after dipping to 27 percent in May 2020, Bean said.

"When they add seats, we fill seats," he said. "That's indicative of 'OK, the market is starting to come back.' "

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.