BOISE, Idaho — Travel is booming at the Boise Airport, and by all indications, the trend will continue.
RELATED | New passenger traffic record set at the Boise Airport
Airport spokesperson, Shawna Samuelson, told Idaho News 6 that the Boise airport is just coming off their busiest summer ever. "2022 was a record year for passenger travel," Samuelson said. "And we are tracking 9% above those numbers now.”
Boise Airport is served by eight airlines offering nonstop flights to 25 destinations.
Now, travelers to Southern California will have another destination to choose from, as Southwest Airlines’ new service direct to Long Beach begins October 7.
The weekly route to Long Beach targets the leisure traveler, and Samuelson said that sometimes flying to one of the smaller airports around LA is more convenient.
Several passengers arriving at BOI on Tuesday said they wouldn’t mind having Long Beach as a destination option.
“I do not travel to Southern California, but I do have it on my bucket list,” traveler Barbara Pendl told Idaho News 6. “I would like to go see the Queen Mary. I guess she’s parked off the shore down there.”
Another traveler said he frequently flies to So Cal., and said he'd appreciate having Long Beach as an option.
“I think it would be great because then it could be direct rather than rerouting through Denver or through Oakland,” said Steve, who had just arrived from Oakland.
Out of the 25 direct destinations departing from Boise, California accounts for nine of those routes. The new weekly Southwest Airlines route will be the sixth Southern California destination.
Samuelson said that airlines are always evaluating services based on demand, and there is plenty of demand to get to Southern California.
“We’ve had a lot of people move to Idaho from Southern California," Samuelson said. "There’s also a lot of destinations down there that Idahoans like to go visit, so it makes a lot of sense, from a planning perspective, to increase our service to Southern California.”
RELATED | The East Parking Garage at BOI is open for business
To help accommodate the volume of travelers, the airport opened its new east parking garage in August, which increases the long-term parking capacity at the airport by 1,100 spaces.
