Pocatello Regional Airport sees air travel on the rise

The Pocatello Regional Airport is seeing an increase in air traffic, and officials say it’s something they expect to see continue as time goes on.

Airport Security Coordinator and administrative assistant Kristy Heinz said the airport has seen a steady increase in travel since 2012, but one very recent cause for the increase is the addition of flights through SkyWest.

As of June 5, the airport offers 27 flights per week through SkyWest, adding a flight per day to make four flights on weekdays and three on the weekends.

“Where we’ve started the fourth flight, it seems to be busy all day long,” said Heinz. “We used to have a big break in the afternoon where it was really quiet and you just didn’t see much going on here. Now we kind of have activity all day long.”

The Pocatello Airport offers flights to and from Salt Lake City, and Heinz said that could change with a change in demand. But for right now, Heinz said everyone seems happy with the flights as they are.

“We’ve had lots of frequent business travelers tell us this is a good time,” she said. “They said they’re definitely going to use it and it will fit nicely into the schedule.”

The airport is also seeing a bit of an increase in income through a portion of each passenger’s airfare called the passenger facility charge.

“That helps us fund our airport improvement projects, like maintaining runways and taxiways,” Heinz said.

Heinz also said the gift shop, Idaho Unlimited, doesn’t have to split shifts anymore because there are more customers to serve in the middle of the day. Altogether, with the increases in 2013 and so far this year, it’s about a 16 percent increase in folks traveling through.

To see a full list of the airport’s offerings while you are waiting for a flight, as well as those flight times, follow this link: iFlyPocatello.com.