Pocatello Regional Airport seeing increase in passengers

Recent statistics from the Pocatello Regional Airport show that in June, there were 6,594 passengers traveling.

That is almost a 70 percent increase June 2015. The airport also saw an increase in load factor, or the average number of occupied seats on a flight. The load factor for June was a little more than 80 percent.

Airport manager, David Allen, said there’s a few reasons why they’ve seen a recent increase. One big reason is an added flight to Salt Lake City.

“We did get that third extra flight that started March 2,” Allen said. “That has offered a great connecting capability down in Salt Lake and since we’ve had that third flight daily, our numbers have shot up 42 percent since that March 2nd date.”

Allen said the airport has also been trying to get the word out more about what it has to offer. He said they’ve really tried to increase their web and social media presence.

“We’ve been doing a lot more marketing, we’re also increasing our marketing up in the northern counties because a lot of people up there are seeing that we’re several hundred dollars less in fares than Idaho Falls so they’ve been looking to come down here when that’s important to them,” Allen said. “We’re also doing some Facebook campaigns.”

Allen said an increase in passengers is not only good for the airport, it also benefits Bannock County.

“It’s important to offer air service from this region,” Allen said. “That’s usually the top three, or easily the top five, indicator for any businesses that are looking to relocate. They’ll always ask about local air service so it’s very important, and it’s very important because you can connect globally.”

Allen said the airport could possibly look at adding more flights down the road to meet an increased demand, but it needs to maintain a high load factor, like the 80 percent, to be able to do that.

Allen said he’s thrilled to see more passengers utilizing Pocatello’s airport.

“Oh, I’m very thrilled about it obviously,” he said. “It’s nice to see this happening. There’s a lot of people finding out that it really is fast, friendly, and convenient to fly from Pocatello and that’s exactly the message we want to convey.”

As part of its Facebook campaigns, the airport gave away free tickets as part of a drawing. Allen said he hopes to able to do that again later this summer. For more information on the airport, go to their website. The airport’s Facebook page also has information and air fare comparisons posted.