Quote:
Originally Posted by BoiseAirport
Thanks for the correction. The title didn't immediately come to me, and I was in the middle of class, so I was in a rush. 
I know a lot less about cargo operations than I do about passenger operations, but from what I do know, I would think there is a lot of potential for air cargo growth in the valley. The airport isn't currently congested (especially once the 3rd runway is complete), the climate is great meaning few delays, the location is great, we're not in an area where the skies are overcrowded, and there's endless space to grow.
What I'm very curious to see is some of the new or returning air service you mention. From everything I've heard, American's service to Los Angeles is at least doing well enough that they're looking at Los Angeles to Spokane. I wonder if American would try Dallas/Ft. Worth to Boise again, especially now that they have the CRJ-700s with First. I doubt United/Continental would try Boise to Houston again. I understand that route was successful for a few years, but I'd figure they'd rather funnel that traffic through Denver and Chicago. It would be fantastic to have a link between Boise and Texas again.
But what I'm most interested in is the battle for market share between Southwest and Alaska/Horizon here, and how that will change the air service dynamic here. It would be my dream to see AS/QX rebuild their operations to the level of a large focus city, similar to what they had from 1995-2002.
Route map from October 2002:
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No worries..I just wanted to provide Mr. Cunningham's official title.
The thing with air cargo is that it is as much about logistics as anything else. There typically needs to be strong infrastructure in place, meaning multiple highways/interstates, proximity to other major metropolitan areas, rail links, in some cases a seaport, a large demographic which creates solid and consistent demand for air cargo capacity, and a strong complement of freight forwarder operators. As of now, those major markets mentioned (Seattle, Portland, Bay Area, LA) are all much stronger and each has superior accessibility and demand to that in Boise. I think it is smart to plan for the future, and that's what this is, long-term planning and forward thinking of what Boise Airport "could become" in the world of air cargo.
AA to DFW as well as UA to IAH are both very possible, dare I say likely, in the next couple of years. For UA, the IAH hub is unique to any other it operates, so there are dozens of new connect opportunities via IAH that UA cannot offer from any other hub in its network. That means there is the potential to attract new customers to the UA & Star Alliance network which may currently be traveling on another carrier. For AA, DFW offers the opportunity to strengthen the brand locally by flying nonstop to its largest hub, growing BOI market share and complementing its LAX service. A big problem is the CR7 is not currently based @ DFW. If that is the aircraft of choice, it may be a while before we see the service debut.
BOI has to be very careful about what new air service opportunities it pursues because there is the possibility of having too much of a good thing, meaning too much new service debuting in a short span of time that the community can't absorb quickly enough to be deemed successful. If anything fails, it will be very difficult to bring back in the future, because airlines don't have short-term memories. They will remember how formerly operated routes performed.
Not sure how much AS/QX will resemble its former self @ BOI, but it seems there is a move towards capitalizing on a strengthening local market. The focus remains on SEA & PDX, but there may be some compelling data for further expanded BOI service. At a minimum, AS/QX will gain a few points of market share on WN in 2012 with the latter discontinuing service to SEA in addition to RNO & SLC. WN will likely lose 15-20% of its existing passengers to other BOI carriers.