Air Service May Return To The Palouse Flights From Moscow-Pullman Airport To Boise And Seattle Planned By Wolf Aviation

Horizon Airlines is wrapping up air service between Boise and the Palouse, which could make Freedom Jet a welcome fixture for travelers and local university presidents.

Robert Wolf, president of Bellevue, Wash.-based Wolf Aviation, was popular at Wednesday’s meeting of local government officials.

His plans include starting up jet flights from the Pullman-Moscow Airport to Boise and to Seattle.

Wolf said after seeing the urgency of the situation, he is prepared to enter into an agreement with a Midwest airline to contract for service in the Palouse within 180 days.

Wolf said he would contract to use its flight crews and aircraft until his airline, Freedom Jet, is off the ground.

“My goal is not to displace Horizon,” he said. “We’re looking at creating new travelers.”

His entrance into the market could provide service to Boise and continue on to Denver or Las Vegas, he said.

Horizon announced Aug. 20 that it would cease scheduled flights between the Palouse and Boise in mid-October. It earlier dropped flights from the Palouse to Portland and Spokane.

At the same time, the number of Horizon flights between Lewiston and Boise has been reduced to twice a day, making it difficult to travel between Moscow and the state capital.

Washington State University President Sam Smith and University of Idaho President Robert Hoover met with Horizon President George Bagley.

But the optimism the two school officials felt has since evaporated, Hoover said.

In a letter to Hoover, Horizon’s Vice President Patrick Zachwieja said that without the university’s support, the Lewiston-Boise flights might also be in jeopardy.

“After also looking at the profitability of our remaining Lewiston-to-Boise service, we find your continued patronage will be vitally important to the success of that operation,” he wrote.

Hoover described that as “a helluva one-way partnership” and cited the case of one southern Idaho woman withdrawing her children from the university because of the lack of air service.

“When people think of (UI) they think of us as remote and distant,” he said.