Idaho Falls Regional Airport is two miles north-northwest of downtown

Idaho Falls Idaho Falls (Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: Dembimbosaage) is a city in and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, Bonneville County, Idaho, United States. It is the state's largest city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 Un ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, United States. It is locally known as Fanning Field. It is the second-busiest airport in Idaho after

Boise Airport Boise Airport (Boise Air Terminal or Gowen Field) is a joint civil-military airport in the western United States, south of downtown Boise in Ada County, Idaho. The airport is operated by the city of Boise Department of Aviation and is overseen ...

. The

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''primary commercial service'' facility.

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

records say the airport had 148,584 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 138,957 in 2009 and 144,365 in 2010.

Facilities

Idaho Falls Regional Airport covers 866

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s (350 ha) at an elevation of 4,744 feet (1,446 m). It has two asphalt runways: 3/21 is 9,012 by 150 feet (2,744 x 46 m) and 17/35 is 4,051 by 75 feet (1,235 x 23 m). In 2010 the airport had 38,447 aircraft operations, average 105 per day: 74%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, 19%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...

, 6% airline and 1% military. 169 aircraft were then based at this airport: 73% single-engine, 18% multi-engine, 4% jet, 3%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, and 2% glider.

History

A historic portion on the east side of the airport was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1997. The listing included two

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

and a

contributing structure In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

on : an aircraft

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

, an administrator or caretaker's cabin, and a beacon tower, as well as a surrounding landscaped area. It "represents" the original site of operations for the Idaho Falls Airport. The hangar was still in use in 1996. With

Terminal

The airport terminal has seen many expansions and a partial re-build throughout the years. The current terminal was built in 1959, with the first expansion happening in 1982, which consisted of the old boarding area being torn down and retrofitted with jetways to accommodate smaller commercial aircraft that started coming in the mid-2000s. The previous terminal was designed with jetways for older generation Boeing 737, which stopped arriving in Idaho Falls after Delta airlines pulled out of mainline service to the airport in 1998. In 2014, an expansion project was completed that moved TSA screening of baggage out of view of passengers and allowed airlines to again check baggage from ticket counters. In 2019, the airport saw a need for a bigger baggage claim area. The existing carousel was replaced by two new baggage carousels. In addition a new rental car parking lot was constructed. A remodeling project began in 2020 that was to upgrade the amenities at the airport, that consisted of the addition of 4 new gates, relocated TSA screening and a new check-in area.

Food and beverage service

As of December 1, 2018 Tailwind, a new food, beverage and sundries provider was selected through an open RFP initiated earlier that year. The company is assuming operations in limited mode as proposed renovations take place. The airport expressed a desire to have a vendor that would commit to minimum annual revenue (including a percentage of profits that goes to the airport), specific hours of operation based on flight schedules and out-of-pocket renovations to concession areas. From 2001 to 2018 the airport restaurant and lounge operator used her own name, Kathryn's. The lounge was operated by this local owner starting in 1999. The restaurant operated limited hours and served basic American fare for breakfasts and lunches Monday through Saturday. At other times, souvenirs, sundries and basic food were available at Kathryn's Snack Shack pre-security screening. In later years of operation, after an airport renovation, Kathryn's Snack Shack also operated post-security on the second level of the airport with coffee, beverages and basic sundries. The airport has struggled to maintain a viable restaurant operator in the past. One restaurant was known as "Dolores' Place" operated by local restaurant critic Dolores Casella, There were also "Das Kinder Haus" which served German food, and "Runway 21" (1991-1995) which tried to be an upscale steak house and coffee shop. The restaurant has been remodeled once in 1991 and a small fire broke out in 2008 while the restaurant was closed.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

For the year 2019, 175,028 non-stop segment passengers flew in and out of Idaho Falls Airport.

Airline history

*The first airline flights to come to Idaho Falls were on National Parks Airways in 1934–35. Successor

Western Air Express Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and N ...

Western Airlines Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and N ...

served Idaho Falls until 1987 when Western was acquired by and merged into

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

flew the following aircraft in Idaho Falls.

Boeing 247 The Boeing Model 247 is an early United States airliner, and one of the first such aircraft to incorporate advances such as all-metal (Anodizing#Anodized aluminium, anodized aluminum) semimonocoque construction, a fully Cantilever#Aircraft, cant ...

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

Convair 240 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

Douglas DC-6B The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with ...

s, and

Lockheed L-188 Electra The Lockheed L-188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flown in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner built in the United States. Initial sales were good, but after two fatal crashes that led to expensiv ...

s. All these planes were later discontinued and updated with the

Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

and

Boeing 737-300 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Febru ...

jets. In 1976 Western

s flew direct to Idaho Falls from Calgary, Great Falls, Helena, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. these flights were in addition to non-stop 737 flights from Butte, Pocatello, Salt Lake City and West Yellowstone. *In 1981 Western started service on the 727-200s, which flew direct to Los Angeles (

LAX Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

) and San Francisco (

SFO San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle ...

), both via a stop in Salt Lake City. Following the merger with Western, Delta continued to operate mainline jets into Idaho Falls, and in 1989 they had three daily nonstop 737-200 and 737-300s flights to Salt Lake City.http://www.departedflights.com, Dec. 15, 1989 Official Airline Guide In 1994 Delta had three daily 727-200 and 737-300 nonstops to Salt Lake City. * West Coast Airlines

s began service into Idaho Falls in 1951 with

Fairchild F-27 The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 were versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined turboprop passenger aircraft manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States. The Fairchild F-27 was similar to the standa ...

s. They flew until 1968, when West Coast merged with

Bonanza Air Lines Bonanza Air Lines was an airline (known at the time as a "local service" air carrier as defined by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) in the Western United States (and eventually Mexico) from 1945 until it merged with two other local service ai ...

and

Pacific Air Lines Pacific Air Lines was a regional airline (then called a "local service" air carrier as defined by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) on the West Coast of the United States that began scheduled passenger flights in the mid 1940s under the name ...

to form Air West which was renamed

Hughes Airwest Hughes Airwest was a regional airline in the western United States, backed by Howard Hughes' Summa Corporation. Its original name in 1968 was Air West and the air carrier was owned by Nick Bez. Hughes Airwest flew routes in the w ...

. Air West served Idaho Falls with Fairchild F-27s beginning in 1968, as well as did Hughes Airwest. Both airlines started this service in 1972. In the mid 1970s, Hughes Airwest updated all flights to Idaho Falls to

Douglas DC-9-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jets, which flew direct to San Francisco (

) and Seattle (SEA) and non-stop to Boise and Salt Lake City. By 1979 Hughes Airwest had added a non-stop DC-9-30s to Denver.http://www.departedflights.com, Nov. 15, 1979 Official Airline Guide * By 1979, four airlines were serving Idaho Falls:

both flew jets while Gem State Airlines flew

Convair 580 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

s and

Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in San ...

s, and Mountain West Airlines-Idaho flew

Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian general purpose 15–21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max ...

s and

Piper Navajo The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Tar ...

s. *

Cascade Airways Cascade Airways was an airline in the northwest United States which flew primarily regional air routes out of Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1969, it operated for 17 years and shut down in 1986. Its IATA code (CZ) was lat ...

served Idaho Falls 1980 to 1985, first with

s and later with

s and

Hawker Siddeley HS 748 The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed and initially produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Avro. It was the last aircraft to be developed by Avro prior to its absorption by Hawker Siddeley. ...

s. In 1985 Cascade flew

BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...

s direct to Boise, Portland and Seattle via Pocatello. *

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...

started service June 12, 2014 between Idaho Falls and Denver but pulled out effective January 5, 2015. *

Horizon Air Horizon Air Industries, Inc., operating as Horizon Air, is an American regional airline based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. Horizon Air and its sister carrier Alaska Airlines are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, and all Horizon-opera ...

was serving Idaho Falls in 1985 with

s non-stop to Boise and had

de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

s by 1989. In 1995 Horizon Air was serving Idaho Falls with Dash 8s and

Fokker F28 Fellowship The Fokker F28 Fellowship is a twin-engined, short-range jet airliner designed and built by Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. Following the Fokker F27 Friendship, an early and commercially successful turboprop-powered regional airliner, Fokker ...

s for

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the numb ...

via a

code sharing In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...

agreement with the non-stop flight F28 jet flight to Boise continuing to Oakland.http://www.departedflights.com, April 2, 1995 Official Airline Guide The regional airline began operating non-stop between Idaho Falls and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

for Alaska Airlines in 2003 with the 76-seat Bombardier Q400 but ended the service in 2004. It reinstated non-stop flights to Seattle beginning on October 25, 2008. The flights included a stopover in Bozeman, Montana. This service was discontinued as of August 23, 2009. On June 16, 2010, Horizon Air announced its intention to once again discontinue all service to Idaho Falls effective August 22, 2010. At the time, the airline was flying between Idaho Falls and Boise. *

United Express United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which six individually owned regional airlines operate short- and medium-haul feeder flights. On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged t ...

operated by

SkyWest Airlines SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah, United States. SkyWest is paid to staff, operate and maintain aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by a partner mainline airline. The ...

via a

agreement with

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

added nonstop

Canadair CRJ-200 The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) is a regional jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family. The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) pro ...

s to Denver June 8, 2006. *

Allegiant Airlines Allegiant Air (usually shortened to Allegiant) is an ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost List of airlines of the United States, U.S. carrier that operates scheduled and charter flights. It is a Major airlines of the United States, major air ...

added twice weekly

McDonnell Douglas MD-80 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...

s to Las Vegas ( LAS) in November 2005. *

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

started service between Idaho Falls and Minneapolis-St. Paul June 9, 2005. Service ended after Northwest merged with

. Seasonal Delta flights with first-class and coach cabins resumed in June 2014. *

SeaPort Airlines SeaPort Airlines was a US-based regional airline with its headquarters at Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon. It operated scheduled service from its bases at Portland International Airport (PDX) (Pacific Northwest region) and M ...

offered service between Boise and Idaho Falls starting in July 2011 after Horizon Air left. Due to maintenance issues and due to aircraft changes, the airline stopped service on December 31, 2011. The flight time increased from 1 hour to 1.5 hours. * Big Sky Airlines started service between Idaho Falls and Denver in October 2002; it ended January 13, 2003. *

ended mainline jets to Salt Lake City in October 1998. In 1995 Delta had three daily nonstop

s to Salt Lake City while

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a regional airline brand name for Delta Air Lines, under which a number of individually owned regional airlines primarily operate short- and medium-haul routes. Mainline major air carriers often use regional airlines to ope ...

operated by

via a

agreement had four daily

Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia The Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia is a twin-turboprop 30-passenger commuter airliner designed and manufactured by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The EMB 120 began development during 1974. While initially conceived as a modular series of ...

s nonstop to Salt Lake City. During the 2022 runway reconstruction at the Jackson Hole Airport, Delta resumed mainline service using

Airbus A220 The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. It was originally designed by Bombardier and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launched on 13 July 2 ...

s. Delta service to Idaho Falls is now on SkyWest operating as the Delta Connection with

Embraer 175 The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast narrow-body short- to medium-range twin-engine jet airliners designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer. The E-Jet was designed as a complement to the preceding ...

s offering first-class and coach cabins. *

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

discontinued mainline

s to Dallas/Fort Worth ( DFW) in 1994. The service had started in December 1987. In 1989 American MD-80s flew to Idaho Falls from both Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago

O'Hare Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...

, both via Salt Lake City. * After its merger with

in 1980,

Republic Airlines (1979-1986) Republic Airlines was an American airline formed by the merger of North Central Airlines and Southern Airways on July 1, 1979. Their headquarters were at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, in what is now Fort Snelling in unincorporate ...

served Idaho Falls until September 1982. This service dated back to the West Coast Airlines era (see above). In the early 1980s, Republic McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s flew non-stop to Boise and Denver and direct to Seattle. After Republic left, two carriers expressed interest to airport manager Jim Thorsen.

then started serving Idaho Falls in 1983 with

References

External links

Idaho Falls Regional Airport

Aerial image as of July 1992
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

'' * * * {{Authority control Airports in Idaho Transportation in Bonneville County, Idaho Buildings and structures in Idaho Falls, Idaho Airports established in 1959 ID National Register of Historic Places in Bonneville County, Idaho Buildings and structures completed in 1930