What fierce airline competition couldn't do, fuel prices have done to Horizon Air.
Horizon, one of two air carriers serving Friedman Memorial Airport and the Wood River Valley, has announced sweeping route and schedule changes, plus a decision to drastically alter the makeup of its fleet of aircraft.
Schedule and route changes, however, will have a minimal affect on service to Friedman.
The only major change will be eliminating Idaho Falls from service to and from Sun Valley effective Sept. 7 while a runway at the Idaho Falls airport is refurbished. Idaho Falls service—part of the round-trip route to and from Seattle—will be restored in October, according to a Horizon spokesman. Seasonal summer service to and from Los Angeles begins June 22 and ends Sept. 6.
The most dramatic change announced by Horizon is the planned retirement of all its 20 Bombardier 70-passenger CRJ 700 regional jets and retirement of its 17 Bombardier 37-passenger Q200 turboprops, while expanding to 48 aircraft its 33-plane fleet of 78-passenger Bombardier Q400 turboprops, the type now serving Friedman.
The CRJ 700 jet cruises at about 525 mph, while the Q400 cruises at 414 mph. The Q200 cruises at about 330 mph.
Soaring costs of fuel have made the jets less economical, Horizon explains in its announcement. An all-Q400 fleet also means a single parts inventory, a single aircraft for maintenance and a single aircraft for pilots to qualify on.
Horizon hopes to dispose of the Q200 fleet by the end of this year and dispose of the CRJ 700 jets by 2010, a spokesman said.