Bye Bye, Big Sky
Regional Airline Pulling Out of Kalispell, Great Falls, Spokane
By Kate Downen, 7-28-06
Airline rumors floating around the Flathead the last few days have proven to be true: as of August 5 Big Sky Airlines will discontinue its service to Kalispell, Great Falls and Spokane.
Currently Big Sky's route through Montana is as follows: Billings to Helena, Helena to Great Falls, Great Falls to Kalispell, Kalispell to Spokane. I spoke with Big Sky President Fred Deleeuw this morning, who confirmed that August 4 will be the last service day for that route.
The new route will go from Helena to Missoula to Portland.
Deleeuw points to profit loss as the pull-out culprit. "We're pulling service in Kalispell, Great Falls and Spokane because we lose money each month. I can fill every seat on a plane from Billings to Helena, but from Helena to Great Falls it's typical to have two people on the plane."
Even in summer? It feels to me like the world is on its way to the Flathead; I was kind of surprised that flights weren't decently full to Kalispell.
"There are never enough passengers going," Deleeuw says. "We're a private business; we can't afford to lose money like this."
Bummer for Flathead passengers (and Great Falls, and Spokane...). Getting in and out of this place is hard, and expensive, enough. Summer prices are astronomical unless reservations are made months and months in advance. Even then, service to the Flathead is limited enough that carriers can ask high prices.
According the Glacier Park International website, once Big Sky leaves only four carriers will continue service from Kalispell: Horizon, Delta Connection, US Airways and Northwest.
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Spokane had 40 one way and 80 RT flights to Montana a day a decade ago, now none! You can blame it on the Seattle regional airline for bypassing Spokane and they were the same ones that put Cascade Airways (Spokane based) down in 1986. Get wise Montana, talk to that airline and encourage them to supplement their routes to Seattle or address it through your leaders to get another airline to service Spokane. Competition is the key for lower fares and to stimulate passenger numbers. Frontier and United Express would be some airlines to pursue for the route and another option to fly to California/Portland/Seattle/Vancouver/Calgary. Right now there isn't a real regional airline for the Northwest, since the one we have only wants to serve Seattle/Tacoma! Time to take action!