Delta Airlines cuts one of its two round-trip flights at Pocatello Regional Airport
A Delta Airlines jet pictured at Pocatello Regional Airport in 2023.
POCATELLO — Delta Airlines has announced that it is cutting one of its two daily round-trip flights at Pocatello Regional Airport, citing low passenger numbers as the reason, city officials said Tuesday.
While the morning Delta flight at the airport will remain, the less popular afternoon round-trip flight will be eliminated this summer.
“Due to decreasing (numbers of passengers), we’re facing the unfortunate cancelation of our afternoon flight,” Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad said. “As of now, the airline is not accepting any new bookings for this flight after July. While this is disappointing news, we also understand that Delta cannot continue to operate without sufficient passenger loads. I strongly encourage everyone to fly from Pocatello rather than drive somewhere else to help us keep and expand our air service.”
Bringing the flight back will be up to Delta. The city had been providing the airline with subsidies in recent years to continue to serve Pocatello, with the last of these payments being for $500,000 in February 2024.
The announcement by Delta that the flight is being cut came on the heels of a news conference on Thursday by the city and Bannock Development Corp. that they are joining forces on plans for a massive development project called CREST at the airport.
The CREST project includes plans to construct indoor and outdoor sports venues, hotels and restaurants on 70 acres of airport land. Investors are currently being sought to fund the project.
City officials are hoping that CREST results in Delta increasing its number of flights at the airport, though the timeline for the project hasn’t yet been established.