Big Sky Airlines announced this week it's adding two one-hop weekend flights from Missoula to Portland, Ore., starting June 24.
That comes on the heels of new flights from various carriers to Salt Lake City, Denver, Las Vegas and Chicago, all of which started last weekend.
Mandy Udelhoven of Big Sky Airlines said Friday that 15 of 19 seats have already been booked for the first direct flight to Portland in two weeks.
Planes will leave Missoula at 10:25 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. They're due to land in Portland two hours later, at 11:25 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
Flights from Portland to Missoula take off at 11:55 a.m. PDT and arrive in Missoula at 2:40 p.m.
Fares start at $175 one-way, according to a Big Sky Airlines press release. Tickets can be purchased right up to flight time, and there are no minimum stay requirements in Portland.
The same plane will serve Bozeman, leaving there at 9:15 a.m. on Saturdays and Sunday. Return flights will arrive at 3:45 p.m.
The airline currently offers two daily flights from Missoula to Billings, one to Boise, Idaho, and, except on Saturdays, an evening flight to Kalispell.
Jensen traveled to Big Sky headquarters in Billings a couple of weeks ago to “visit about additional service,” he said.
“We've been hearing chatter, I guess you would call it, that people were really wanting a Portland-to-Missoula trip,” said Scott Summerville, a vice president at Big Sky Airlines. “Cris Jensen stressed that was probably one of the top unserved markets out of Missoula. And we basically had aircraft time available on Saturday and Sunday.”
Air travel tends to increase in summer, but Summerville said Big Sky's decision to add the flights wasn't driven by “seasonality.”
“This hasn't been in our plans for a long time. The idea came about very quickly,” he said.
Horizon Air offered direct flights from Missoula to Portland a couple of years ago. Otherwise, air travelers from Missoula have faced connections through Seattle or Salt Lake City to get to the Oregon hub.
Jensen said flights out of Missoula added in the past week were:
- Delta/SkyWest to Salt Lake City, one daily, raising the total to seven flights each day. Delta pared its Missoula load from eight to six last December after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September.
- United Express to Denver, two daily for a total of five.
- United Express to Chicago, Sundays at 7:57 a.m. Flights from Chicago arrive each Saturday evening.
- Allegiant to Las Vegas, one weekly. Allegiant added a Tuesday trip to its Thursday and Sunday fare.
Jensen hopes there'll be more additions soon.
“We're setting up meetings with the airlines to take a look,” he said. “The (San Francisco) Bay Area is a focus. Los Angeles and Phoenix are certainly routes we desire.”
Reporter Kim Briggeman can be reached at 523-5266 or kbriggeman@missoulian.com
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