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The return of airline service from Boise to Sun Valley via Horizon Air has boosted accessibility to the world-class ski area, but negotiations continue on whether more airlines might be willing to enter the market.
Horizon Air returned to the transportation fold last year after a two-year hiatus from service to Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey.
Horizon suspended the service due to economic considerations, among which was the airline's more lucrative service to Sun Valley from the large Seattle market, according to Sun Valley spokesman Jack Sibbach. But the airline began thrice-daily round-trip service from Los Angeles to Boise in June, and "we negotiated a contract with them to fly a smaller plane into Sun Valley for the ski season."
According to a published report, Horizon agreed to restore the service to Hailey on the condition that the Sun Valley Co. subsidize any potential losses up to $100,000.
The company, according to a report in the Wood River Journal, Hailey, agreed to pay half, and asked the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley, the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber of Commerce, and Elkhorn Resort, to pay the rest.
All agreed - until it was discovered that it would violate Idaho's Constitution for a city to subsidize a private corporation.
Ketchum withdrew its offer, but Sun Valley voted to raise the Chamber's budget by the same amount as its promised subsidy - a move that prompted Air Ketchum owner Leo McIntosh (who was forced to halt his daily Boise flight...