The answer used to be Horizon met all demand for airline travel out of
PUW. There were no more passengers to be had at the ticket price level
needed to operate reliably from PUW.
And there is the crux of the issue: reliability. To the best of my
knowledge, Horizon is the only carrier with the equipment to cope with
the lousy weather that exists at PUW from late October into late April.
Horizon has Category III (Cat 3) and Microwave Landing System (MLS)
equipment. Combined, they enable Dash-8s to land in PUW when the cloud
ceiling is as low as 300' above ground level. This is called a
"300-foot minimum." When I worked there (until November '96) the
minimum was 600 feet. (WARNING: not all CAPTAINS are certified to land
when the ceiling is as low as 300 feet. Don't say I didn't warn you!
:)) Now I understand the MLS equipment at the airport itself is finally
operational, certified, Good Housekeeping seal-of-approvaled, etc. So
Horizon can operate safely in worse weather than ever before.
Of course, when the airport is "down" (socked in) for days on end and a
300' ceiling sounds GOOD, Horizon PUW also has a bussing network in
place and is able (generally) to get their passengers to an "up" airport
at Horizon's expense and as quickly as possible.
All of the above is very expensive. I just don't think Mesa or SkyWest
or Joe's Airline would be able to duplicate it, serve Boise, and stay in
business all at the same time. It would take them at least one winter
to figure things out, they would spend that winter putting all their
passengers over onto Horizon, and then their parent company would say
FORGET IT. Of course, if anyone needs a tax writeoff . . . !
Sincerely,
Briana LeClaire