Smaller jets expand western travel options
By Michael Journee
Idaho Statesman
BOISE, Idaho — Chances are, the next time you board a flight from one of the West's smaller cities to a big hub like San Francisco or Dallas, you'll be getting on a plane you might have once classified as a "puddle-jumper."
Associated Press
But you had better get used to it and rethink your assessment.
Passengers leave a smaller jet at Boise Airport in Idaho. More airlines are using 50- and 70-seat jets, and even turboprops, on the kinds of regional routes where Boeing 737s have been the norm.
Despite the stigma, modern small planes are not what they used to be, and airlines are using the 50- and 70-seat jets, and even turboprops, in ways they once used Boeing 737s.
These small, efficient yet comfortable regional jets — or RJs in industry speak — are creating a new role for smaller city air terminals across the country.
In short, this new breed of plane is revolutionizing air travel.
"These regional jets have really taken hold of the industry," Boise Airport manager John Anderson said.
And they have taken hold of Boise Airport, too. In recent months, four Western cities — Dallas, Sacramento, Calif., San Diego and Billings, Mont. — have been added to the list of 17 cities with nonstop flight service to Boise. Airlines use regional jets on all four new routes.
Several new flights to cities already reached by nonstop flights from Boise also have been added, Anderson said, and by the end of June, three new regional airlines — Big Sky, American Eagle, and Frontier — will have added Boise flights to their portfolio.
Of those, only Frontier's flights to Denver, which will begin June 24, will use a big jet.
Fuel efficiency, speedy travel times, leg room and large carry-on space have made the regional planes a favorite for replacing unwieldy larger jets on short-hop flights. But their range also allows Boise airlines to consider markets, like Dallas or San Diego, previously out of reach for smaller planes.
For passengers, the ride on modern regional jets can be as comfortable or even more comfortable than trips on the roomiest of jumbo jets, airline representatives say. Their ability to cruise at a higher altitude than most jets gives them more flexibility to dodge bad weather. And many have a noise-reduction system that uses vibrations to cancel out noise created by the jet's engines and turbulence.
It is a trend that has been growing for nearly a decade. Nationally, regional jet use has mushroomed from under 600 monthly flights in 1993 to about 120,000 a month last year, Anderson said.
But Sept. 11 has given the swing new emphasis, industry officials said. Since the attacks, large airlines were hit hard by a lack of consumer confidence in their service and skyrocketing security costs, causing service cutbacks.
In the shuffle for profitability, larger planes like Boeing's popular 737 are being moved to longer, busier routes where their higher seat count and engines designed for high-altitude cruising can be put to the most efficient use.
