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Grounded... for now
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With the Idaho Falls Regional Airport closed for a month, passengers from the upper valley are looking else where for their flights.
IDAHO FALLS - The time has come for the Idaho Falls Regional Airport to close for a month for its main runway to be repaired. Rexburg area residents have been making the necessary changes to their plans if they are traveling anywhere by plane out of the upper valley.
"Most people are driving to Pocatello," said Celeste French of Morris Murdock Travel in Rexburg. "But it's a pain, there's no doubt."
With its main, 9,000-foot runway closed between Sept. 2 and Oct. 1, the airport will be in its least busy travel month, but it may impact student arrival for Brigham Young University-Idaho students, who will have to find another entry point into eastern Idaho.
"We realize it's a bad time for BYU-Idaho because school starts," said Len Nelson the airport's director of aviation.
But Nelson says the runway is due to have major repairs before anything bad happens.
"It's been almost 16 years since anything major has been done to the runway," Nelson said. "If we don't do it, we can end up with a failure in the middle of the winter, which would be a disaster."
The airlines that fly into the airport drove the closure dates, Nelson said. September, after Labor Day, is one of the two slowest flight times of the year.
But the airport also needs to have good weather for repairs to the asphalt, as there can be no water under the asphalt for the best and longest lasting repairs possible.
In the meantime, the airport will have its 4,000-foot
runway operational and most general aviation flights and a line of small passenger planes will be flown in and out.
"We still have Horizon (Air) open," said French. Horizon Air will still have flights on its smaller, 37-seat Bombardier Q200 aircraft.
Plus the airport will still be able to service medical flights and planes from UPS and FedEx, Nelson said.
Some construction has already begun to make sure that the work will get done in the scheduled time. But it is putting a crimp in area travelers, because most of the flights in and out of Idaho Falls are packed.
"The flights out of here are so heavily booked all the time," French said.
And the early start may be good news for area travelers.
"We're moving along," Nelson said.
IDAHO FALLS - The time has come for the Idaho Falls Regional Airport to close for a month for its main runway to be repaired. Rexburg area residents have been making the necessary changes to their plans if they are traveling anywhere by plane out of the upper valley.
"Most people are driving to Pocatello," said Celeste French of Morris Murdock Travel in Rexburg. "But it's a pain, there's no doubt."
With its main, 9,000-foot runway closed between Sept. 2 and Oct. 1, the airport will be in its least busy travel month, but it may impact student arrival for Brigham Young University-Idaho students, who will have to find another entry point into eastern Idaho.
"We realize it's a bad time for BYU-Idaho because school starts," said Len Nelson the airport's director of aviation.
But Nelson says the runway is due to have major repairs before anything bad happens.
"It's been almost 16 years since anything major has been done to the runway," Nelson said. "If we don't do it, we can end up with a failure in the middle of the winter, which would be a disaster."
The airlines that fly into the airport drove the closure dates, Nelson said. September, after Labor Day, is one of the two slowest flight times of the year.
But the airport also needs to have good weather for repairs to the asphalt, as there can be no water under the asphalt for the best and longest lasting repairs possible.
In the meantime, the airport will have its 4,000-foot
runway operational and most general aviation flights and a line of small passenger planes will be flown in and out.
"We still have Horizon (Air) open," said French. Horizon Air will still have flights on its smaller, 37-seat Bombardier Q200 aircraft.
Plus the airport will still be able to service medical flights and planes from UPS and FedEx, Nelson said.
Some construction has already begun to make sure that the work will get done in the scheduled time. But it is putting a crimp in area travelers, because most of the flights in and out of Idaho Falls are packed.
"The flights out of here are so heavily booked all the time," French said.
And the early start may be good news for area travelers.
"We're moving along," Nelson said.
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