Boise's first municipal airport, Booth Field, was built in 1926 on a gravel bed near the south bank of the
Boise River, now the campus of
Boise State University. The first commercial airmail flight in the United States passed through this airfield on April 26, 1926, carried by
Varney Airlines. Varney began operating out of Boise in 1933, later merging with
National Air Transport to become
United Airlines. Since United traces its roots to Varney, United is recognized as the airline that has operated the longest out of Boise, years as of . Less than four months after his
historic transatlantic flight, the airfield hosted
Charles Lindbergh and the
Spirit of St. Louis The current airport has its origins in 1936 when Boise began buying and leasing land for the airport. By 1938, Boise had the longest runway in the United States at , built as a
Works Progress Administration (WPA) project under sponsorship of the city. The steel
hangar for Varney Airlines was moved to the present field in 1939. As aircraft grew the hangar was no longer big enough and was converted into a passenger terminal. It was part of the modern
terminal facility until the completion of a new terminal in 2004. During
World War II, the
U.S. Army Air Forces leased the field for use as a training base for
B-17 Flying Fortress and
B-24 Liberator bomber crews. More than six thousand men were stationed there during the war. Born and raised in
Caldwell, he attended the
University of Idaho for two years, then obtained an appointment to
West Point in 1929, and graduated ninth in his class in 1933. While piloting a twin-engine
B-10 bomber in the
Army Air Corps, Gowen was killed instantly in a crash in
Panama in July 1938. After the war the part of the field used by the Army Air Forces was returned to the city. United was also serving the airport with
Douglas DC-6 and
DC-6B propliners at this time.
West Coast Airlines introduced
Douglas DC-9-10 jet service during the late 1960s and in 1968 was operating round trip routings of Seattle (
Boeing Field, BFI)-Portland (PDX)-Boise (BOI)-Salt Lake City (SLC) and Portland (PDX)-Seattle (BFI)-Boise (BOI)-Salt Lake City (SLC) West Coast was also serving Boise with
Fairchild F-27 turboprops and
Douglas DC-3 prop aircraft in 1968. The same year West Coast merged with
Bonanza Air Lines and
Pacific Air Lines to form Air West which was subsequently renamed
Hughes Airwest which, in turn, continued to serve Boise with Douglas DC-9 (-10,
-30) jets. In 1972, Hughes Airwest was operating non-stop DC-9 service from Boise to Portland and Salt Lake City and was also flying direct DC-9 service to Los Angeles (LAX), Las Vegas (LAS), Phoenix (PHX), San Diego (SAN), Burbank (BUR), Santa Ana (SNA), Spokane (GEG) and other regional destinations. By 1976, Hughes Airwest and United were still the only two airlines operating jet service into Boise according to the
Official Airline Guide (OAG). United had also expanded its Boise service by this time and was operating nonstop flights with
Boeing 727 (-100,
-200) and larger
Douglas DC-8 jetliners to Chicago (O'Hare), Denver (Stapleton), Portland, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, Reno, and Spokane as well as direct, no change of plane jet service to New York (
LaGuardia), Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C. (
National), San Diego, and Hartford, according to the
Official Airline Guide (OAG). United and Hughes Airwest were operating all of their flights into Boise with jet aircraft at this time in 1976. Also according to the OAG, in early 1985
Cascade Airways was operating international service of a sorts into Boise with a direct flight once a week from
Calgary via intermediate stops in
Spokane and
Lewiston, ID. Following the federal
Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, a number of air carriers operated jet service into the airport at different times over the years from the late 1970s through the 1990s. The following list of airlines is taken from OAG editions from 1979 to 1999: •
Alaska Airlines (mainline jet service) •
America West Airlines •
Cascade Airways •
Continental Airlines •
Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) •
Horizon Air •
Morris Air •
Mountain West Airlines •
Northwest Airlines •
Pacific Express •
Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) •
Republic Airlines (1979-1986) (acquired
Hughes Airwest in 1980) •
Sunworld International Airways (operating as Sunworld Airlines) •
United Express operated by
Air Wisconsin •
US Airways •
Western Airlines •
Wien Air Alaska Between 2001 and 2005, Boise Airport was remodeled with a new terminal and an elevated roadway for departures, constructed in two phases. Phase 1 considered amenities such as baggage claim, lobby, and food and beverage concession, which were completed in 2003. Phase 2 dealt with security checkpoints and a new concourse (Concourse C) and the remodeling of Concourse B, which were completed in 2005. The Boise Airport Passenger Terminal designed by
CSHQA is a three-story, steel-framed state-of-the-art aviation facility. Curvilinear, steel trusses create the undulating ceiling plane of the ticket lobby and define the signature profile of the building. The terminal has garnered national attention for the beauty of its design and is considered a prototypical post-
9/11 facility. The Boise Airport was fourth in passenger satisfaction in the
J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Global Airport Satisfaction Index Study. Power no longer publishes a global listing, and the airport was not listed in the 2017 North American ranking. The Boise Airport was a hub for
Horizon Air from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. Horizon Air was acquired by the
Alaska Air Group, the parent company of
Alaska Airlines, in 1986 and began
code sharing flights for Alaska Airlines at that time. During the summer of 1990, Horizon Air was operating up to 36 departures a day from the airport to destinations in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, as well as direct one stop service to Salt Lake City. By 1999, Horizon Air was operating up to 22 departures a day from Boise with
Fokker F28 Fellowship jets with additional flights being operated with
de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 turboprops. The regional airline also previously operated
Dornier 328,
Fairchild F-27, and
Swearingen Metroliner propjets. Boise is currently a focus city for
Alaska Airlines service operated by both Horizon Air and
code sharing partner
SkyWest Airlines. Boise was also one of the primary destinations served by
Cascade Airways which competed with Horizon Air. In 1985, Cascade was serving the airport with
British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jets and
Swearingen Metroliner propjets with regional service in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Montana, as well as nonstop jet service to Reno, Nevada, and connecting flights to Canada at Calgary, Alberta. ==Facilities==