Idaho Falls has announced that American Airlines will start offering direct flights to Chicago, with the services flown by Mitsubishi (née Bombardier) CRJ700 beginning on August 6.
American Airlines
IATA/ICAO Code
AA/AAL
Year Founded
1926
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According to the Idahoan airport, the flights were timed for convenient connections to destinations across the East Coast of the United States and international flights from one of the airline’s major hubs.
Connecting Idaho Falls With Chicago
Photo: Idaho Falls Regional Airport (IDA)
On April 16, Idaho Falls Regional Airport (IDA) held a press conference where the city and the airport announced that, starting August 6, American Airlines will provide daily non-stop flights to Chicago O’Hare International Airport
(ORD). The itineraries will be operated with CRJ700
aircraft until November 1.
The airport pointed out that this is American Airlines’ first new route from the regional airport since 2021, with the new service operating midday, enabling easy connections to destinations on the East Coast of the US, Florida, and international destinations out of Chicago.
Photo: Great Circle Map
Rebecca Casper, the Mayor of Idaho Falls, said that the city was thrilled with the new service, adding that the summer months are the busiest for the airport. The flights to Chicago-O’Hare are a big win for travelers, with Casper praising American Airlines as being an excellent partner. Joe Hughes, the Managing Director of Government Affairs at American Airlines, added that the airline was looking forward to welcoming customers to the new service out of Idaho Falls.
“This new flight will offer customers convenient access to all that Chicago has to offer and shorter travel times with American to destinations like New York, Washington, DC, and global cities such as London and Barcelona.”
Seasonal Service
Photo: Idaho Falls Regional Airport (IDA)
However, as mentioned before, American Airlines’ CRJ700 flights between Idaho Falls and Chicago-O’Hare will be seasonal, operating between August 6 and November 1. According to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium’s Diio Mi airline planning tool, the flight, operated by SkyWest Airlines, departs Idaho at 12:30 local time (UTC -6) and arrives at Chicago-O’Hare at 16:55 local time (UTC -5). The flight from Chicago-O’Hare leaves at 09:45 and arrives at 12:00.
Cirium’s Diio Mi also showed that, for example, on August 11, a Monday, American Airlines has quite a few departures shortly after the flight from Idaho Falls is scheduled to land. At 17:00, flights to San Diego International Airport
(SAN), Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), and John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) depart, which could prove to be challenging to connect onto, considering the very tight connection time.
Nevertheless, between 17:05 and 17:10, the carrier’s flights to Athens Airport (ATH), Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
(DFW), Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC), Quad Cities International Airport (MLI), and Nashville International Airport (BNA) also leave Chicago-O’Hare. Overall, between 17:00 and 20:00, American Airlines has scheduled 79 departures from the airport on August 11, Cirium’s Diio Mi showed.
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Idaho Falls’ Connectivity
Photo: B Brown | Shutterstock
According to Cirium’s Diio Mi, in August, Idaho Falls will have 11 different itineraries, with 118 weekly departures to various airports across the United States. This includes United Airlines’ service to Denver International Airport (DEN) with 42 weekly departures, with Allegiant Air also offering twice-weekly flights to Denver, as well as the four daily takeoffs on Delta Air Lines flights from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC).
In comparison, in February, the airport had 84 weekly flights to various cities in the US, including United Airlines having four daily departures to Denver, Delta Air Lines scheduling three daily departures to Salt Lake City, and Alaska Airlines offering 13 weekly flights to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA). The difference between the two months is displayed on the two maps above.
According to Idaho Falls airport’s latest master plan, there are six primary commercial airports in the state, with Boise Airport (BOI) being the only medium hub airport in Idaho. The other five, including Idaho Falls, are non-hub airports. In 2019, before the pandemic, Boise Airport welcomed 2 million passengers, while Idaho Falls, the state’s second-busiest airport, saw 175,549 emplanements during the year.
