Yes, you can get there from here in the air

The long-standing old joke that used to resonate from those trying to fly somewhere from Spokane went like this: "You can't get there from here, but if you can it will cost you."

That, however, is no longer the case it appears, with the most recent example being Spokane International Airport adding a direct flight to Anchorage, Alaska.

While it is seasonal in nature - travel starts June 11 and ends Aug. 27, and is just one day a week, on Saturdays - the Alaska Airlines flight serves to help illustrate how getting places both near and far is no longer difficult, nor is it expensive.

"It's a robust market with over 35,000 passengers annually traveling between the two cities," Todd Woodard, spokesman for Spokane International Airport said. That number increases when destinations such as Fairbanks and Juneau are included he added.

SIA approached Alaska Airlines with the idea that there are a lot of aircraft parked on Saturdays and Sundays where they do not make money.

"Why not fly it on a route where we know there is a significant market and see how it goes in the summer?" Woodard said.

Alaska Airlines was so high on the idea to the point where the flight was almost put into the schedule in 2015.

Alaska has 53 percent of departures from SIA. Delta is a distant 23 percent and Southwest 18. Seat departures, or tickets purchased, show Alaska at 46 percent followed by Southwest at 24 and Delta, 22 percent. Carriers like United and American are in single digits.

But Woodard sees that dynamic changing in terms of American.

Alaska and American work together with SIA possibly moving American's departures from the B concourse to the C, Woodard said. American has a small market share, serving just Phoenix out of Spokane, but still is the second largest carrier in the world, Woodard added.

"We see nothing but growth for them," Woodard said.

Southwest, which arrived in Spokane in 1994, and was preceded by Morris Air, which SWA later purchased, has seen its market share shrink as it has cut direct flights to both Seattle and Portland.

"With the high fuel prices, trying to have a 737 compete against a Horizon Q-400 in the short markets just didn't make sense," Woodard said. When the airline started several decades ago they wanted those markets within about 300 miles of one another.

"That model was predicated on a lot cheaper fuel," Woodard said. "So as fuel's gone up their business model has changed a bit."

Southwest still has some of the greatest reach out of Spokane, Woodard said, with nonstop service, serving Oakland, Denver, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Boise. "For us the reach going into places on the East Coast and the Southeast is pretty tremendous," Woodard said.

The trend for both departures and inbound flights at Spokane International has shown growth over the past three years according to information provided by SIA.

Spokane fits into an air travel market similar to Boise, Idaho; Des Moines's Iowa; El Paso Texas and Tucson, Ariz. And SIA beats the competition with the average cost to fly out of Spokane at $184. The next closest comparable city is Boise at $200.

Over the past three years Spokane has also shown slight increases in departing passengers as it approached 1.6 million in 2015, up from about 1.5 million in 2014.

Spokane International serves 12 cities nonstop, among them Minneapolis and Chicago, via Midway Airport along with Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Oakland. Spokane passengers can connect to 69 destinations via Seattle on either Alaska or Delta.

Flights to Chicago Midway help Spokane serve many destinations on the East Coast and the Southeast United States. The same could be said for those flights between Spokane and Denver or Spokane to Minneapolis St. Paul.

One of the more overlooked hubs that has nonstop service from Spokane is Salt Lake City. From there passengers not only can reach a number domestic destinations, but also direct flights to both Hawaii and Europe.

Direct flights to Los Angeles from Spokane deliver passengers to numerous destinations across the Pacific and many in Mexico and Central America. By flying to Phoenix passengers using American or Southwest are able to connect to 36 destinations including Hawaii Mexico and Central America.

"If you look at our benchmarking group and the fares that we charge, we've got pretty good service at a pretty fair price out of here," Woodard said.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].