STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK
PHOTO BY TIM BURKE
There will be more flights than ever before in and out of Friedman Memorial Airport during the 2023-24 winter season.
SUN airport will offer daily nonstop flights to six cities—Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver and Salt Lake City this winter. And most of those routes will offer additional frequency, said Carol Waller, executive director of Fly Sun Valley Alliance.
United Airlines will increase its daily year-round nonstop service from Denver (DEN) to two flights daily from Dec. 14 through March 30. It will increase its nonstop flights from Chicago (ORD) to daily from Dec. 21-March 30. And it’s added a second daily flight on the weekends to its daily flights from Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco from Dec. 22 through March 30.
Alaska Airlines, which flies nonstop year-round from Seattle (SEA) to SUN, will offer one to two daily flights from Dec. 14 through April 15.
Delta Airlines, which serves Sun Valley year-round will offer two daily nonstop flights from Salt Lake City (SLC) throughout the winter season. It will increase to three daily flights during the holidays Dec. 16-30 except on Dec. 24 and 25.
“This coming winter’s SUN flight schedule is the strongest it’s ever been, with more frequency on most of our nonstop routes,” said Waller.
Fly Sun Valley was formed to improve air service to Sun Valley. Its strategic focus is to improve convenience and access for SUN air travelers-- locals, part-time residents, friends/family and visitors. And that this winter’s robust flight schedule is a tangible result, as the overall air seat capacity for November through April is up 15 percent from the previous winter season.
Winter flight reliability at SUN has improved dramatically over the last few years, thanks to new landing system approach technology used by the airlines. Ninety-five percent of the flights to SUN during the 2022-23 season were completed without diversions, even though snow fell on 62 days, dumping 262 inches or nearly 22 feet on Sun Valley.
The 2023-24 SUN winter schedule is available at https://flysunvalleyalliance.com/.