TWIN FALLS — The days of pay to play appear to be gone from Joslin Field, Magic Valley Regional Airport. Since 2022, city and county officials had entered into minimum revenue guarantee agreements with SkyWest and Delta Airlines as a way to keep air service in the Magic Valley, with the airlines’ direct flights to Salt Lake City. The city and county made up the difference whenever there was a shortfall of anticipated revenue by the airlines.
Passengers board a Delta jet operated by SkyWest on March 1, 2023, at Joslin Field, Magic Valley Regional Airport, in Twin Falls. A last payment of $500,000, split between the city of Twin Falls and Twin Falls County, covered a six-month period that ended in March. But Delta is no longer asking local governments to assume financial risk.
“Frustrating, difficult,” is how Twin Falls County Commissioner Brent Reinke said he felt when SkyWest announced the minimum revenue guarantee plan almost three years ago. Keeping air service was important, both for economic development and allowing residents a way to travel without having to first make a trip to Boise or Salt Lake City, but there always questions whether it was making best use of taxpayer money. Reinke said officials heard both support and criticism of the agreement.
Twin Falls Economic Development Director Shawn Barigar said the situation created “some heartburn.” “You are assisting with subsidizing a private company,” Barigar said, “but I do think that airlines pose a.
