For years, Boise Airport officials hoped to add a direct flight to a major east coast hub.

It looks like they will get their top Christmas wish.

Delta Airlines quietly introduced sales of nonstop tickets from Boise to Atlanta on its website. BoiseDev friend and frequent flier Rory Hester first spotted the fares.

Delta fare calendar for Boise-Atlanta direct flights

Starting July 6th, 2020, Delta will offer a daily roundtrip between the City of Trees and the world’s busiest airport. Atlanta is Delta’s primary hub, and connects to more than 300 destinations.

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Daily service from Boise to Atlanta will depart each day at 12:40pm MT, and arrive in Georgia at 6:55pm ET. Service from Atlanta to Boise will depart at 9:40am ET and arrive in Idaho at 12:05pm MT.

The airline will use an Airbus A320 on the route, with room for about 160 passengers.

This is a return to Boise-Atlanta service for Delta. The airline offered the same direct route from June 2005 to November 2006. It cut it down to summertime seasonal service in 2007 – then dropped it all together amidst the economic recession in 2009.

Atlanta will be the furthest east a traveler can fly nonstop from Boise, and the only city in the eastern time zone.

Incentives helped land flight

“This route will qualify for an air service incentive, as it’s a new destinations that hasn’t been served within the last 18 months,” Boise Airport Marketing Manager Sean Briggs told BoiseDev. “The total amount will be determined after the airport receives a completed air service incentive application from Delta. The air service incentive is up to $50,000 in marketing/advertising for the new route, and up to $100,000 in landing fee/terminal rent credits during the first year of service.”

“Bringing this route to Boise means that customers are just one stop away from hundreds of destinations around the globe through Delta’s largest hub in Atlanta, in addition to the service and connections we already offer to our hubs in Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Salt Lake City and Seattle,” Delta VP Scott Santoro said in a statement.

The airport will actually drop from 20 destinations to 19 early next year when Alaska Airlines cuts service to Reno. The new Atlanta route will bring it back up to an even 20 next summer.