Boise Airport woo's Delta, non-stop to the world's busiest airport

Bill Connors, Boise Metro Chamber CEO, says the business community is concerned about being an isolated city.

"We're the most isolated metro city in the United states so the addition of a non-stop route to a major hub, that's good for business," Conners said.

On Oct, 2 Boise won a $700,000 grant to ensure Delta doesn't lose money on the flight. The chamber says, if it's not a success and doesn't turn a profit, Delta gets the cash. "It's a risk for them. This would mitigate that risk," Connors says.

The chamber feels good about flights to Atlanta working because they say they received a recommendation from Delta to get the grant over more than 60 cities.

To hedge their bet, the Chamber says more than 20 businesses along with the cities of Boise and Caldwell put up their own money for the cause. "The business community raised it's hand pretty quickly and pretty generously. Almost overnight we raised a quarter of a million dollars in support of the grant," Connors said.

Frequent business fliers know places like Chicago and Atlanta are important hubs. Business traveler R.A. Christianson said, "Personally I'd rather avoid the Atlanta airport as much as possible, places like Atlanta and Chicago but unfortunately that's where airlines are hubbed and if you're not flying into those, you're paying more money."

The Boise Airport says they are in early negotiations with Delta. The chamber says they hope to have a route in place sometime in 2015.

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