TWIN FALLS — The city announced Oct. 26 that Magic Valley Regional Airport has been notified that United Express operated by SkyWest Airlines to and from Denver will be discontinued Nov. 30.

“It’s disheartening that the Denver flight was canceled despite such robust travel on the new connection,” Twin Falls Mayor Suzanne Hawkins said. “However, these are business decisions made by United and SkyWest and we will continue to work with them to provide air service to our growing community.”

Earlier last month the airport announced Twin Falls would lose one of its two daily flights to Salt Lake City. The city said that SkyWest will possibly expand service to include a second flight in March.

SkyWest and other airlines have experienced significant cost and labor challenges around the country, and many smaller airports have seen reductions in service, the city said.

“The airline industry across the country and around the world continues to experience impacts from the COVID pandemic as well as disruptions to their labor market,” said Bill Carberry, Magic Valley Regional Airport manager. “We have worked directly with the airline service providers to explore solutions to the current changes, but we have, unfortunately, not been able to find solutions to the challenges they face.”

Flights to and from Denver began in May and were met with excitement from the public because it offered faster travel to the East Coast.

“We’re very disappointed that despite the strong passenger counts and support from communities across Magic Valley, SkyWest still felt that the new Denver connection was not sustainable,” said Twin Falls County Commissioner Brent Reinke. “Regardless, we are a growing and vibrant region and our airport will continue to seek out new air service opportunities for Magic Valley.”

The Magic Valley airport said that despite its brevity, the Denver connection brought hundreds of new visitors to Magic Valley who might not have visited otherwise. It said the airport will continue to review and seek out new air service opportunities to serve travelers in the future.

“Both economic and personal growth comes with our ability to travel and for others to travel to us,” said Shawn Barigar, president and CEO of the Twin Falls Area Chamber of Commerce. “Continued difficulties posed by the pandemic have limited business air travel. But we’re optimistic that both business and leisure travel will rebound in the coming months and that more robust air service connections will come to Twin Falls.”

Passengers with United whose travel plans may be impacted by this change in service should be notified by their booking agent, or they can contact customer service at United.com. And passengers with Delta who have upcoming travel plans that may be impacted by this change in service should be notified by their booking agent, or they can contact customer service at Delta.com. To connect with SkyWest Airlines, the provider for both of these airline services in Twin Falls, contact SkyWest at corporate.communications@skywest.com.