The Tri-Cities Airport is getting a new nonstop flight to Phoenix and a new air carrier.

And the Pasco airport’s top official isn’t stopping there when it comes to working for even more growth. Buck Taft, airport director, said the hope is to add additional nonstop connections, including Portland, California (Los Angeles in particular), Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago.

“We are always trying to get new air service here. Outside of safety and security of the airport, air service development is my No. 1 priority – ensuring the community has the air service it needs, deserves and wants,” Taft said. “It’s hard to give a timeline, but I think in the next five years, you’ll start seeing growth and markets popping in. That’s what I feel is going to happen.”

The new daily American Airlines flight to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport starts Feb. 15. It will mark the Texas-based airline’s debut in Pasco; Phoenix is a major hub for American.

The route is scheduled to leave Pasco at 3 p.m. and arrive in Phoenix at 7 p.m.; travelers flying from Phoenix to the Tri-Cities will depart Arizona’s capital at 11:20 a.m. and land in Pasco at 1:30 p.m. Arizona doesn’t observe daylight saving time, so for part of the year it’s an hour ahead of the Tri-Cities.

American Airlines will use a dual-class Embraer 175 with seats for 76 passengers.

The new flight “will mark our 100th nonstop destination from (Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport), providing local residents easy access to all that Arizona has to offer and convenient one-stop access to the places customers want to visit most,” said Philippe Puech, American Airlines director of short-haul network planning, in a statement provided to the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

Taft said the addition of the flight is great news for the region, offering more connections for passengers and providing American Airlines with incentive to add more routes if the Phoenix connection is popular.

There’s precedent to think it will be.

The Tri-Cities Airport is rebounding after the Covid-19 pandemic turned air travel on its head. In fact, nearly 800,000 passengers flew through the airport in 2022, making it one of the busiest years ever.

Airport statistics for this year show that it’s on track to beat those numbers.

And the airport, owned by the Port of Pasco, leads the Pacific Northwest in load factor, or the percentage of available airline seats that are filled. The airport’s load factor for the fourth quarter of 2022 was 91%, compared to an average of 82% for the Pacific Northwest. After Tri-Cities, the next closest markets in terms of load factor were Portland with 87% and Walla Walla with 86%.

Those figures are from a July presentation to port commissioners by Volaire Aviation Consulting.

The Tri-Cities Airport currently is served by Alaska, Allegiant, Avelo, Delta and United airlines. The addition of the American Airlines will bring the airline count to six.

And it will bring the number of nonstop destinations available (some seasonally) from the local airport to 11. They are: Burbank, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix-Mesa, Phoenix-Sky Harbor, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.

Tickets for the new American Airlines Pasco-Phoenix route are on sale at aa.com.

For more information about the Tri-Cities Airport, go to flytricities.com.