Sun Valley Air Service Board

HISTORY OF THE SUN VALLEY AIR SERVICE BOARD

The Sun Valley Air Service Board was created through a Joint Powers Agreement (“JPA”) adopted by the cities of Sun Valley, Ketchum and Hailey, along with Blaine County in 2012. The JPA created a board with limited powers for the purpose of retaining, improving, developing and promoting commercial air service to the Friedman Memorial Airport.

The Sun Valley Air Service Board consists of the Mayors of Sun Valley, Ketchum and Hailey and a non-voting member from the Blaine County Commission. The cities collect revenue from the 0.5% for air local option tax (it was originally 1% but was recently lowered to 0.5% via separate ballot measures in May of 2023 for all three cities). The board pools those dollars and pays Fly Sun Valley Alliance to boost air service to the local airport and also pays Sun Valley Tourism Alliance to raise awareness of Sun Valley and influence consumers in an effort to sustain and increase visitation from target markets and valued guests.