Delta Begins Service to Oregon's Capitol City this Week

Delta has assigned a CRJ-200 to the Salem-Salt Lake City route which can accommodate up to 50 passengers.

Photo courtesy: City of Salem

(SALEM, Ore. ) - Oregon’s capitol city will once again have daily commercial air service beginning this week.

Salem business and community leaders let out a big cheer of “SLE to SLC” after years of hard work paid-off Feb. 26th, when Atlanta based Delta Airlines announced it would begin serving Salem’s McNary Field with two round-trip non-stop flights a day, 365 days a year to Salt Lake City, the airlines west coast hub, beginning June 7th.

Delta has assigned a CRJ-200 to the Salem-Salt Lake City route which can accommodate up to 50 passengers.

The flights, to be operated by SkyWest Airlines, are scheduled to leave Salem at 6:30 AM arriving Salt Lake City at 9:15 AM and 1:15 PM arriving in Salt Lake City at 4:00 PM.

Flights back to Salem are scheduled to leave Salt Lake City at 11:30 AM arriving in Salem at 12:25 PM, and 9:05 PM arriving in Salem at 10:00 PM.

Airport officials also announced the opening Monday of the new 3,600 square foot passenger security and staging area.

Other security upgrades are expected to be made in near future.

“Many people work really hard on this project to make this a reality,” said Salem Mayor Janet Taylor.

The search to find a carrier for Salem began six years ago.

In 2004, the city received at $500,000 small community air service grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation which guarantees funding for the first year of commercial air service operations.

The announcement also triggers the start of the "Fly Salem" marketing campaign to bring awareness to all potential airline passengers that are closer to the Salem airport than the Eugene or Portland airports.

The regional marketing campaign will target potential passengers as far north as Wilsonville as far east as Detroit, as far south as Albany, and as far west as Lincoln City.

According to the Salem Chamber of Commerce there are over half a million residents that live closer to the Salem airport than the Eugene or Portland airports.

Part of the agreement with Delta includes a $500,000 bank of pre-paid travel dollars to be spent within the first year of the new service.

This funding is commonly referred to as the Airline Travel Bank or ATB.

Over 100 companies and individuals pledged to support the ATB to help jump start the service and make Delta successful in the new marketplace.

Horizon Air was the last scheduled commercial airline to fly into Salem.

They left in 1993.

Salt Lake City, Utah (SLC) Salem, Oregon (SLE) Schedule:

• Flight 2040 departs SLC at 11:30 AM. Arrives SLE at 12:25 PM.
• Flight 2042 departs SLC at 9:05 PM. Arrives SLE at 10:00 PM.
• Flight 2041 departs SLE at 1:15 PM. Arrives SLC at 4:00 PM.
• Flight 2043 departs SLE at 6:35 AM. Arrives SLC at 9:15 AM. (Service begins June 8th)