Each day, passengers come and go through the Falls International Airport. And while general aviation may be the most commonly known about and utilized service at the local airport, the facility serves many more much-needed purposes in the community, said local officials.
During the past two weeks, Bob Anderson, chairman of the airport commission, said two other crucial services have been experienced at the airport.
Anderson told The Journal that sometime during the Christmas holiday, a component for one of the paper machines at Boise Inc. failed and needed to be replaced immediately to resume the machine’s operations.
Anderson, who retired as Boise’s public affairs manager in 2011, explained the part doesn’t fail very often and “needed to be replaced very quickly.”
He explained that an aviation company was contracted by Boise to deliver the paper machine’s part, which arrived on Dec. 27 from the East Coast, according to Thor Einarson, airport manager.
“When a major employer in the community has a mechanical emergency, air service is critical,” Anderson said.
Einarson said the cargo weighed about 4,000 pounds and arrived on a Convair 580 freight aircraft.
“Our staff unloaded the cargo and then it was transported on a Wenberg Transfer Inc. truck,” he said. “This helped the local economy in more ways than one.”
Although she didn’t comment on the mill’s operations, Lori Lyman, current public affairs manager at Boise Inc, said having local air service is valuable to the company.
“It allows us to provide exceptional service to our customers,” she said. “It helps suppliers respond to our needs in a timely manner, and it is a selling point as we recruit employees to the area.”
Medical services
In addition to the air cargo aviation, Anderson said the airport also used its medevac, or “air ambulance,” service to transport three people who were injured in Wednesday’s accident near Indus from Rainy Lake Medical Center to St. Mary’s hospital in Duluth.
“When it comes to medical needs, timing is everything,” he said. “The roles this airport plays are not only critical to the economy, but to health and safety, too.”
Einarson added that two other medevac flights had been used at the airport from Tuesday to Wednesday in addition to the three mentioned by Anderson.
“I say with pride that we are fortunate to have a facility like this in our community,” Einarson said of the airport. “It is a very critical part of the equation on the freight and commerce side, but also to get people the medical attention they need very quickly.”
“The moral of the story is the value this airport plays to our community,” said Anderson. “While it’s a great economic tool, the airport has a number of dimensions to it and the way it serves the community.”
