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SkyWest Airlines will replace turboprop flights with first-ever jet service between Salt Lake City and its St. George hometown in January, shortening flight times by 15 to 18 minutes to just one hour.
The start of the new service is effective Jan. 13. It coincides with the opening of the new St. George municipal airport on the same day.
SkyWest's service also marks a new era in Utah air travel. It will be the first commercial jet route between two Utah cities.
"The new airport actually provides the capability for the first time to fly commercial jets. We began evaluating the demand and decided to offer four [weekday] round-trips daily beginning in 2011," SkyWest spokeswoman Marissa Snow said.
SkyWest will use the 50-seat Bombardier, a CRJ200 jet, on four of the five weekday flights, with "comparable and competitive" fares, Snow said. The airline will continue to fly a slower 30-passenger Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia turboprop on the fifth flight.
On Saturdays and Sundays, SkyWest will fly three times a day between St. George and Salt Lake City using CRJ200 jets.
The service will be operated as Delta Connection flights. St. George passengers will be funneled into Delta's hub at Salt Lake City International Airport.
The new jet service and airport are expected to provide an economic boost to St. George. The southwestern Utah city was one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the country until the recession sapped its housing market three years ago.
"I think that it will increase the amount of people who fly, and, hopefully, bring the cost down," Mayor Dan McArthur said, adding that numerous people have told him they won't fly because they don't believe turboprops are as safe or comfortable as jets.
Many southwestern Utah residents prefer to drive two hours to Las Vegas, where nonstop jet service is available, rather than board a turboprop to Delta's hub in Salt Lake City, the mayor said.
The new airport on the south side of St. George is five times the size of the current airport located atop a mesa on the city's west end. In anticipation of further population growth, the airport was built to handle jets the size and weight of a Boeing 737. The city hopes that will entice more carriers to serve St. George, McArthur said.
"We just see it as opening up the floodgates," he said.