By car, it's a little over 300 miles from Coeur d’Alene to Seattle. 

Kent Craford, in a way, wants to trim that distance. 

“What we’re trying to do is simply make Seattle and Spokane/northern Idaho closer together,” said the CEO of SeaPort Airlines. 

The airline recently began eight daily flights between Felts Field in Spokane and Boeing Field in Seattle. It’s a bit easier than flying with a major airline from Spokane International Airport to congested Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. 

Passengers on the roughly one-hour flight can show up about 20 minutes prior to their departure time, park about 100 feet from Seaport’s counter and walk another 100 feet to the Pilatus PC-12's turboprop plane manufactured in Switzerland. 

Soon, along with eight other passengers, if it’s full, they’ll be off. 

Craford believes it’s a better alternative to landing and leaving at congested Sea-Tac, where long security lines and flight delays can add hours to the trip. 

“We're right sizing the ground infrastructure with the distance you are traveling,” he said. 

SeaPort Airlines found success about a year ago when it launched 20 daily flights between Boeing Field and Portland International Airport. Craford said it wants to be the regional airline with “hassle-free travel.” 

“We are bringing convenience and ease back to air travel with a vastly superior way of getting you to Seattle that saves hours of travel time,” he said. 

North Idaho’s growth creates great opportunities for SeaPort, Craford said. 

“We want to tap into that,” he said. 

He said they have had Coeur d’Alene area residents fly with SeaPort. Those making business trips, heading out for recreation to golf or watch the Mariners, or heading to a second home would be among those employing the airline's services.

"You can go to Seattle for a full-day's business and get back to Coeur d’Alene for dinner,” he said. “It’s that easy.” 

SeaPort’s future with the Spokane-to-Seattle flights hinges on breaking people's habits of using larger airlines, going through traditional airports and getting them comfortable flying on smaller aircraft.

“Getting people up in the plane with SeaPort for the first time is a big step,” said Jeffrey Bell, consultant. “Once they have the experience, it’s like, ‘I’m never going back.’” 

Craford agreed and said SeaPort Airlines is "highly addictive." 

“Once you do it, you’re probably not going to go back to whatever you were doing before,” he said. 

SeaPort is a division of the Juneau, Alaska-based Kalinin group of regional airlines, which includes Alaska Seaplanes and Island Air Express. The company began in 1997 and today operates over two dozen aircraft and employs about 300 people.  

SeaPort Airlines' Spokane routes will feature two morning and two evening round trip flights per day. 

Tickets start at about $299. 

    Craford