When Howard George made the decision to find a new location for his Seattle-based call center business, he narrowed his choices to Wichita and Boise, Idaho.
As a Midwestern hub for call centers and a market where the cost of living and other factors were attractive draws, George says one of the biggest strikes against Wichita at the time was the lack of direct air service to Seattle.
“I liked Wichita … but I wasn’t sure if I could get there easily enough,” he says.
Then, in April 2017, Alaska Airlines began a daily, nonstop flight between the Air Capital and the Emerald City.
And, in a real-world example of what local leaders say is the economic development power of expanded air service, George says the new flight helped Receivables Performance Management come to Wichita.
(Read more: Wichita Business Journal)