Airport Director Was Top-Paid Boise City Employee. What Will It Cost To Replace Her?
At $339,000 per year, outgoing Boise Airport Director Rebecca Hupp was the city’s highest-paid employee. But will that salary be enough to attract her replacement?
Hupp, who left her position for a job in the private sector, oversaw the 60th busiest airport in the country, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Now the search is on for who will helm the fast-growing hub.
“Boise is certainly on the map for all the right reasons,” said Kristine Miller, deputy chief of staff for public safety and infrastructure. “I think we’re going to have a lot of people interested in coming here.”
Boise’s approved salary range for the next director is in the same ballpark as Hupp’s salary at $305,000 to $340,000. The city plans to post the job opening next month.
But recent hires in Spokane and Reno, both nearby airports with fewer passengers, offered higher compensation at $375,000 and $400,000 respectively. Both trail Boise’s ranking, at 73rd for Spokane and 66th for Reno.
City spokesperson Maria Ortega, when asked if the city harbored concerns over Boise’s salary range compared to the other markets, wrote that the salary range “is competitive based on market research.”
“We expect a highly qualified pool of candidates,” Ortega wrote in an email.
The city is using a search firm, ADK Consulting & Executive Search, to help find the next director, said Miller, who works in the mayor’s office. The firm most recently helped the city hire Nate Vogel, the airport’s deputy director of operations.
Many airports are run either by local governments or by a quasi-governmental airport authority. However, city-owned airports (which is what Boise is) sometimes have depressed salaries, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“It is a competitive field, and we’re definitely looking to be competitive,” Miller said. “The city airports sometimes have trouble competing with the airport authorities or the ports.”
In Tampa, for example, the outgoing airport CEO made over $1 million in 2024, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The Tampa airport, nestled by Old Tampa Bay in Florida, is the 27th busiest airport in the country and run by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, per the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
In Chicago, by contrast, the commissioner of aviation oversees O’Hare and Midway, the 3rd and 31st busiest airports in the country, for a salary of just over $360,000, according to the Chicago Data Portal. In that case, the airports are run by the city’s Chicago Department of Aviation.
Incentives can also be substantial to help pull qualified candidates in. Boise’s benefits package includes low-to-zero cost medical coverage, an employer-matched 401(k), two vacation days a month, one sick day a month and a free local bus pass, Ortega, the city spokesperson, said in an email.
But the perks may be even nicer at other airports.
Spokane’s Airport Board, which is run by both the city and county, awarded its CEO David Haring a hefty compensation package after he was named to the role last August. Spokane is ranked 73rd for passenger numbers and what’s considered a “small hub.”
The starting point is a $375,000 base salary.
But the Spokane Airport Board also agreed to a $1,000 a month car allowance and a $50,000 relocation allowance, according to an agreement obtained via a records request. Its CEO also receives 30 days of vacation time per year, the contract said.
To the south, the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority offered newly hired executive Cris Jensen a $400,000 base salary, with up to $200,000 in retention bonuses possible, depending on how long he stays, according to an agreement obtained via a records request.
His vehicle allowance is $800 a month and the airport authority could reimburse him up to $15,000 in relocation expenses involved in finding housing. The same consulting firm Boise is using also worked with Reno during their search.
Relocation assistance at the director level is pretty typical, Miller said, but she said she’s not familiar with car allowances.
Closer to home, the Jackson Hole Airport Board last year voted unanimously to buy a just under $3 million home for employee housing, with one board member musing perhaps that it could become the residence of the next airport director.
Boise’s airport takes up a large slice of the Boise’s budget pie. In fiscal year 2027, the airport’s capital budget clocks in at $375 million, almost 90% of which is earmarked for the long-awaited construction of Concourse A, airport spokesperson Jennifer Kronberg told the Statesman by email.
That’s a “really pivotal project,” Miller said.
The Boise Airport does not receive local property tax money or general fund dollars for day-to-day operations, Kronberg, the airport spokesperson, said in an email. It is self-supported and mainly funded by airport users.
The airport has also been targeting new routes, and those efforts paid off this month when Alaska Airlines announced seasonal nonstop flights to Honolulu, Hawaii.
Miller said the job posting will go up in early August, stay open for about a month, and then in September, the city will start screening candidates. By October, there should be finalists with an expected announcement in November of who made the cut.
“I think we’ll be really competitive,” Miller said. “And draw some great candidates.”
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