Horizon Air, a Seattle-based subsidiary of Alaska Air Group Inc., says it plans to reopen a pilot-and-flight attendant base in Spokane later this month.

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Marianne Lindsey says Spokane is one of three Northwest cities in which Horizon plans to have a new base operational by Aug. 19. The other bases will open in Boise, Idaho, and Medford, Ore.

The new bases are in addition to Horizon Air's current bases in Seattle and Portland.

"Currently for Spokane, we're slotted to have 45 pilots and 53 flight attendants," Lindsey says.

At a total flight staff of 98 people, the Spokane base will be about the same size as the one in Boise, which will have 96 pilots and flight attendants based out of its facilities, and smaller than the one in Medford, which will have 107 crew members.

"The reason we're doing this is to better position our flight crews," Lindsey says.

In Spokane and the other two markets, the airline currently has to fly flight crews into the departure city the night prior to a morning flight. Lindsey says having a base creates a cost savings by not having to transport crews and pay for hotel rooms for them.

Horizon Air previously had a base in Spokane between 1994 and 2001. Lindsey says the airline based 65 flight attendants and pilots in Spokane during that period. She says the base closed because of schedule changes that allowed Horizon to incorporate more point-to-point flights that didn't stop in Spokane along the way.

Spokane is already a maintenance facility location for Horizon Air and Alaska Air. Lindsey says the difference between the designation of a maintenance facility and a base is that pilots and flight attendants either commute to or reside in that city when an airport is a base, while a maintenance facility just has maintenance employees living there.

Horizon Air operates in conjunction with sister company Alaska Airlines under a capacity purchase agreement. Under that business model, Horizon is responsible for maintaining aircraft, while Alaska Airlines is responsible for scheduling, marketing, and pricing. Lindsey says this means all flights are listed as Alaska Air flights, but some flights are being handled by Horizon airplanes and Horizon crews.

Horizon Air isn't the only airline to enter into such an agreement with another airline. ExpressJet, for example, entered into a contract with United Airlines in 2009 and began flying under the name United Express, the ExpressJet website says.

Horizon Air has longtime hubs in both Seattle and Portland. The airline has used both Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Portland International Airport since 1981.

Horizon Air has served the Spokane International Airport since 1983. The airline employs about 4,000 people and serves 45 cities in the Northwest, as well as cities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, and Nevada.