Sole Carrier at Palmdale to Quit

The city’s plans to kick-start a regional airport system to ease congestion at Los Angeles International Airport faltered this week when the only carrier at Palmdale Regional Airport decided to end the service in March.

Scenic Airlines, which launched flights from the airport to the Las Vegas area nearly a year ago, lost money even after airport officials provided free rent and spent $75,000 to market its service. The city of Palmdale also bought $20,000 worth of tickets for its employees and residents.

Airport officials had hoped that Scenic would succeed at Palmdale and prove to other airlines that the growing Antelope Valley could support air service.

The airport is also considered a crucial part of a push by Los Angeles to spread flights among other Southern California airports as the number of air passengers in the region is expected to double by 2030.

“We’re disappointed,” said Paul Haney, a spokesman for the city’s airport agency. “We will intensify marketing efforts and explore new ways to make the business case for airlines to schedule flights at Palmdale.”

The news follows an announcement a few weeks ago that Los Angeles would shelve plans to modernize LAX and work to develop incentives for airlines to take flights elsewhere.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has said that the Southland must develop a regional system so LAX can be held at 78 million annual passengers -- the number of travelers at which roads around the already taxed airport are expected to become gridlocked.

Scenic Airlines filed papers with the federal Department of Transportation this week stating that it plans to cancel service by March 14.

As of Tuesday, the carrier still had not officially informed the Los Angeles airport agency of its plans.

The agency operates LAX and the Palmdale airport, as well as Ontario International Airport and Van Nuys Airport.

“The market isn’t responding as we hoped, and therefore we need to exit Palmdale,” said Mitzi Daines, vice president of marketing and business development for Scenic, adding that passengers can buy tickets to fly from Palmdale through March 14.

Aviation experts said that Scenic’s small planes, higher fares and infrequent service doomed the Vegas route.

Scenic carried 4,352 round-trip passengers in the first 10 months of 2005 from Palmdale to North Las Vegas Airport.

In contrast, about 3,900 travelers fly round-trip from LAX to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas every day.

Tiny Palmdale Regional Airport is located about 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. The facility, which has a 9,000-square-foot terminal and 17,750 acres of undeveloped land, is built to handle 300,000 passengers a year, but has had spotty service since it opened in 1971.

About 48,500 travelers flew into or out of Palmdale in its peak year, 1990. The number dropped to fewer than 19,400 by 1997. The last commercial carrier pulled out in 1998, citing lack of interest in its service.

The Southern California Assn. of Governments projects that the facility could be developed to handle up to 12.8 million passengers annually by 2030.

But airport officials have disputed this, saying they expect it to serve, at most, 2 million travelers annually in the coming decades.

Representatives for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich said Tuesday that they planned to contact executives at Scenic and attempt to persuade the small airline to stay.

But they also said that the 38-year-old regional carrier, which is known for its sightseeing operations over the Grand Canyon, isn’t the ideal service for Palmdale. The airline also provides regional jet service from North Las Vegas Airport to facilities in Nevada and California.

“The success or failure of Scenic Airlines is no way indicative of the feasibility of Palmdale Airport,” said Tony Bell, a spokesman for Antonovich, whose district includes Palmdale.

Bell and Haney, the city’s airport agency spokesman, said that they plan to focus on enticing low-fare carriers, such as Southwest Airlines, to provide service from Palmdale to other hubs in the West.

“We continue to believe that the Antelope Valley is a growing and attractive market for airline service,” Haney said. “It plays a crucial role in the regional solution to accommodating growing demand for air service in Southern California.”

But some city officials said it was premature to try to attract new service to Palmdale, saying the airport needed better transit and roads to attract passengers, as well as more marketing support to woo airlines.

“This is a symptom of the past, not of the future,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, whose district includes LAX and who is working to find a way to distribute flights around the region.

“We need to do more with Palmdale to make it more attractive.”