SeaPort Airlines halts service to California locations, including Bob Hope Airport
SeaPort Airlines, a Portland, Ore.-based carrier with routes in eight U.S. states and Baja, Calif., in Mexico, announced Friday that it would discontinue all scheduled service to destinations in California and Mexico by the end of that day, and to destinations in Kansas and Missouri by the end of the day this past Saturday.
The cancellations impact service at nine destinations, including Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport, and airfields in four other California cities — Sacramento, Visalia, San Diego and Imperial. Customers will be issued a full refund for unused tickets.
“The company was forced to take this action because of the impact on SeaPort’s business and operations following the effects of the shortage of airline pilots in the United States,” according to the announcement.
The airline also halted service in San Felipe in Baja, Calif., and in Salina and Great Bend in Kansas as well as in Kansas City, Mo.
Meanwhile, service in Oregon, Washington, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas will be unaffected, according to the announcement.
Denis Carvill, Bob Hope Airport’s deputy executive director for engineering, maintenance, operations and airline relations, notified Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority members of the service cancellation during a meeting of the authority board Tuesday.
“We all know that there’s a shortage of pilots out there,” Carvill said, adding that the situation has led larger carriers “to suck those pilots up the pilot scale.”
A U.S. Government Accountability Office report in February 2014 found “mixed evidence regarding the extent of a shortage of airline pilots,” though it said regional airlines had reported difficulty finding enough qualified entry-level pilots during the prior year. Larger carriers, which hire from the ranks of experienced pilots, did not report similar concerns, according to the report.
The report also stated that pilot schools reported fewer new students seeking training due to “concerns over the high costs of education and low entry-level pay at regional airlines.”
Airport Authority President Frank Quintero, one of Glendale’s commissioners, said he had attended an industry panel on the issue.
“It’s almost impossible to pay off your student debt,” he said.
SeaPort started offering service from Burbank to Imperial in early 2013, followed by flights to San Diego International Airport in October 2014. It began service to Visalia Municipal Airport last February.
The regional carrier, which relies on federal subsidies to provide air service connecting rural airports to nearby hubs, operates nine-passenger Cessna Caravan aircraft and needs to maintain certain passenger traffic volumes to meet federally enforced per-passenger subsidy caps.
