American Gives Its Bay Area Routes to Commuter Partner
American Airlines said Monday that it will drop its service to the San Francisco Bay Area from Burbank starting Nov. 1 and turn it over to an associated commuter airline.
The move appears to be a partial surrender of that market to competitors Pacific Southwest Airlines and Alaska Air.
American said its commuter airline partner, American Eagle, will take over the routes, using 50-seat Convair 580 turboprop planes on the flights between the Burbank Airport and three Bay Area airports that American now serves by jet. American, based in Dallas, took on the routes when it acquired Newport Beach-based AirCal in May.
American’s decision to have American Eagle operate the flights with the smaller aircraft comes as Seattle-based Alaska Air is expanding its jet service between Burbank and the Bay Area in a major challenge to PSA, the dominant carrier on the routes.
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But an American spokesman said competitive pressures played no role in the airline’s decision. “We compete in markets all over the country and we’re not in the habit of backing down,” said Al Becker, an American spokesman.
Becker said American has not been filling its jets on the Burbank-Bay Area routes, although he said the airline was not losing money on those flights. He said American believes that the Convair 580s flown by American Eagle are better suited to the Burbank commuter market.
American Eagle uses American’s Sabre computer reservation system, offers advance seat assignments and boarding passes, and all of its flights qualify under American’s frequent flyer program, airline officials said.
After Nov. 1, American Eagle will operate four daily flights each to San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland from Burbank for a total of 12 a day. PSA has 24 daily flights to the Bay Area from Burbank and, beginning next week, Alaska Air will increase its flights from seven to 18.
Bill Hastings, a PSA spokesman, said American’s decision to fly turboprops from Burbank was good for PSA. He said customers prefer jets because they are larger and faster than turboprops. PSA, based in San Diego, is a unit of USAir Group.
American Eagle is operated by Wings West, a publicly held, San Luis Obispo-based commuter airline company that has a marketing and services agreement with American.
Currently, American flies 100-seat Boeing 737s and 85-seat British Aerospace 146s to the Bay Area from Burbank. Becker says the aircraft will be redeployed elsewhere.
