Flights to Las Vegas From Oxnard to Begin on Friday

Weekend flights from Oxnard Airport to Las Vegas are scheduled to begin Friday, despite announcements that Dec. 31 would be the start-up date for the air shuttle.

Sundance Air, a Denver-based airline, tried to begin nonstop service on New Year’s Eve, but heavy holiday crowds in Las Vegas made it impossible to meet passengers’ requests for hotel rooms, company spokesman Dave Cimo said.

The airline works with a Las Vegas tour company, America Pacific Tour & Leisure, to secure rooms for its passengers. However, even the rooms usually reserved for airline personnel were filled during the weekend, said John Schoumaker, president of America Pacific.

The route’s maiden run will leave Oxnard at 9 p.m. Friday and arrive in Las Vegas at 10:20 p.m. The flight returns to Oxnard at 5:20 p.m. Sunday. Round-trip fare is $187.

Schoumaker said he had thought that Las Vegas flights from Burbank would diminish the Oxnard flight’s appeal. But the traffic between Oxnard and Burbank was enough to create a separate market of residents of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, he said.

Sundance will add more flights to the Oxnard-Las Vegas schedule only after demand is apparent, said Sundance President Bert Van Toornburg, who is aware of the failure of other airlines at Oxnard Airport. “We want to keep a low profile at the beginning,” he said.

Two commuter flights offer shuttle service between Oxnard and Los Angeles International Airport. A third commercial airline failed a few months ago.

Sundance specializes in package delivery for such companies as United Parcel Service, Van Toornburg said.