O.C.-Sacramento Flights Canceled; Lawmakers Irked : American Airlines Move Gives Monopoly to USAir

American Airlines has decided to pull the plug on its daily nonstop service between Orange County and Sacramento, leaving USAir with a monopoly on the well-traveled route and raising the ire of several state lawmakers.

A spokesman for state Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) said Campbell fired off a letter to American on Thursday reminding the Dallas carrier of its 1987 pledge that its acquisition of AirCal would not create a disruption of service for California air commuters. Campbell is a member of the Senate Committee on Tourism and Aviation.

American officials could not be reached for comment, but a ticket agent in Orange County said the airline has canceled all five of its nonstop flights from John Wayne Airport to Sacramento as of July 1.

Passengers using American on that route after June 30 will have to book flights involving stopovers in either San Francisco or San Jose with transfers to smaller commuter planes, the agent said.

Beginning July 1, the quickest American flight from Orange County to Sacramento will take 3 hours, compared to about 90 minutes now.

And a popular early-morning weekday flight that departs from Orange County at 6:57 a.m. and arrives in Sacramento at 8:26 a.m. will become an endurance test in which passengers leaving John Wayne Airport at 6:54 a.m won’t arrive in Sacramento until 10:42 a.m., long after the working day begins.

USAir, the only other carrier offering nonstop Orange County-to-Sacramento flights, currently schedules the earliest of its four daily departures at 8:40 a.m. That means that the earliest a commuter could arrive in Sacramento from John Wayne Airport would be 10:03 a.m.

A spokesman for USAir said he was unaware of American’s plans and did not know whether USAir would change its scheduling or add additional Sacramento-bound flights to try to offset the curtailment of service.

Currently, American has nonstop flights to Sacramento departing from Orange County at 6:57 and 10:59 a.m. and at 3:30, 5:50 and 8:30 p.m.

USAir has nonstops leaving Orange County at 8:40 a.m. and at 12:30, 2:30 and 4:50 p.m.

American officials already had informed authorities at John Wayne Airport that they were considering cancellation of the nonstop flights to Sacramento but had not indicated that a final decision had been made, an airport spokeswoman said.

An Irvine Co. official said employees of the development firm who fly to Sacramento have been reporting that American has canceled its early-morning flight from Orange County with increasing frequency in recent months.

And American officials reportedly have complained to airport authorities that the limit on the number of flights that can be flown during the 7 to 9 a.m. “rush hour” keeps American from scheduling more early flights to Sacramento, when the route is in the highest demand and thus is most profitable. Instead, the airline has been using its earliest flight slots on the even more lucrative San Francisco Bay Area routes.

The limit on flights is part of a complex set of noise abatement rules used at the airport under terms of the 1985 settlement of a noise damage suit by the city of Newport Beach.

Julie Froeberg, chief of staff for state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), said she had drafted a letter to American protesting cancellation of the nonstop flights. “Just about all the Orange County delegation signed it,” she said.

The letter, mailed earlier this week, told American that the county’s legislators “depend on those flights” and urged the airline to rethink its position, Froeberg said.

In his separate letter to Robert L. Crandall, American’s president, Campbell said he was a frequent--and generally satisfied--American flier with more than 819,000 miles logged with the carrier.

But he criticized American for violating a promise made to the aviation and tourism committee in 1987.

In a committee hearing called to examine the ramifications of the acquisition of AirCal by American and of PSA by USAir, an American official said that the carrier anticipated making only minor changes to AirCal’s schedule, Campbell wrote.

The cancellation of nonstop flights from Orange County to Sacramento, he wrote, “would violate the spirit, if not the letter, of that assurance.”

Campbell, whose district includes portions of Orange and Los Angeles counties, said in the letter that Orange County “is one of the fastest-growing regions in California . . . (and) ridership on this route would most likely increase, not decrease.”