WestAir Announces Daily Round Trips to Sacramento
In hopes of filling a void left by American Airlines’ cancellation of three daily nonstop flights between Orange County and Sacramento in July, WestAir Airlines said Tuesday that it will begin daily round trips on that route beginning Oct. 15.
WestAir’s 30-passenger commuter planes, flying as United Express, will travel the corridor with three nonstop round-trip flights from Sunday through Friday and two trips on Saturdays.
Kerry Skeen, WestAir’s senior vice president of marketing, said fares on the new route will range from a highly restricted, $64 one-way discount ticket that must be booked seven days in advance to an unrestricted one-way fare of $139.
That compares to $153 unrestricted one-way fares and $64 restricted discount fares on American and USAir.
WestAir officials said the present United Express schedule calls for flights to leave Orange County at 9:40 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., with departures from Sacramento at 7:30 a.m., 11:55 a.m. and 4 p.m.
WestAir, which uses turboprop aircraft, became interested in the route after American decided in May to cancel all five of its nonstop flights.
A flurry of protest by members of the Orange County state legislative delegation prompted the Dallas-based American to reinstate two daily flights.
The WestAir flights take one hour and 40 minutes, or about 20 minutes longer than the jet flights.
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