Large Airline to Offer Flights in 1990 From Palmdale

America West Airlines, the nation’s 10th largest air carrier, will begin passenger flights from Palmdale Air Terminal early next year, giving Antelope Valley-area residents renewed access to nationwide air service, officials said Tuesday.

The decision by the Phoenix-based carrier, which is targeting an early January start-up for its flights, means that the Antelope Valley will have passenger air service for the first time since another carrier ceased service in 1985, airport officials said.

The flights will connect Palmdale with Las Vegas, one of America West’s two hub cities (the other hub is Phoenix). From Las Vegas, the airline flies to about 50 cities in the United States and western Canada, including New York, Chicago and the Baltimore-Washington area.

Daphne Dicino, a spokeswoman for the 6-year-old airline, said the number of daily flights, ticket prices and schedules may not be announced for a month or more.

In early August, airline officials said they were studying four daily flights out of Palmdale to Las Vegas using 37-seat de Havilland Dash 8 turboprop planes. Dicino said the starting date for service depends partly on how soon the airline obtains two new planes.

“We are absolutely committed to serving Palmdale,” she said, adding that airline officials believe that the fast-growing area “has a tremendous growth potential.”

The airline will operate out of the now-unused Palmdale Air Terminal. The 9,000-square-foot facility was opened by the Los Angeles Department of Airports in 1971 and used for limited commercial flights over the years. But airport officials said it has been vacant since 1985.

Clifton Moore, executive director of the airports department, predicted that Palmdale service will be successful because it will offer northern Los Angeles County residents a closer alternative than Los Angeles International Airport.