America West Plans Palmdale Air Service Early Next Year

America West Airlines said Monday that it expects to offer round-trip flights to Las Vegas from Palmdale early next year, marking the return of scheduled commercial airline service to the Antelope Valley community 35 miles north of Los Angeles.

With its move into Palmdale, Phoenix-based America West now serves 12 California cities, including Los Angeles. Earlier this year, as part of its expansion in the state, it began service from Santa Barbara and Fresno.

America West plans to begin Palmdale service Jan. 2, with four departures a day using 37-seat Dash 8 turboprop aircraft. America West will use the Palmdale Air Terminal, which has not been used for scheduled service since 1985, when Desert Sun Airlines halted operations there.

Besides America West, the start-up airline Westates has plans to use Palmdale’s airport. However, a spokesman for Burlingame, Calif.-based Westates said Monday that the airline does not expect to begin commercial operations until sometime in December and that its Palmdale service is expected to begin sometime after that.