2nd Airline to Begin Service to Palmdale

Skywest Airlines will become the second carrier to serve Palmdale Regional Airport, flying five round trips a day to Los Angeles International Airport starting June 1, the airline announced Monday.

The announcement by Skywest--a feeder service for Delta Airlines--follows the start Jan. 2 of service by America West Airlines. America West’s four daily round trips between Palmdale and Las Vegas ended a five-year absence of air service from the Palmdale airport, which is operated by the city of Los Angeles.

Skywest plans to use 19-passenger Fairchild Metro III turboprop planes for the 30-minute flights to LAX.

“We just thought the time was right to establish a link between Palmdale and Los Angeles,” said Steve Hart, Skywest’s director of market planning. “Obviously having America West reestablish service there will help us. We sort of hope to run on their coattails,” he said.

Skywest officials said they saw a market in the Antelope Valley, with its fast-growing population of about 200,000 and concentration of military and aerospace businesses. Airport officials, however, said both carriers’ services mainly strive to capture passengers for their connecting flights.

The Los Angeles City Board of Airport Commissioners is scheduled to meet in Palmdale on Wednesday to approve a five-year lease for Skywest.

Los Angeles Department of Airports officials applauded Skywest’s decision as a step toward development of Palmdale’s airport. But they also said they had hoped the next carrier at Palmdale would have avoided feeding already-crowded LAX.

Skywest, which carried about 1 million passengers last year, serves 43 cities in eight Western states. The introductory Palmdale-LAX round trip fare will be $98. But airline officials said they expect most of their passengers to catch Delta flights at LAX, entitling them to pay little or nothing for the connecting flight beyond the price of the Delta ticket.