1 of Airport’s 2 Airlines to Cancel Most of Its Flights Out of Palmdale

Citing “depressingly low” passenger levels, America West Airlines announced Wednesday that it will eliminate all but one of its flights out of Palmdale Regional Airport on June 1, a setback for the fledgling facility.

The airline, one of only two at the airport, said its four current daily flights to Las Vegas will be canceled and replaced with a single daily flight to Phoenix, its corporate base.

America West ended the airport’s five-year absence of service when it began flights at the small, city of Los Angeles-owned and operated facility Jan. 2, 1990. But in the past year, the airline lost more than $2 million and on average flights were about one-third full, officials said. The Palmdale ridership tallies were among the airline’s worst, officials said.

“It’s pretty clear to us after a year and a half, four flights a day to Las Vegas don’t work. While we’re not willing to pull the plug on Palmdale completely, we do have to redeploy our equipment and try something else,” said Peter Otradovec, the airline’s vice president of planning.

Because of America West’s cutback, Palmdale airport’s other carrier, SkyWest Airlines, said Wednesday that it is considering adding new service to its schedule of six daily feeder flights to Los Angeles International Airport and two to Palm Springs. SkyWest began Palmdale service on June 1, 1990.

America West’s announcement is a blow to efforts by Los Angeles airports officials to develop the Palmdale terminal as a regional alternative to Los Angeles International or Burbank airports. Los Angeles officials had hailed the entry of America West to Palmdale as the harbinger of expansions by other airlines.

However, America West marketing research showed that even Antelope Valley residents continued to use the other two distant airports, Otradovec said.

Clifton Moore, executive director of the Los Angeles city Department of Airports, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Other city airport officials declined to discuss the issue.

Airport officials had redoubled marketing efforts in recent months, launching a billboard campaign and other advertising. The America West cutback mirrors the airport’s prior problems with air carriers that started and soon abandoned service at the facility, which opened in mid-1971.

The combined flights of America West and SkyWest led to a record 50,000 passengers last year.

Woody Weber, America West’s station manager in Palmdale, said the airline will arrange other flights or offer refunds to passengers who had Las Vegas flights after May. The airline plans to keep its 11 full-time employees in Palmdale, but will furlough seven part-time workers, Weber said.