COUNTYWIDE : Airline Stops Service to San Francisco
United Express, one of two commercial airlines operating in Ventura County, announced Wednesday that it will discontinue its flight service between San Francisco and Oxnard airports Oct. 31.
Airline officials said that while the 19-passenger flights are usually more than half full, the company is losing money on the route.
“We changed fees and schedules, but nothing worked,” said United Express spokesman David Faul. “It didn’t make good business sense to stay in the market.”
United Express will continue operating three flights a day between Oxnard and Los Angeles International Airport, Faul said.
American Eagle Airlines, which operates seven flights between Oxnard and Los Angeles on weekdays and six on weekends, has no plans to cut back its Oxnard schedule, spokesman Edmund Simpliciano said.
The cancellation of United Express’s San Francisco route will have a minimal impact on the Oxnard Airport, said Nona Makinson, a spokeswoman for the Ventura County Airport Authority. The airport stands to lose about $20 a day from the decision, she said.
“In terms of the airport, the impact will be very small,” she said. “It’s the passengers who will suffer.”
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