Palmdale Airport to Lose Its Only Commercial Airline

The only commercial airline operating out of Palmdale Airport announced Tuesday that it plans to halt all flights to and from the High Desert community this week.

United Express will operate its final 19-seat passenger flight between Palmdale and Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday.

“This was an economic decision,” said Alan Wayne, public affairs director for United Airlines. “They just didn’t have enough passengers.”

The little-used field has a history of attracting air services that then leave, frustrated by their inability to draw customers from Palmdale and other northern Los Angeles County communities.

Los Angeles World Airports, the city’s airport department, owns the air terminal in Palmdale, where it long ago planned to build an international airport to supplant LAX.

Despite United’s departure, department officials said the city will continue studying the feasibility of expanding Palmdale Airport to assume some of the traffic load that would otherwise go to LAX, predicting that air traffic in the region will double by 2020.

The Palmdale runways actually belong to the Air Force, which will continue using them from its separate facility there, officials said.

“We are disappointed to lose our remaining passenger service in Palmdale, but the airport will not close,” said airport department spokeswoman Cora Fossett. “We feel that there is a demand for commuter services in the area and we are going to do all we can to get more passenger lines up there.”

The decision to cease flights between Palmdale and LAX comes as United switches contract carriers on most of its United Express commuter lines in Southern California. Utah-based SkyWest Airlines will take over most of the express lines from Mesa Air Group.