Airline to Halt Service at Palmdale Airport

PALMDALE —  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 later 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 over many years of attracting air services, which later leave, frustrated by their inability to draw customers from Palmdale and other nearby 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 a huge 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 air traffic in the region will double by 2020.

The Palmdale runways actually belong to the Air Force, which will go right on 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 Southern California United Express commuter lines.

Utah-based SkyWest Airlines will take over most of the express lines from Mesa Air Group.

“The services to and from Palmdale were performed by Mesa with a 19-seat aircraft, and it was lightly patronized,” said Wayne. “SkyWest operates 30-seat aircraft, and they didn’t think it would be economically viable to continue.”