Two major airlines have expressed interest in starting commercial flights this year at LA/Palmdale Regional Airport. United Airlines and Delta Airlines were the only air carriers responding to requests by Los Angeles World Airport for service from the 60-acre airport. “What we’re not interested in is people getting on a plane in Palmdale and flying to LAX,” said Nancy Castles, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles World Airports. “We’re looking at people getting on plane and go to another connecting city Denver, Las Vegas or Phoenix and going onward.” The next step in the process is to evaluate the applications submitted by the carriers to determine they meet all the requirements. Following that, the Board of Airport Commissioners will award a contract to a carrier, Castles said. This is the second time in recent years that the airport commission has attempted to bring air service to Palmdale. Scenic Airways provided flights from the airport to North Las Vegas from late 2004 through March 2006 Airport officials provided free rent to Scenic and spent $75,000 marketing the service. This time around, a $900,000 federal grant in addition to contributions from LAWA, the city of Palmdale and Los Angeles County has been pooled together to fund a $2.05 million revenue guarantee agreement to mitigate the business risk an airline faces in entering a new, unproven market. Palmdale, LAWA and other partners are also providing $2.56 million in in-kind contributions, including terminal rent abatements, advertising, marketing, promotional support and staff time.
