SeaPort Airlines Inc. announced Wednesday it would expand service from Burbank Bob Hope Airport to serve San Diego. Flights between Burbank and San Diego International Airport will begin Oct. 1 with four roundtrip flights on weekdays, one roundtrip on Saturday, and two roundtrips on Sundays using Cessna 208 Caravan turboprop aircraft. The Portland, Ore.-based air carrier currently offers four weekday flights between Burbank and Imperial County Airport in El Centro. SeaPort also provides service in Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas. Airline President Rob McKinney said the San Diego service was added at the request of customers and the flights will be timed to allow connections on planned SeaPort service between San Diego and the Mexican resort town of San Felipe, in Baja California. Service between Burbank and San Diego was last offered during the 1990s by commuter aircraft. Warner Bros. Entertainment has formed a business group to exclusively handle future installments of its lucrative “Harry Potter” franchise. The Harry Potter Global Franchise Development team will operate from both the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank and London, working in conjunction with Potter creator, author J.K. Rowling. Josh Berger, president and managing director, Warner Bros. U.K., Ireland and Spain, heads up the team and adds the title of president of the development group. He will be supported by Paul Condolora as senior vice president, in Burbank, and Polly Cochrane as senior vice president and chief marketing officer, in London, according to a report in entertainment trade publication Variety. The eight-film “Potter” franchise brought in more than $7 billion in global box office before ending in 2011, a money machine Warner Bros. wants to continue. Among plans to keep Harry and his wizard friends in front of audiences include a stage play to open in London next year, the construction of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood and expanding the Wizarding World attraction at Universal Studios Florida. There also is a Warner Bros. Studio Tour London — The Making of Harry Potter, and in Burbank, the studio lot’s museum has a permanent exhibit of Harry Potter costumes and props.
