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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

United’s Palmdale Service is Slow to Take-Off

Six months into the new service offered by United Airlines at LA/Palmdale Regional Airport, attracting passengers remains challenging. Two daily non-stops between Palmdale and San Francisco began in June, the latest attempt to bring commercial service to Palmdale in an effort to draw passengers away from crowded Los Angeles International Airport. Officials with Chicago-based United and Los Angeles World Airports refused to comment about the service that has so far drawn 10,000 passengers. An aviation consultant hired by LAWA said, however, the service is off to a good start but more needs to be done so that United can add more flights. “It’s not just about getting the airline in there; it’s about getting people to use the service,” said Sonjia Murray, with the Los Angeles office of aviation consulting firm SH & E.; Palmdale has a spotty history of scheduled commercial air service from the airfield operating from a portion of a larger Air Force base. Before United, Scenic Airways offered flights to North Las Vegas from late 2004 through March 2006. Other carriers previously offered service to Los Angeles International Airport and Phoenix. The difference this time around was a $900,000 Small Community Air Service Development Grant combined with monies from the city of Palmdale and Los Angeles Country guaranteeing United a revenue stream for the 18 months it’s agreed to operate there. The airline tweaked the schedule several months after starting, having their flight leave earlier in the morning so it would be more effective as a connecting flight to other destinations. “San Francisco may not necessarily be the closest hub but it certainly connects you to the world,” said Mel Layne, president of the Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance. For the success of the flights, LAWA banked on passengers in the aerospace industry and military installations in the Palmdale/Lancaster area and to the north at Edwards Air Force Base and China Lake. Those people are the ones taking the flights, although it is a market that is tricky to serve because they need good effective service, Murray said, adding that United faced two risks by starting the Palmdale service. He said it’s tough getting passengers to go to an airport that historically lacked regular scheduled service and just starting a new service in and of itself is a challenge. Building awareness takes time and consumer behavior needs to be changed because people are used to either going to LAX or Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Murray said. To make the service work well, United needs to add more flights, which can be an expensive proposition, said Michael Boyd of the Boyd Group Inc., an aviation consulting firm in Colorado. Three or even up to five flights to San Francisco would be ideal. “But two a day that is almost guaranteed to fail,” Boyd said. For the five month period from June through October, the Palmdale flights have averaged a 28.6 percent load factor of paying passengers, or the number of available seats used by the passengers. That is considerably less than the load factors of United Express flights from other small cities to San Francisco. Burbank, for instance, had a 70.8 percent load factor in the month of August, while Redding had a 69 percent and Arcata-Eureka Airport had a 72 percent load factor, according to statistics shared by Murray in a power point presentation given last month to LAWA. Murray agreed that a third flight to San Francisco was necessary but that it takes time to build up a regular passenger base to justify it right now. Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford said the time savings of going to Palmdale needs to be stressed to attract more passengers. When flying from the airport, Ledford said he easily parks his car, enters the terminal and gets through the security screening within minutes. “It is a matter of getting the region interested and continually marketing to meet the milestones that we need to maintain the service,” Ledford said.

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