SkyWest makes last flight from AV

SkyWest, the commuter division of Delta Airlines, took its last flights Monday out of the Palmdale Regional Airport, leaving only United Express operating in the airport.

For Vancouver resident Jean Foster, sister of Palmdale resident Agnes Hagen, the loss of SkyWest means she will have to drive to the Seattle Airport from now on when she wants to fly to Palmdale, because United doesn't fly to the Vancouver airport. Her other choice will be driving from Los Angeles International Airport to Palmdale - an idea she doesn't relish.

"It's a little nerve-wracking in the traffic," she said, before boarding the 11:05 a.m. flight to LAX on her way back to Vancouver.

Over the 3 1/2 years SkyWest was in Palmdale, it was almost always operating at a loss, said Steven Hart, vice president of marketing development for SkyWest.

The flight Foster took Monday had 13 out of its 19 seats filled. Before the earthquake, only from 30 to 40 seats per day were filled of the 114 seats available daily to LAX, he said.

Although ridership shot up to 70 percent after the earthquake, it is now back down to about 50 percent, he said. And company numbers-crunchers expected it to fall even further when the rest of the roads are rebuilt.

"People simply have other alternatives they prefer to take advantage of," he said.

Hart said the decision to exit the Palmdale airport wasn't made off the cuff.

"We were there for 3 1/2 years trying to make the market work," he said. "There was no true trend that would have indicated the market was money losing but was on a gradual increase to profitability. It was more of a roller coaster-type performance."

United's service expansion last February was responsible for a further dip in SkyWest's already low ridership rate, Hart said.

Antelope Valley resident Larry Stogsdale said he figured the low ridership rates could be because many Valley residents are under the same misconceptions he was until recently. "I'd always heard before it was super expensive to fly out here," he said.

Stogsdale, whose mall construction business takes him around the country 11 months out of the year, said that for 10 years, before he discovered SkyWest connector flights, he commuted to LAX alone in his car.

"I'd drive down there, pay $80 or $90 a week to store (the car), got it back, it was filthy dirty, had to worry about it getting broken into," he recalled.

The extra time he gets with his wife and two children makes the cost of the commuter flight worth it, he said. Flights ranged from $49 to $80 one way.

Many Palmdale SkyWest employees will have to do some commuting of their own now, Hart said, since many were transferred to Burbank Airport. Employees were given the option to transfer to any airport served by Delta.

SkyWest will be adding LAX-San Diego flights to take the place of the Palmdale flights.