Additional AV air service sorely needed

Editorial Focus: If Gateway Air begins providing service to link Palmdale with Las Vegas and Northern California, the additional transportation options will be welcomed by many Valley residents.

It was announced on May 23 that the air service would initially link Palmdale with Sacramento and Las Vegas.

The company president, Stephen Hamile, said that the company could be operating at Palmdale within 30 days if it flies on an unscheduled basis.

If the firm opts to set up scheduled flights, it would take about 90 days, Hamile said.

The parent company of Gateway, Chase Couriers Limited, presently operates an air delivery service from 15 airports across the nation. It is expanding into passenger service between some of those airports where there is a need.

Commercial air service in Antelope Valley - world famous for its hundreds of historical aerospace achievements - has been subjected to a lot of turbulence over the past three decades.

A number of air carriers have come and then flown away for various reasons.

At present United Express (Mesa Airlines) continues to provide the only commercial, scheduled air service between Palmdale and Los Angeles International Airport.

America West operated a scheduled route between Palmdale and Las Vegas from Jan. 2, 1990, until Sept. 7, 1991, but discontinued the route after filing for bankruptcy in June of the latter year.

The Palmdale-Vegas run - in addition to providing air transportation to the busy entertainment destination - makes it possible for passengers to catch flights to any domestic or foreign airport. They can thus avoid the agony of driving through L.A. basin's intractable traffic to LAX or Burbank.

There has long been a need for service linking Antelope Valley with Sacramento and San Francisco.

If Gateway Air can provide service to both Vegas and Northern California, it will be welcome indeed.

Of course, as we have said many times before in regard to local air service, local residents must "use it or lose it."

With LAX topping 51 million air passengers in 1994, it's imperative that Palmdale Regional Airport begin its step-by-step development to become a major complex in the Southern California air transportation system.

The Gateway Air plan may be the next right step in that direction.