Planes continue to fly out of Palmdale Airport

By fall, Eagle Jet was continuing package flights in conjunction with Harrah's Hotel and Casino every other weekend. Information on schedules can be obtained from any travel agent or by phoning (800) 843-7132.

In October, the two-day Laughlin Airventure Special was being advertised at a price of $109. The package includes non-stop, roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations for two nights, luggage handling, and airport transfer in Laughlin.

Great American Airways began periodic Palmdale-Laughlin service on June 30 but temporarily suspended the flights later in the summer. The airline officials announced that they might renew the service in November.

Still providing regular scheduled service between Palmdale Air Terminal and Los Angeles International Airport is United Express (Mesa Airlines). Local phone number is 273-5520. Reservations can be made at (800) 241-6522.

The Palmdale Air Terminal is located on land leased from the Air Force on Plant 42 property, north of Avenue P off of 20th Street East.

Early in 1996, it was announced that the Los Angeles Department of Airports, which operates the Palmdale Regional Airport, has allocated $12 million for planned improvements at the site.

Most of the money is for improving runways, adding state-ofthe-art lighting, replacing firefighting training equipment, adding a tower backup power generator and hooking up with Lancaster's sewer system.

The Department of Airports officials are working to increase utilization of the commercial airport - possibly by cargo carriers, passenger carriers or both.

The Palmdale Regional Airport Advisory Council is actively working to attract additional airlines and to establish new routes to the north and east - possibly San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento and Las Vegas.

With free local parking, frequent and infrequent flyers find it convenient to fly from or to Palmdale, particularly if they are connecting with United. This feeder system can often offer free or nominal fares between Antelope Valley and LAX.

The airline counter is housed in the spacious terminal building completed in June of 1971 at a cost of $.5 million.

The airline uses the taxiways and runways at Air Force Plant 42 under an agreement that can be expanded all the way up to 400 operations a day (200 landings and 200 takeoffs.)

Still lying fallow to the east of Air Force Plant 42 is the Los Angeles Department of Airports' 17,700-acre "ranch" that was acquired following the initial 1968 announcement of what was then billed as the Palmdale Intercontinental Airport.

Since that time, the "intercontinental" airport has undergone two name changes - to Palmdale International Airport to Palmdale Regional Airport.

Some time before the leased-land facility on Plant 42 is maxed out at 400 operations a day, it is expected that the Department of Airports will develop runway and terminals on its sprawling property, which is six times the geographical size of LAX.

The combined Department of Airports property and the 5,700-acre Air Force Plant 42 spread provide 23,400 acres of aviation-dedicated land - an area much larger than 14,000-acre Manhattan Island.

The severe downdrafts that airlines experienced during the recession made it difficult for them to expand.

Today, with the airline industry showing accelerating growth, it's probable that some time in the next century millions of air passengers will be using Palmdale Airport annually, as predicted in the 1960s.