Commuter airline considers Palmdale

Trans States Airlines, which provides commuter services out of Los Angeles International Airport for U.S. Air, Northwest and Alaska Airlines - among others - will examine Palmdale Regional Airport as an expansion option, the Los Angeles World Airports and airlines executives confirmed.

"They have indicated that they will look at the market to see if it is viable for them to operate out of Palmdale," said Michael DiGirolamo, manger of Los Angeles World Airports.

DiGirolamo said Trans States has been looking to expand their commuter routes for the past six months.

The airline is in the process of relocating to another terminal at LAX, which would give them room to expand from five to 10 airliner parking spaces at the already crowded international airport.

Once that move is made - it's expected to occur within the next two to three months - the airlines will take a look at Palmdale and about 10 other areas as options for commuter service, DiGirolamo said.

"Palmdale is one of the cities that they are going to look at," he said. "They're in the business to make money. If they see that there is a potential market there, they will serve it."

At this point, the airline can only provide service to five destinations due to the five-airliner parking constraints at LAX.

They currently provide service to Fresno, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs and Bakersfield.

Other destinations the airline is looking at include Palmdale, Oxnard, Palomar, Inyokern, Monterey and Yuma, Ariz.

The last airline providing commuter services out of Palmdale, Sky West, left last year, after expanding flight capacities from 19 to 30 passenger planes.

That move significantly increased their overhead, drove ticket prices up and cost them customers, DiGirolamo said. Trans States uses 19 passenger planes.

DiGirolamo emphasized that there's no guarantee the airline will choose to establish operations from Palmdale.

Bill Mishk, Trans States marketing director, confirmed that the company has looked at establishing operations from Palmdale, but added, "we've always got markets that are under evaluation."

Mishk said he believes Palmdale would be a good commuter market.

After the move is made at LAX, Mishk said, airline executives will begin taking a hard look at where to expand.

During a meeting of the Committee on LAX Expansion on Wednesday, Antelope Valley officials examined ways to promote Palmdale Regional Airport as an option to the continued expansion of LAX.

The meeting was attended by mayors for both Palmdale and Lancaster and Los Angeles County 5th District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

The committee voted to test how much time it takes to travel from a point in Reseda to LAX and Palmdale Regional Airport. The point in Reseda is equally distant from both locations.

The committee said it will conduct the test at 6 a.m., 9 a.m., noon and 6 p.m., to and from both destinations on different days of the week.

Committee members said they have conducted a similar test on an informal basis and found that it took 15 minutes less to get to the terminals at Palmdale than to those at LAX.