Rival Airline Wants To Serve Visalia

The Oregon-based airline has been talking with Visalia officials in recent weeks about their proposed air service that would be an alternative to the current operator, Great Lakes Airlines.‘We are in the process of recommending one or the other to the Department of Transportation” says Visalia airport manager Mario Cifuentes. The recommendation is due August 1 to the federal agency who will make the final decision. Two city council members serve with staff on the committee that makes the recommendation.

Seaport would require the DOT to increase the current subsidy by $100,000 annually, says Cifuentes, an added hurdle forhrt airline as rthe EssentialAir service remains controversial and under the microscope in a political year.

Cifuentes says Seaport’s plan is to operate small 9 passenger planes that would offer Visalians daily service to Oakland, Burbank and San Diego with one plane running a circuit each day.

If the airline was selected over Great Lakes, the connection to LAX, currently with 2 daily flights,would be lost notes Cifuentes,a connection long sought by Visalia. Previously the city had daily flights  only to Ontario in the Southland.

For now Visalia is served by Cheyene,Wyoming-based Great Lakes with flights to both Las Vegas and LAX.

However, sources say Great Lakes could drop Las Vegas but offer three daily flights to LA from Visalia instead of just two.Cifuentes says LA is much more important for business connections as well as to access connecting flights around the world compared to the leisure market in Las Vegas.

“That would be a plus” says Cifuentes since “flight frequency is so important to travelers, particularly business travelers.”

“Three flights a day to and from LAX offers more choice and options for people who miss a flight” making it more convenient to travel from Visalia. Great Lakes does code sharing with both United and Frontier making it convenient to to use Visalia to reach whatever destination a traveler needs without a price penalty.

Ridership with Great Lakes has improved in the past year from about 5 passengers a day to 10.5 says Cifuentes.”We had a flight with 17 passengers a few days ago, all with connecting flights.” The planes have 19 seats.

The Essential Air Service program remains under fire from conservative critics like Tom McClintock who represents part of Fresno County, who delivered these remarks on the House floor a few days ago.

“This program shells out nearly $200 million a year – including $114 million of direct taxpayer subsidies – to support empty and near-empty flights from selected airports in tiny communities – most of which are just a few hours’ drive from major airports.

A reporter recently investigating this waste took one of these flights from Ely Nevada and was the only passenger on the flight. Our constituents paid $1.8 million for this air service that carried just 227 passengers during the entire year! Ely is a three and a half hour drive from Salt Lake City International Airport.”

Because of press accounts and the political focus on the Ely market, sources say the ESA will likely drop  that community from service freeing up the Great Lakes plane that homebases there.

Bad news for Ely may be good news for Visalia.