AIRPORT PUSH TAKING OFF CONSULTANT HIRED TO WOO AIRLINES BACK.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - A consulting firm is being hired by the cities of Palmdale and Los Angeles to pitch Palmdale Regional Airport to five regional airlines believed to be planning near-term expansions.

Tri-Star Marketing Company of Long Beach will create a marketing program and make presentations on behalf of Palmdale to American West Express, Delta Connection, United Express, American Eagle and Horizon Airlines.

``It is anticipated that the presentations to the airlines will take place as early as this fall or as late as in the spring of 2002,'' Bob Toone wrote in a memo to the City Council.

The cost of the marketing effort will be shared equally between the two cities. The effort will cost Palmdale up to $50,000.

``Those five are considered the most likely candidates for Palmdale,'' said Mayor Jim Ledford.

The two airlines identified as the top prospects - America West Express and United Express - were among the three airlines that pulled out of Palmdale in the 1990s.

America West Express, operated by Mesa Airlines for America West Airlines, flies into Phoenix and Las Vegas.

America West Express is slated to receive 40 new regional jets in the next two years and is looking for additional markets, according to the Tri-Star work plan.

America West stopped its Palmdale service because it was losing money.

During the 1990s, Mesa Airlines operated United Express, an airline that fed passengers into Los Angeles International Airport for United Airlines.

That service stopped when Mesa Airline was dropped by United Airlines as the United Express operator, and its replacement, Skywest, did not want to serve the Palmdale market.

Skywest had operated its own service out of Palmdale in the early 1990s, but dropped out of the market, citing operating losses.

Undaunted by that fact, Tri-Star lists United Express as the second priority for the marketing campaign.

United Express serves San Francisco, listed by Tri-Star as Palmdale's largest passenger market. The airline also serves Denver, which would be a popular destination for Antelope Valley's aerospace companies.

Ranked third in priority is American Eagle, which serves the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. The Dallas/Ft. Worth area is the largest out-of-state market for Palmdale passengers, Tri-Star says.

Landing American Eagle would depend on the airline looking to establish markets west of Dallas, according to Tri-Star.

Ranked fourth is Horizon Airlines, which offers service to Sacramento and San Jose. The airline is believed to be interested in expanding into Southern California.

The fifth priority will be the Delta Connection, also operated by Skywest. The airline serves Salt Lake City and is believed to be interested in expanding after that city hosts the Winter Olympics in February 2002.

Tri-Star Marketing has worked with such airlines as American Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Hawaiian Airlines.

The company also has prepared marketing and strategy plans for the Santa Maria public airport, the Ventura County Department of Aviation, Sonoma County Airport and Stockton Metropolitan Airport.

In February, under a contract with Los Angeles County, Tri-Star delivered a report stating that the market area from which the Palmdale airport could draw - about 600,000 people, taking in Santa Clarita as well as the Antelope Valley - is large enough to produce 1 million to 1.5 million airline passengers a year.

Airports in comparably sized markets average 26 jet flights and 18 commuter flights daily, the report said.

Palmdale Regional Airport is comprised of a terminal and parking lot on land leased from the Air Force inside Air Force Plant 42. Under an agreement with the Air Force, Los Angeles World Airports - the city's airport department - can run 50 flights daily out of Palmdale using Plant 42's taxiways and runways.

The agreement includes provisions to expand the number of daily flights to 400.

LAWA also owns 17,000 acres immediately east of Plant 42 that is earmarked for an airport. The city of Los Angeles began acquiring the land in the 1960s in anticipation of building an airport in Palmdale. The Air Force doesn't want an airport there, because its flights would interfere with those coming out of Plant 42.