UNITED GETS NEW CARRIER FOR OXNARD; MOVE WILL BOOST LAX SERVICE.

Byline: David Greenberg Daily News Staff Writer

United Express, Oxnard Airport's lone commercial airline, has switched its commuter carrier, allowing more customers to fly daily to and from Los Angeles International Airport.

As part of a major overhaul of its commuter flight system, United Express has replaced Mesa Air Group with SkyWest Airlines to operate out of Oxnard and 11 other West Coast cities beginning today, as well as San Francisco beginning June 1.

``United wanted their regional partner to complement them in terms of their dominance,'' said Steve Hart, SkyWest's vice president for market development. ``As of June 1, we will be the only United Express carrier from Seattle to San Diego.''

Mesa, based in Farmington, N.M., also halted service at Palmdale Regional Airport on Wednesday.

United Airlines, the parent company of United Express, is the largest airline at LAX, and Utah-based SkyWest is that airport's largest feed carrier, Hart said.

SkyWest's Brasilia aircraft will offer round-trip service to as many as 240 passengers between Oxnard and Los Angeles on eight daily flights.

Although Mesa offered 10 flights a day, its Jetstream 31 aircraft holds only 19 passengers, for a total of 190 each way.

Sara Pitcher, spokeswoman for Mesa, would not comment on the loss of the United Express contract, except to say her company was informed of the decision in January.

While the increased capacity pleases Oxnard Airport officials, they want to broaden their horizons with daily flights to and from San Francisco, Sacramento and Las Vegas.

``We believe there's a pent-up demand here for air service up to those areas,'' said Tad Dougherty, manager of Oxnard Airport. ``If we can convince a carrier to come in, we believe (customers) would fill those planes. Passengers now who wish to go north first have to fly or drive south to Los Angeles.''

He said the county, which owns the airport, has hired a consultant to join the effort in luring an airline to offer expanded service to and from Oxnard. So far, there are no commitments.

Oxnard Airport could easily handle 10 daily flights between Oxnard and the three cities, even though an airline would likely schedule no more than four daily flights between Oxnard and each city, Dougherty said.

``We could handle whatever the airlines would add to their service,'' he said.

SkyWest has no plans to accommodate Oxnard officials in the near future, however.

``We've got our hands full,'' Hart said. ``We're going to work through the summer to get our initial expansion under our belt. Once that's been completed, we'll start exploring the additional expansion opportunities, and Oxnard-San Francisco will be one of many markets we'll be looking at.''

Besides Oxnard, SkyWest begins service today in Carlsbad, Visalia and Inyokern as well as Bellingham, Seattle, Yakima and Pasco, Wash., and Portland, Eugene, Medford and Redmond, Ore.

Dougherty said the new carrier will not change his airport's revenue picture. Counter space rental and landing fees are earmarked for the airport's general operating fund.

Mesa becomes the second airline to leave Oxnard Airport in less than two years. American Eagle halted its seven daily flights between Oxnard and Los Angeles in September 1996.

The airline upgraded its fleet from 19- to 34-seat planes and did not believe there was enough business between the two cities to justify maintaining its schedule.