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New California routes: Southwest, AA, Delta, JetSuiteX, Mokulele + more

Southwest will add two more California routes in March. (Image: jim Glab)

Southwest will add two more California routes in March. (Image: Jim Glab)

In domestic route news, much of the action is in California, including a pair of new Southwest routes, new American flights from northern California and LAX, a new Delta market from Los Angeles, and new intrastate service from JetSuite and a small Hawaiian carrier; meanwhile, Alaska upgrades its equipment on two California routes.

Southwest Airlines, which has focused much if its recent growth on California, plans to add another pair of routes there. The carrier said that beginning March 9, it will start new service to Salt Lake City from both Sacramento and Burbank. Southwest is offering introductory fares starting at $59 one-way for booking through October 20.

American will begin Phoenix flights from Santa Rosa's Charles M. Schultz Airport. (Image: Charles M. Schultz Airport)

American will begin Phoenix flights from Santa Rosa’s Charles M. Schultz Airport. (Image: Charles M. Schultz Airport)

On February 16, American Eagle/SkyWest will kick off new daily non-stops between Sonoma County’s Charles M. Schulz Airport in Santa Rosa and AA’s Phoenix hub. The carrier will use a CRJ-700 on the route. Elsewhere in California, American plans to initiate summer seasonal service next year from Los Angeles International to Grand Junction, Colorado. The flights will operate from June 3 through August 19, also with an American Eagle/SkyWest CRJ-700.

Outside of California, American will begin new regional jet service on February 16 from Phoenix to Bullhead City, Arizona; and AA this month began American Eagle/Envoy Air flights twice a day from its Chicago O’Hare hub to Akron/Canton.

As we mentioned the other day in a post about the expansion of lie-flat premium seats on transcontinental routes, Delta plans to launch new service on April 24 between LAX and Washington D.C.’s close-in Reagan National Airport, using a 757-200 equipped with fully-flat seats in the front cabin. At the same time, Delta will drop one of its two daily Salt Lake City-DCA flights, replacing it with a Salt Lake-Washington Dulles service.

This Phenom 100 jet from JetSuite seats six (JetSuite)

A Phenom 100 jet from JetSuite (JetSuite)

JetSuiteX, which offers small-plane public charters within California, will begin new service October 17 between San Jose and McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, north of San Diego. The company will use a four-seat Phenom 100 to fly the route four times a week, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. On the same day, JetSuiteX will boost frequencies between San Jose and Burbank to two flights a day– and currently flights from both Concord and San Jose to Burbank are on sale for just $59 each way (for November trips) and that includes checked bags and wi-fi.

Following United’s recent decision to stop flying between San Francisco and Santa Maria, California, that town just got new service from an unlikely source: Hawaii-based Mokulele Airlines. The carrier is flying four times a day between Santa Maria and Terminal 6 at Los Angeles International Airport using nine-passenger Cessna Grand Caravan turboprops.

In nearby Santa Barbara, meanwhile, Alaska Airlines has started to use new 76-passenger Embraer 175s on its routes to Seattle and Portland, replacing 70-passenger CRJ-700s. The new planes have first class, Preferred Plus and regular coach seating, and are equipped with Wi-Fi service.

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Another airline declares bankruptcy

Republic Airways flies E175s like this one for American Eagle and Delta Connection. (Image: American Airlines)

Republic Airways flies E175s like this one for American Eagle and Delta Connection. (Image: American Airlines)

With the major U.S. carriers hauling in record profits, you’d think that the industry would be well past the bad old days of several years ago when everyone was filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But you’d be wrong.

Republic Airways, the holding company for two regional carriers that fly under the banners of United Express, Delta Connection and American Eagle, filed for Chapter 11 Thursday. But the company said on its website that travelers shouldn’t be concerned: “Our airline operations will continue in the ordinary course throughout this court-supervised process,” Republic said, promising that from the passenger’s standpoint, it will be business as usual.

Based in Indianapolis, Republic’s operating subsidiaries are Republic Airlines and Shuttle America. Together, they operate 1,000 flights a day to 105 cities in 38 states, Canada and the Caribbean. Their fleet includes Embraer E145s, E170s and E175s as well as Bombardier Q400 turboprops. In 2009, Republic Airways Holdings acquired Frontier Airlines, but it sold that carrier to new investors in 2013.

“The company has sufficient assets and liquidity to meet its working capital and operating expenses during the restructuring process,” Republic said in a press release.

What went wrong? “Our filing today is a result of our loss of revenue during the past several quarters associated with grounding aircraft due to a lack of pilot resources, combined with the reality that our negotiating effort with key stakeholders shows no apparent prospect of a near term solution,” the company said.

According to Bloomberg News, Republic and its pilots settled on a new three-year contract in 2015, but it still was forced to ground a number of its planes while it tried to negotiate better deals with United, Delta and American, and at the same time tried to renegotiate its aircraft lease terms.

And Republic isn’t alone: Earlier this month, a small Oregon-based turboprop carrier called SeaPort Airlines also filed for Chapter 11 protection. The airline – which also cited a pilot shortage as part of its problems –had been eliminating routes in recent months in a bid to shore up its finances. Like Republic, SeaPort said it continues to operate its regular schedule during the reorganization process. It has only a few routes in the Northwest and in Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about:  Should I tip my Uber driver? + Boeing 747 nearing its end? + Bargain hunters travel guide for 2016 + World’s best airline lounge? + Fares to Europe tumble 

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