IN MONEY
USA’s newest brand takes flight Nov. 1.
Make room for California Pacific as the USA’s newest airline brand.
California Pacific Airlines’ West Coast flights are set to begin Nov. 1, culminating eight years of start-and-stop efforts to launch the carrier.
The airline will be based at the McClellan-Palomar Airport, a secondary airport about 30 miles north of San Diego in the California city of Carlsbad.
The airline has announced four routes from Carlsbad, with the first two – to San Jose, California, and Reno, Nevada – set to launch Nov. 1. Additional service to Las Vegas and Phoenix/Mesa will debut two weeks later.
California Pacific will use 50-seat Embraer E145 regional jets for its flights.
The launch of service will be a welcome milestone for the airline, founded in 2010 by now-97-year-old Southern California businessman Ted Vallas.
“We’re going to put the smile back in flying,” Vallas said to CBS San Diego in March 2010. “People are going to want to fly again. Even on a short trip to Las Vegas.”
But it’s been a challenge for California Pacific to get off the ground. The carrier ran into numerous roadblocks, ranging from problems with needed approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration to reaching an agreement with San Diego County, which owns the Carlsbad airport.
Several planned launches have come and gone, but – finally – California Pacific has set a firm date that it appears likely to meet.
“There is a great deal of relief and joy,” Mickey Bowman, California Pacific’s chief operating officer, said to The San Diego Union-Tribune last week. “It’s obviously been a long time coming.”
California Pacific’s decision to purchase and rebrand an existing airline appears to have paved the way for its long-anticipated launch. Aerodynamic Inc. – a small Georgia-based carrier – was acquired by California Pacific in 2017. The move gave California Pacific access to ADI’s FAA operating certificate and fleet of four Embraer E145 regional jets.
California Pacific announced Aug. 1 that it would rebrand ADI as California Pacific, effective Sept. 1. That paved the way for the launch of California Pacific’s standalone operation in Carlsbad in November.
Technically, some California Pacific flights have already begun.
Two other routes that ADI operates from Denver as part of a government contract have already switched over to the new California Pacific name and booking platform.
Those “Essential Air Service” routes to the South Dakota cities of Pierre and Watertown are expected to continue at least until the federal contract ends July 31, 2020.
But those flights may remain if things go well for California Pacific.
Bowman told USA TODAY’s Today in the Sky blog that aside from its main base in Carlsbad, California, Pacific hopes “to build its book of business out of Denver” as well.
San Jose, Calif.
Carlsbad service begins Nov. 1; two daily flights on weekdays, one daily flight on weekends.
Reno/Lake Tahoe, Nev.
Carlsbad service begins Nov. 1; four flights a week (one round-trip each Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday).
Las Vegas
Carlsbad service begins Nov. 15; three flights a week (one round-trip each Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday).
Phoenix/Mesa
Carlsbad service begins Nov. 15; one round-trip flight every day except Sunday.
Denver-Pierre, S.D.
Inherited from Aerodynamic Inc.; up to two daily round-trip flights. Also, one daily round-trip to Watertown, South Dakota.
Denver-Watertown, S.D. (one-stop)
Inherited from Aerodynamic Inc.; up to two daily round-trip flights that makes a stop in Pierre, South Dakota.