San Francisco to Palmdale Flights End Saturday

On Saturday, United Airlines/Skywest will end flights into Palmdale, a small airport located 90 minutes Northeast of Los Angeles. The airline had been struggling with just 30-40% passenger loads since it began the route in mid-2007. The cancellation of the route means Palmdale airport will no longer offer commercial airline service, ending, for now, one dreamed up solution to partially unclog LAX of air traffic congestion. 

Read more: earlier inFLIGHTout announcement of the route cancellation. 

United Express To Drop San Francisco to Palmdale

United Express will terminate flights between San Francisco and Palmdale in early December, according to Los Angeles airport officials. Over the years, Palmdale regional airport was sought after to help absorb some of the air traffic flying into nearby congested Los Angeles International.

In this most recent attempt, the federal government pumped in financial incentives to United during the first year of operations. The airline initially operated two daily flights on regional jets, then expanded to four daily flights using smaller aircraft. Unfortunately, the airline saw no significant improvement in flight loads, averaging a mere 30-40% of capacity. With federal incentives slashed, and the cost of jet fuel up, United's move to withdraw from Palmdale was probably an easy decision.

Service between the cities officially ends December 7, 2008.