Tahoe Air won’t be boarding passengers this summer

Monday, April 13, 1998 | 10:17 a.m.

Mark Sando, Tahoe Air's on-site project manager, says the delay was necessary because the firm is still negotiating with lenders for $7 million in start-up and operating funds.

Tahoe Air recently contracted the services of Ally Capitol, a Bay Area investment bank which will raise the money.

"We're on target with the bank," Sando said. "Their confidence just seems to grow."

Sando added that the stock market's record-high levels recently have contributed to the bank's confidence with Tahoe Air's push to provide commercial service.

Vesta Rea-Gaubert of Vesta Rea & Associates L.L.C., a firm hired by the city to help bring scheduled air service to the airport, told the City Council it will be difficult to convince an airline to come to Tahoe due, in part, to competition with the Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

Rea-Gaubert said that if the struggle for Tahoe air service is to succeed, the city must come up with a great story to tell prospective airlines.

"There really is a positive story to tell here," Sando said, adding that Tahoe Air wants to provide service to Los Angeles and San Francisco. He said he just can't put a date on the first flight.

The Lake Tahoe Airport has been without commercial service for two years.

Tahoe Air formed a few months after the last airline, Reno Air, left the airport in the spring of 1996.