Vegas losing 7 flights: America West drops direct flights from four cities

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2001 | 10:48 a.m.

America West said earlier it initially planned to keep caps at $50 for round trips and $25 for one-way tickets.

America West Airlines is cutting seven flights between Las Vegas and seven destinations in September and October, saying the market has been unable to support them.

Confirmation of the cuts comes less than a week after the company's new chief executive officer, W. Douglas Parker, said the airline is on a steady growth course for Las Vegas.

America West is the No. 2 commercial carrier at McCarran International Airport behind Southwest Airlines. Las Vegas serves as one of America West's three hub cities.

All of the flights being cut are late-night operations. America West became a dominant player in Las Vegas by taking advantage of the city's 24-hour economy and scheduling many of its flights at night. But in the last year and a half, the airline has retimed many of its flights to arrive and depart earlier and is trying to schedule more daytime flights.

Patty Nowack, a spokeswoman for the company, said while the company is ditching seven late-night flights, it has added day flights to Dallas, Houston and San Francisco.

America West plans to eliminate service between Las Vegas and Hartford, Conn.; Omaha, Neb.; and Indianapolis in September, and Cleveland and Milwaukee in October. It also will reduce but not eliminate service between Las Vegas and Seattle and Denver in September.

Competitors will continue to serve all the nonstop markets being abandoned by America West, which will continue to offer one-stop service to those cities through its Phoenix hub.

Southwest Airlines presently has one nonstop flight a week between Las Vegas and Hartford. It also has three daily flights to Omaha.

Indianapolis is also served by Southwest and American Trans Air, while nonstop service to Milwaukee is available on Sun Country and Midwest Express. The Cleveland market -- which America West began serving just this month -- is served by Continental Airlines with four flights a day.

Nowack said Continental added a fourth flight in August at the same time America West inaugurated its service and the market couldn't support the number of seats available. She said Indianapolis and Milwaukee will be targeted as seasonal markets and the airline will return Las Vegas flights to those cities in March.

The Seattle and Denver markets have some low-fare competitors flying to Las Vegas, with Alaska Airlines and Southwest offering nonstop routes to Seattle and Frontier operating as a player in the Denver market, which is dominated by United Airlines' Shuttle by United carrier.

Nowack said America West's service initiatives are "continuing to evolve" in Las Vegas and that flights not meeting the company's economic standards are bound to be cut.

The company's plans to add daytime service to Houston Intercontinental Airport will challenge Continental's dominance of that market. Added flights to Dallas will take on American, Delta and Las Vegas-based National Airlines while the new San Francisco flights will compete with National and Shuttle by United.