Four Vegas flights added

Monday, Jan. 19, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.

America West Airlines will continue its expansion in Las Vegas with four new round-trip flights in April, including new service to Burbank, Calif.

The Tempe, Ariz.-based company also will operate new daily round trips between Las Vegas and San Francisco, Boston and Phoenix. The Burbank service, which will compete with rival Southwest Airlines, will begin April 23, and use a twin-engine Airbus A319 jet configured to hold 124 passengers.

April 23 also will be the startup date for the new flights to San Francisco, where America West competes with six daily flights against United Airlines, and to Boston, where the company has two daily flights and competes with Song Airways. America West also competes against Southwest with 11 flights on the Phoenix route and will add that new round trip on April 4.

When the expansion is completed, America West and its America West Express affiliate will have 111 daily departures to 48 destinations from its hub operation at McCarran International Airport, where it is the No. 2 commercial passenger carrier behind Southwest.

America West officials could not be reached for comment today on whether the April expansion involves adding to its fleet, utilizing planes for longer hours as they have done in previous Las Vegas expansions, or removing service elsewhere.