American Airlines will discontinue its flights from John Wayne Airport to both Reno and Las Vegas at the end of this week, and has not yet replaced those flights with service to other destinations.
The action reduces by 5% the commercial operations at John Wayne, which totaled 7,207 flights in April, and could reduce passenger count by a similar amount if American does not start other service in place of the abandoned routes.
A spokesman for American Airlines said the company could not speculate on whether or when replacement flights would be instituted, but in a release issued in April, the airline said it would be adding nonstop routes on the West Coast “focused on its major connecting centers at Los Angeles and San Jose.”
“I’m surprised they’d do that (cut) right before the (Fourth of July) holiday,” said Scott Shadrick, president of Sundance Travel International in Irvine. “Those flights (to Reno) are very full in the summer.”
But Shadrick also said the moves were most likely due to light weekday loads,Reno and Las Vegas are primarily leisure destinations,and not a move to reduce overall service at John Wayne. The airline has not given up any ticketing counter space and could not lose any “slots”,rights to operate flights,at John Wayne before next March when the county supervisors next meet to address slot allocation at the airport.
Still, the move means Orange Countians face increased travel time to Reno, the most-used gateway for the Lake Tahoe resorts. Though travelers still can fly to Reno from John Wayne, American had the only nonstop service. Currently, a traveler on American’s 11:45 a.m. flight to Reno would arrive there at 1:15 p.m. With a connection, the travel time is roughly doubled.
Nine America West flights, all of which operate either six or seven days per week, still remain to Las Vegas.
The reduction will leave American with 27 non-stop flights out of JWA, seven fewer than it had after last year’s acquisition of Reno Air, but still the most at the airport. United Airlines is second with 23. n
