Long Beach Airport fares are 2nd lowest in the country

LONG BEACH - For many, flying in and out of Long Beach Airport is a convenient local alternative to the busy Los Angeles International Airport.

Apparently, it's good for the pocketbook, too.

The 89-year-old municipal airport has the lowest airfares in California and the second-lowest in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which released its latest quarterly report Thursday.

Nationally, Long Beach, with its average fare of $240, is behind Atlantic City for lowest airfare, based on third-quarter 2011 average domestic fares among 100 airports. Atlantic City's average airfare is $167.

Bob Hope Airport in Burbank also had a good showing, with the 12th lowest airfare at $298.55.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati boasts the highest airfare average in the nation with $488. Los Angeles is the 30th highest, at $391.31 - higher than the average fare of $361 at all of the airports ranked in the report.

The statistics are based on domestic itinerary fares, which include the airline price and any additional taxes and fees. They only include the price paid at the time of the ticket purchase and don't include baggage or other fees paid at the airport or on board the aircraft.

Averages exclude frequent-flyer, "zero fares" and a "few abnormally high reported fares."

"Long Beach Airport is known for exceeding expectations - very low fares, easy access, great destinations and excellent customer service all help make Long Beach Airport one of the very best in the country," Mayor Bob Foster said in a statement.

Airport Director Mario Rodriguez said Long Beach Airport's seat capacity is up by 4 percent, while demand is up roughly 170 percent for each available seat in the marketplace.

"And, we continue to see approximately 85 percent of available seats sold," Rodriguez said. "The airport has fared very well through a recessionary economy."

The Long Beach Airport serves nearly 3 million commercial airline passengers annually and is home to four airlines, including JetBlue, which considers Long Beach its West Coast hub. Also, more than 41,000 tons of air cargo is transported through Long Beach annually.

(By Karen Robes - Press Telegram)

Allegiant To Discontinue Long Beach Flights

After about 18 months of offering flights out of Long Beach Airport, Allegiant Air will make its final departure from the city Nov. 3.

The change opens up three air carrier flight slots out of the 41 available at the airport. Airport Director Mario Rodriguez said airport staff have already reached out to other airlines and expect to fill Allegiant's slots right away.

"We have more demand than space," Rodriguez said. "When we made calls to airlines, everybody wants those slots because they are a valued commodity."

One of the four airlines already serving Long Beach - Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue or US Airways - could use the slots, or Rodriguez said a new airline could be introduced at the airport. Staff is working now to get the word out about the vacancy and have one or more airlines ready to fill the three slots as soon as Allegiant departs.

News of Las Vegas-based Allegiant's move out of Long Beach Airport comes after Frontier Airline's final departure from Long Beach in April this year. Both Allegiant and Frontier first began serving Long Beach in the spring of 2010.

Rodriguez said Allegiant's decision to cease operations in Long Beach might in part be due to competition from JetBlue. Both airlines offer flights between Long Beach and Las Vegas.

"Allegiant was focusing more and more on Vegas, and JetBlue has a strong presence from here to Vegas," he explained. "Although load factors were high for both airlines, they were competing."

The airport director said Allegiant, which sells airline tickets as well as travel packages, has a different business model than other airlines, and that Allegiant has had a tendency in the past to pull in and out of airports.

Rodriguez said the silver lining of Allegiant leaving Long Beach is that the loss will not mean a loss in destinations offered by Long Beach Airport because Allegiant's routes to Las Vegas will be available through JetBlue.

"We are not going to have any routes changed because we still have flights to Las Vegas," he said. "In fact, now we have the capability of acquiring more destinations than we do now... We will be able to provide more choices and service to new cities."

Rodriguez added that the market in Long Beach is strong and appealing to many airlines. Passenger seat totals from Long Beach Airport have increased by 4% since last year, despite declining trends at other airports.

Another possible benefit to Allegiant leaving Long Beach is that another airline with newer, more environmentally friendly (and perhaps quieter) airplanes may use the slots. Rodriguez said Allegiant's MD-80 fleet consists of more vintage airplanes than some other carriers.

It is unclear if Allegiant, which has expressed interest in offering flights someday between Long Beach and Hawaii, would be interested in returning to Long Beach Airport in the future. Allegiant officials were not available for comment before press time.

Rodriguez said that even if Allegiant isn't the one offering flights to Hawaii in the future, he believes another airline will someday add that route.

Allegiant customers who have purchased tickets or have questions about the change should visit the company's website www.allegiantair.com.

(By Ashleigh Oldland - Gazette Newspapers Long Beach California)

Long Beach Hoping To Capture 737-MAX Production

If we'd been around at the time, we would have found Daugherty Field just about the most exciting place imaginable. This was where young pilots in rickety flying machines created an environment that changed aviation history.

That dirt field evolved into the home airport for Douglas Aircraft, which went on to build some of the world's most celebrated airplanes. After a merger with Boeing, the last of the commercial jets, the 717, left the Long Beach assembly lines five years ago, and only the C-17 military airlifter remains in production.

But the manufacture of commercial planes could return to Southern California once again if the Boeing Co., against some considerable odds, chooses the former 717 facility for its expansion plans.

The company needs to refurbish or otherwise create an assembly plant to turn out an updated version of its enormously successful 737. The new model, to be called the 737 MAX, will have new, more efficient engines and other improvements, and be ready for delivery probably in 2014.

Ramping up will require an expanded and refurbished assembly plant, either in Renton, Wash., where the 737 is assembled now, or in another location, such as the million-square-foot 717 facility. The company is assessing which location would make the most business sense.

To their credit, members of the Long Beach City Council decided Tuesday to do everything possible to persuade Boeing that bringing commercial aviation back to Long Beach also is in the company's interest. Also to their credit, they seem determined not to politicize the process.

That's a challenge, since several are busily campaigning for higher office. But it's important, because companies looking for investment opportunities count political dysfunction on the negative side of the ledger.

Boeing already has about 500 orders for the new model, and plans to get as much as half of a market for that size plane which, at $78 million each for the next 20 years, could be worth a trillion dollars.

That's a lot, even for Boeing, and it is very far removed from the air-show days of long ago at Daugherty Field. But how fitting it would be to bring that business home.

Monday 9-26-11

TY Air Inc 737-7AH N888TY (c/n 29749/456) BBJ arrived from Santa Barbara Municiple Airport (KSBA) at 8:55am and parked at Signature. The plane departed at 10:13am headed to Yuma Mcas/Yuma Intl (KNYL) .

Zero-G 727-227 N794AJAdv(F) (c/n 21243/1197) arrived yesterday from Ellington Field (KEFD) at 10:18am and parked at AirFlite. The plane departed this morning on a flight at 11:06am.

3 New Puma Helicopters to Replace Aging LASD Sikorskys

The Sheriff's have replaced their Sikorsky Sea King helicopters with three new AS 332 L1 Super Puma helicopters. They will also be replacing their twelve Eurocopter Astar 350 helicopters with new ones.

Details can be read here: http://socalscanner.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/lasd-helicopters/

Delta to bring A319 to LGB

As of 11/6, Delta will be switching out their CRJ-900 and replacing it with an A319 once a day. The other flights(which are currently utilizing the CRJ-200) will be upgraded to the CRJ-700.

Wednesday 8-31-11

A Convair 580 belonging to C&M Airways arrived at 1:16pm from El Paso Intl (KELP) and parked at Signature. The plane departed at 5:07pm to Kansas City Intl (KMCI).

About 5:15pm a Boeing V-22 Osprey did a fly-by down rwy 30.

Volga-Dnepr Airlines An-124-100 visits LGB

This morning Volga-Dnepr Airlines Antonov An-124-100 "Ruslan" (c/n 9773054155101) RA-82043 arrived as VDA1108 from CFB Goose Bay Airport (YYR/CYYR) at 07:03am. The plane parked on taxiway Alpha and brought in a satellite to be launched from Sea Launch.

Horizon Dash 8 Q400 Diverts to LGB

Back on the night of July 22nd, Horizon's Dash 8 Q400 N417QX diverted to Long Beach for fuel after circling LAX for weather. Below is a photo of the aircraft and a video of the taxi out taken by Cabel Parker.



Video of taxi out:

New LGB Parking Garage Opens

On July 14th, LGB held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the brand new $41 million parking garage that was set to open July 15th. The parking garage was not only finished two months ahead of schedule but it came in under budget which is great news. The final project now that is being worked on is the brand new passenger terminal which is about to break ground here in the next couple of weeks.